More?!?!?
Colossians 3:1 - 11
Luke 12:13 - 21
Texts: "Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: . . ., evil
desire, and greed (which is idolatry)." . . . I Colossians 3:3
"And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"
. . . Luke 12:20b
When my children were in their pre-teen years, they were always in shock when I would throw the all too familiar brown envelope with the red print on the front, "Congratulations! You may already have won one million dollars!" You know the one - from Ed McMahon and the Publisher's Clearing House. My kids would beg me to open it. Dreams of Disney World, fancy cars, a bigger house, perhaps a swimming pool were dancing in their heads. "Dad, we (I never figured out where they got the "we" - the envelope was clearly addressed to me) - dad, we could be rich and not even know it! Don't you think you better open it up and find out?"
And I thought about it: we could be rich and not even know it. What a thought! And as I reflected, how true that is - we are all rich, and few of us really know it.
In a materialistic culture such as ours we tend to think that money is the solution to most difficulties. If you want more security, get more money. If you want to strengthen the family, add more income. If you want to put yourself in a good mood, go shopping and spend more money. It is the cultural cure-all. More. More. More.
A few years ago, in an article in Money magazine was published that dealt with how much income it would take to make people satisfied. A wide variety of professions and levels of income were represented among those questioned. Teachers, custodians, engineers, secretaries, executives, from those making $30,000 a year to those whose salaries topped a quarter million, virtually no one was entirely happy. Discontent prevailed.
But most didn't claim it would take a great deal more to make them happy; just a little more. In fact, there was a considerable degree of agreement about how much more it would take. From the lowest wage earner to those with top salaries, the consensus was that they needed about 20% more.
That's not all that much, is it? Twenty percent is reasonable. Our material expectations and aspirations are just a little beyond our reach, not wildly beyond the realm of possibility.
This brings us to Jesus' parable about the rich farmer who has apparently acquired his goods through just means - nowhere is he accused of criminality or even greed. He is successful through his wise management and through God's providence. However, like so many successful, wealthy people, the rich man seems to have forgotten the basics. He is rich only toward himself, not toward God. He talks only to himself. While never clearly stated in Scripture, it would have been plain to Jesus' audience that this man was not giving as his faith demanded: the man left no grain for the gleaners, the widows and orphans.
He lives for himself thinking that he is securing his life through his hard work and his possessions. In today's times this man that we might call a prudent, productive business person.
Jesus calls him a "fool."
Surely this parable has nothing to do with us. It is so easy to assume that Jesus is speaking of someone else. Jesus would never call us a "fool." Surely not us.
But Jesus is speaking to us; perhaps to all of us of the middle to upper-middle class. Our modest and not so modest homes contain thousands of stewardship lessons.
So we, like the man in the parable, say to ourselves, "I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones," or some early 21st century equivalent. But the problem is that our income never manages to catch up with our expectations.
Now, you may be the exception. But I'm not, and I suspect that most of you, like me, want more. Just ask my wife, Deb! You see one of the difficulties of preaching on this parable is that if I am honest with you I have to be honest with me. And then that requires me to be confessional - at least to myself.
It's been like this for a long time. We aren't facing a new problem. And Jesus saw how misleading wealth can be. It is not worthy of our devotion because it doesn't provide the satisfaction that lasts or the security that endures.
This is not a comfortable lesson for us. And as Henry said last week when we talked about how Jesus taught us to pray, Jesus likes to take us out of our comfort zone. Bishop William Willimon reminds us, "One reason why we come to church, listen to sermons, read scripture, is to 'wise up.' The church loves us enough to tell us the truth, to set before us the difference between the ways of God and the ways of the world."
A man came to Jesus wanting more. He must have been a younger son, because he couldn't wait for his brother to split up the family inheritance. So he sought to enlist Jesus' aid: "Tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But Jesus knew that getting more wouldn't get the man what he really needed. Instead of helping him get what he wanted, Jesus cautioned him to consider what matters in life. "Take heed," said Jesus, "and beware of all greed, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." The aim of Jesus was to help people be more, not to have more.
It is also most interesting that we get doubled up a bit this morning. It's not enough that Jesus confronts us with our greed, the lectionary reading from Colossians written by Paul, tells us that greed is idolatry. It is interesting that Paul lists several sins we all have some degree of familiarity with - fornication, impurity, evil desire and greed; but it is only greed that he called idolatry.
