Purses

33Sell what you own. Give to those who are poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out. Put away riches in heaven that will not be used up. There, no thief can come near it. There, no moth can destroy it.

 

34Your heart will be where your riches are.  In this section of Luke 12 , Jesus says a lot of things we would rather ignore. Things like not to worry, sell what we own, he did not come to earth to bring peace...which seems in contradiction to the Angels song at Christmas. Little nuggets like what we say in secret will be proclaimed from the mountain top, he comes to bring fire to this earth...persecution and pain and ...get a good purse. I love purses, maybe that is why this verse speaks to me. Of course it speaks to me because it says what I want to hear. If I love purses...Jesus is telling me to provide myself with what I love.  What I carry in my purse is a bit like an emergency kit...it is a 'what if ' kind of purse. What if I find myself in a once in life time situation...I will have something in my purse to carry the day. Like our shoes and our hair...purses proclaim to the world in a oh so subtle way what we want to project about ourselves. A non-verbal expression of our very personalities. The bigger , the more prepared..or the pain in the shoulder.    BUT..Why would Jesus after telling everyone to get rid of everything then tell them to make sure they have purses that will not wear out?  Wouldn't the purses be that very thing that carries our treasures?  The treasure that is supposed to be somewhere less permanent?  Here they are to have purses but a few passages before, they weren't allowed to carry purses. These 'purses' the men carried was for their money...they were the original wallets. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I think it is the same reason we carry small purses when we know we have errands to run. Jesus speaks in parables to confuse, he speaks clearly to convict, he speaks tenderly to comfort and sometimes he speaks practically to calm.  I think the latter is what he is saying. Maybe something like..."Stuff, money and things are a spiders web that will entangle you and give you a false confidence. You will keep thinking that the more you have the safer you will be and I am telling you the opposite is true. Carry what you need...because for all practicalities, people need to be paid for the necessities. But in this small but tough purse carry what you need to do what I ask. The bigger the purse does not mean the better prepared but the more encumbered. Careful the spiderweb of imagined need or imagined confidence. Riches are bigger than any purse can carry...so let your treasures be unconfined and your necessary money where it belongs, in a simple bag." When I am running errands...I carry my wallet and phone. It keeps me focused on the task at hand, unencumbered. If I am in need...I call/pray.