CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: People Get Ready

Pentecost 9, Proper 14 | August 11, 2019

By the Rev. Stephanie Yancy

Sign up to receive CAMINANDO WITH JESUS in your inbox each Wednesday.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

- Luke 12:32-40

People get ready
There's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board 

All you need is faith
To hear the diesels hummin'
You don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

When Curtis Mayfield wrote the song "People Get Ready" in 1964, he had been influenced by the 1963 March on Washington, D.C. and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In addition to the march, the song followed several horrific events in American history, among them the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama -- which killed four little girls -- and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. At a time when feelings of despair, anger, hatred and fear were rampant, the song spoke a word of hope. A train was coming that would carry all on board to freedom. Dr. King named “People Get Ready” the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement and often used the song to get people marching or to calm and comfort them.

In an interview, Mayfield said the song was a subconscious product of "the preachings of my grandmothers and most ministers when they reflect from the Bible." What Mayfield remembered from all “the preachings” was that, in Jesus, God had intervened in the world to redeem God’s people. That memory gave him hope God would act again to bring about a change that humans couldn’t pull off on their own. The song gave people hope that one day all God’s people would truly be free.

As Jesus made that last journey to Jerusalem, he was surrounded by crowds in need of hope. Throughout the journey, he taught his followers about the Kingdom of God, the kingdom they were invited to inhabit. This was the kingdom they had been promised; they had waited for it, wondering at times whether God had forgotten God’s promise to their forebears. Jesus taught that in him the promise had been fulfilled. He had to teach his followers new ways of living, too, because the kingdom he brought was so different from anything they had ever known. They were accustomed to having to earn everything they received, to having to compete for scarce resources, to having to store up provisions during times of plenty so they could provide for themselves and their families when times were hard. But Jesus called on them to live from a completely different premise. He called on them to put all their trust in God and to believe that God would always provide for them. He told them they did not have to earn their way into the kingdom. He told them it gave God great pleasure to give them the kingdom as a gift.

It was hard for his followers to believe such good news. But if they were able to believe it, they would be able to resist the seduction of wealth and not be anxious about worldly needs. They would be able to share what they had with others, confident that God would provide enough for all. They would be able to experience the joy that comes from humbling oneself and serving others, just as Jesus had served them. By living as Jesus taught, his followers would know true freedom. They would be able to live the abundant lives God desired to give them.

The gospel passage ends with Jesus urging the disciples to be ready for the time when the Kingdom of God would fully come, the time when he would come again. He tells his friends that the way to be ready when the Kingdom of God arrives is to start living right now as though the kingdom is already here. You and I are invited to live that way, too.

People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
 
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There's room for all
Amongst those loved the most

 The Rev. Stephanie Yancy is the vicar at St. Titus’, Durham.