Luke 12:13-21 (NRSV)
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us against greed,
against storing up treasures for ourselves.
The Gospel lesson though does not tell us to stop contributing to our
401ks. It tells us to be rich toward God
– to give of ourselves to those in need.
We do not fully understand the
context of this story. A brother for
unknown reasons asks Jesus to take his side in an inheritance dispute. After a father’s death, frequently the heirs
held the estate in common as a family business.
Most people lived a hand-to-mouth existence in the Ancient World. Keeping an estate together made good sense. If the brothers did hold their father’s
estate in common, this brother wanted to turn his back on his family. Jesus refuses to act as arbitrator and instead
tells the story of the rich man.
On one level the story of the rich
man seems innocuous; he has had a good year, a bumper crop. He decides to store his gains, kick back and
enjoy life. What’s wrong with this
picture? Isn’t that what most of us dream
of doing? The problem is neither with
his success nor his decision to save. We
know this because in the book of Genesis Joseph saved seven years of bumper
crops for the coming seven lean years (Genesis 42:47-9). The problem is that the rich man puts his
trust in his material goods rather than God.
The key is found in the passage that follows today’s Gospel.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus talks to a
crowd; in the passage that follows, he talks only to his disciples. This section is, as it were, the private
explanation of the public parable. Jesus
tells his disciples, "I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat, or about your body, what you will wear” (Luke 12:22 NRSV). He illustrates his point by talking about
lilies of the field and ravens. In a direct
rebuttal to the rich man’s bigger barns, Jesus says, “Consider the ravens: they
neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them” (Luke 12:24 NRSV). Jesus concludes by saying, “For it is the
nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows
that you need them. Instead, strive for
his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well” (Luke 12:30-31
NRSV).
All of this is not to say that we do
not need to use our God given talents to provide for ourselves. Paul says in his second letter to the
Thessalonians, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2Th 3:10
ESV). We also need to prepare for the
future. The book of Proverbs warns,
“Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it”
(Pro 21:20 NRSV).
We can plan ahead and be rich toward
God. Rick Warren, who wrote the best
seller The Purpose Driven Life, says
in a Forbes interview, “At age 17, long
before Purpose Driven Life came out, I began living on the 10/10/80
principle. Give the first 10% to God,
save the second 10% for your future and then learn to live on the rest. So, as a 17 year-old, every week I started
putting fifty cents away toward my retirement; and when you do that you learn
to live on a margin and you can save an enormous amount of money. I was already financially secure before the
book even came out.”[1]
The difference between preparing for
the future and the rich man is that the rich man thinks only about
himself. He doesn’t think that he could
give 10% of his bumper crop to God. He
believes he has found peace of mind, security by clinging to his material
goods.
Jesus reveals that the path to true peace
of mind is found not in our possessions but in loving our neighbor. At the end of his discussion of the lilies of
the field and the ravens, he tells his disciples, “Give alms” (Luke 12:33
NRSV). His simple words are sound psychological
advice. Dr. Thomas Plante, Professor of
Psychology and Director of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara
University, says, “In a nutshell, if you want to cope better with stress serve
others.”[2]
On May 20th of this year an EF5
tornado destroyed the town of Moore, Oklahoma killing 23 people and injuring
377. Jera and Jason Kiespert’s home was
destroyed. “The first thing Jera saw
when she emerged from her storm shelter was a neighbor digging his wife out of
his wrecked home. ‘I was not prepared
for that sight,’ Jera said. ‘I was in shock; I saw other neighbors climbing out
of rubble.’”
“Within a few days, St. Mary’s
Episcopal Church in Edmonton (Oklahoma) gave them a place to live. ‘It’s a
great stewardship story,’ said the Rev. Mark Story, St. Mary’s rector. ‘We
received the house as a bequest. [The]
gift was really quite amazing to the church and made it possible for Jera and
Jason and their children to have a place to stay. We’re really thankful.’”
Jera told the Episcopal News
Service, “’It’s a beautiful home and what was even more amazing was, we walked
in and the church ladies had been there.
There were beds with fresh linens, and clean towels, there were supplies
in the kitchen. It felt so good to walk into a home and feel it is home,’ she
added, breaking into tears. ‘When you think about it, it is all just stuff, but
it’s important too. They gave us gift cards, money for groceries, there were
clothes and toys for the kids. It is so relieving as a mom to see your kids go
through something like this and then be in a new place and run for the toys and
to feel like we’re good, we’re going to be OK.’”
“People have been lifting us up so
much, with help, and with prayers, phone calls, we’ve felt so much love and
support, it’s really amazing. It’s really hard when you’re so used to being on
the giving end; when you have to be on the receiving end, it’s so humbling.”
The Rev. Story said, “equipping the
four-bedroom home ‘was a blessing to the church. Lots of people want to do something physical
and cleaning up the house and getting it ready gave lots of parishioners an
opportunity to do something that connected them physically with the tragedy in
Moore. It was a blessing for the family, a blessing for the parish, it was just
a good thing.”[3]
Today’s Gospel starkly shows the difference between the world and the
Kingdom of God. The world strives first
and foremost for material things, but the followers of Jesus strive for Kingdom
of God. The world worries that it will
not have enough. The followers of Jesus
trust in the Lord. The world cares above
all for itself. The followers of Jesus
care for others.
(This sermon was preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Rocky Mount, N.C. on August 4, 2013.)
[1] Robert Laura, “Pastor Rick
Warren Is Well Prepared For A Purpose Driven Retirement,” Forbes.com, March 21, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlaura/2013/03/21/pastor-rick-warren-is-practicing-what-he-preaches-and-getting-ready-for-retirement/.
[2] Thomas Plante, “Helping
Others Offers Surprising Benefits,” Do the Right Thing: Spirit, Science and
Health, PsychologyToday.com, July 2, 2012, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/do-the-right-thing/201207/helping-others-offers-surprising-benefits-0.
[3] Pat McCaughan, “Oklahoma
tornado clean-up shows ‘miraculous’ outpouring of support,” Episcopal News
Service, May 31, 2013, http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/05/31/oklahoma-tornado-clean-up-shows-miraculous-outpouring-of-support/.
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