Does God want us to grow upside down? yes if we are to bear fruits

Sunday XIX year C. Lk 12,32-48

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

How complicated is Luke today. He put together so many sentences each one of which would need a full chapter of explanation. They all speak of an important topic which is: the second coming of Jesus or better our entering into eternal life. I will explain only a few of these words.

I start from that sentence: “Do not be afraid, little flock”. Jesus calls the group of his disciples “little flock” yes little, if compared to the crowd which fills up the market places of his time. Little but with the characteristics of the seed which is small but has in itself the potentiality to become a big tree. We too, today, feel small when immersed in a world of thousands of ideas, opinions, a world crowded by people who call themselves “wise and experts” on everything, who pretend to know and to judge about all and everyone. We feel lost in front of them, a small reality, and find difficult to protect and preserve the principles according to which we have grown.

But we know that if we put into the ground a big trunk, it will not start bearing fruits but if we put a small seed it will, though in long time. Well we are the seed of today and we have in ourselves great potentialities which can’t wait to bloom and bear fruit, but at one condition: that we are put in the right soil. And which one is the “right soil”? Not the one of earth but the one of heaven. “That’s why Jesus adds: “Store your treasure in heaven”.

I would like to underline also the word: “Do not be afraid”. This is a very important verb in the bible. I do not know if it is just a coincidence but this verb is used 365 times in the bible as if God wants say to us: “every day, always, you must know that I am with you, I am taking care of you, I am there to make sure that you bear fruits”. We are small, and the smaller we are the more we fear, the weaker we are and the more we hide. But Jesus tells us: Do not be afraid because it is when you are small that you can bear fruits, in you I put the power of the big tree which has to grow, but you must have roots in heaven. Roots in heaven would produce a tree which is upside down, wouldn’t it? Yes because in heaven everything works upside down. The small are the strong, the powerful are the weak, the poor have the authority while the rich are sent away empty. That is why he encourages us to store treasures in heaven.

How to accumulate this kind of treasure? Well we just said that in heaven everything works upside down so if you want to accumulate, start giving away also the little you already have.

But this life, which is so different, does it work only for heaven, when does it start? Can you know it? Jesus tells us: “Be ready” we must be like vigilant servants waiting for the return of their master. The kind of attitude of those servants is that they must be already active making the whole house to function as if the Master is already there. The kingdom of God to which all of us are invited to participate, is already at work among us. We will understand it and enjoy it in its fullness only when we will go at the other side, but we can already taste it today here because he is already present here, but at one condition: that we start already living according to the rules of heaven. I do not know when I am going to die, but if I live by faith that day will not make much difference because I am already tasting that bliss. So to be ready does not mean that you have to make sacrifices and penances in the wait that the happiness will come after death. I am already happy today because Christ is already here with me, I can find him in the people around me, in spite of their shortcomings; he is already running the world, in spite of all the obstacles we put to Him.

Let us start for the daily little chores, from the humble tasks of every day, let us live with humility and serenity and God will show us his power, and our seed will start flourishing, bearing fruits which will stay for eternity.