I once read a story about a philosopher that taught a course entitled, "Money and the Meaning of Life." Many who signed up for it were already well established in their careers - accountants, bankers, and attorneys. But they came to realize that while money can be a solution to some problems; it also presents us with a new set of problems. As the course neared a conclusion, he asked the class members to submit the questions they found most pressing in their own relationship to wealth. Some of the responses were like cries in the dark. For examples: --"How can I let go of my fears about money? It totally absorbs my consciousness. I fear I will get old and become a street person."
--"How can I prevent my sense of self-worth from being so dependent on how much money I make? Why do I want more when I have enough?"
--"How much of myself will I have to sell for money in order to be able to live more fully later, and can I regain what I've sold?"
Jesus points toward the answer to these questions. We need to store up riches - but not primarily in bank accounts or stock portfolios or in real estate holdings. These can distract us if God is not the center of our aims and intentions. Wealth as a means of lasting security is an illusion. Possessions as a reliable path to a rich life is an illusion. Having more does not get us what we most deeply want.
Now before I leave this entirely - it is important we see the implications as we move beyond ourselves to our collective society. You see, this story is not just about what we do personally; it has implications for what we do together.
Our country is like this very rich man. The more our country focuses on ourselves, the less we become what we want - we lose our respect in the world, and become less liked in the eyes of others. Consider this, if we could shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this: --70 would be non-white, 30 would be white
--70 would be non-Christian 30 would be Christian
--50% of the entire world's wealth and resources would be in the hands of only 6 people and all 6 would be citizen's of the United States
--80 would live in sub-standard housing
--70 would be unable to read
--50 would suffer from malnutrition
--Only 1 would have a college education
Well, Jesus never leaves us without pointing us in the right direction. Jesus turns our attention elsewhere, to the Kingdom of God. He wants the divine reign of peace and plenty to be ours. In this reign there is wealth that never needs protecting, a treasure that can't be lost, stolen or devalued by the wear and tear of time. This wealth is communion with God. Earthly treasure, even when we have it sufficiently protected, can never truly protect us. We are forced to hover over it.
Jesus ended his story by saying, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"
Jesus knew what we so often refuse to admit. Our possessions can get a stranglehold on our hearts. In His parable of the sower, Jesus spoke of the Word of God being spread about like scattered seed. In some places, it grows healthy and strong but He taught that sometimes the seed is choked by "the cares of the world and the delight in riches." (Matthew 13:22)
The true treasure is not the material wealth we accumulate on earth, but the spiritual riches that are linked to God. This treasure does not come to us as we focus ourselves on having and holding. It is ours as we give and serve.
Materially speaking more is never enough because the purpose of our lives transcend the confines of this world. As we pour out our financial resources, creative energy, and precious time to care for those in need we pile up treasure in heaven. And the same is true collectively as we interact in the world.
There is an old, old story about a very wealthy man who died and went to heaven. An angel guided him on a tour of the celestial city. He came to a magnificent home. "Who lives there?" asked the wealthy man. "Oh," the angel answered, "on earth he was your gardener." The rich man got excited. If this was the way gardeners live, just think of the kind of mansion in which he would spend eternity.
They came to an even more magnificent abode. "Whose is this?" asked the rich man, almost overwhelmed. The angel answered, "She spent her life as a missionary." The rich man was really getting excited now.
Finally they came to a tiny eight-by-eight shack with no windows and only a piece of cloth for the door. It was the poorest home the rich man had ever seen. "This is your home," said the angel. The wealthy man was flabbergasted. "I don't understand. The other homes were so beautiful. Why is my home so tiny and rundown?"
The angel smiled sadly. "I'm sorry," he said, "We did all we could with what you sent us to work with."
Bishop William Willimon reminds us, "One reason why we come to church, listen to sermons, read scripture, is to 'wise up.' The church loves us enough to tell us the truth, to set before us the difference between the ways of God and the ways of the world."
Jesus was just reminding us that there is a necessary friction between the ways of the church and the ways of the world. Many of the world's standards for good and the beautiful, the right and the noble, are, in the eyes of the faith, foolish. Therefore, it would seem to me that a faithful church will always be a church that is at pains to make some distinctions between itself and the world.
And how hard that can be.
Riches that are not wealth and possessions?
Our faith is filled with paradoxes - it stands in sharp contrast with the values of the world.
A satisfying meal that only has a small piece of bread barely moistened with grape juice?
You are invited, this morning; to gather at the Table of our Lord to experience true wealth - to receive a meal that truly satisfies. You are invited to receive God's grace at God's Table. It truly is an extravagant meal!