The reading
Luke 12:13-31
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher,
tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But he said
to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15
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."
16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced
abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, "What should I do, for I have no
place to store my crops?' 18Then 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. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample
goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 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?' 21 So it is with those who
store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." 22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I
tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body,
what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than
clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither
storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you
than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your
span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why
do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they
neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not
clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will
he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are
to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the
nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows
that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will
be given to you as well. 32 "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
The message
This is our last of 3 weeks on Stewardship. Next week, we start our very long Advent as we look forward to Christmas and go through the Old Testament.
Today's reading made me think of a lot of workshops, retreats or training
programs that began with ice breakers, quick questions meant to help a group
form a relationship and get to know each other.
One of the questions that would always come up was “if you could ask one
question to any person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you
ask”. That icebreaker was a great way to
learn what people were passionate about and what was really important to them.
There was always a range of answers, people who loved music or a certain band
or celebrity would want to ask them a question about what does this particular song
mean, how did you think of those lyrics, what was like to play that major show.
People with an interest in history or politics would want to ask Abraham
Lincoln or George Washington what we should do now. People interested in exploration or science
might want to ask Einstein to evaluate a current theory or ask Plato about
democrary today (after all 2500 years ago, he thought democracy was foolish at
best and dangerous at worst). An English
reader might ask Dante, Homer or Virigl what they think of modern poetry. People
concerned with social justice might ask Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr what we
should do today about racial or economic injustice.
I always had a hard time with this icebreaker,
taking it way too seriously, being concerned with what it would say about me
and getting too obsessed with the perfect answer to do much more than
ramble. Our Gospel reading today, the
third of 3 weeks on Stewardship, starts out with a person in the crowd who gets
Jesus attention and asks a question that is recorded in scripture. This is an opportunity that very few people
would get, maybe a few dozen at most. This member of the crowd is part of a
very limited and important group. This
person had this amazing chance to ask Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, the
long awaited Messiah a question. He uses it to find out if he could get a
little legal help, "Teacher, tell
my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." Really, I mean you have Jesus attention, and
that’s what you ask. Any judge could do
that, any group of elders could handle that request, a quick conversation with
your brother and family might even do it.
You have the Word made flesh, the all powerful creator and redeemer, the
savior of all people and you ask to settle an inheritance dispute.
I’m sure this man was being ripped off (or very anxious
about the possibility he would be ripped off), I’m sure this was a significant
amount of money and a complicated situation. At the same time asking Jesus to settle
an inheritance dispute is like using your one question, to anyone living or
dead, to ask Einstein to do your 4 year old’s math homework , asking
Shakespeare to write a memo that says the office is closed on Monday, asking
King Tut if he happened to know the hours at Target or asking Genghis Khan to
tell your neighbor, stop parking in your driveway. This is like a group of elite reporters
jostling and jumping over each other to ask the president a question and the
one who gets up asks if today is Friday or Saturday. What a waste, Money matters but faith matters more.
Like the icebreaker about who you would ask one
question, this man’s question to Jesus reveals a lot about what is most
important to him. Money is important,
his financial well-being is important, his economic security is important, his
fair treatment under the law is important.
That’s why this question leads to Jesus to once again to talk about
stewardship, about what we value, what comes first in our lives, the
relationship between faith and wealth and how we use our resources. (the thing Jesus talks about the most in the
bible is the kingdom of God, second is money / economics). Jesus draws on
familiar, daily images birds, barns and lilies of the fields. Even here, in the
middle of a big city with no barns and few lilies, we can follow. (We are left
to imagine how abundant birds were, how beautiful the lilies in great open
spaces appeared. I still remember my grandmother had a small stretch of lilies
in her front yard and everyone on the block looked forward to the time when
they bloomed)
Over the last 2 weeks, we heard faith confront worry
and grief. This week, we hear faith confront greed. Jesus conversation with the
crowd is very similar to the one we heard in Matthew, it is the same advice . But if God so clothes the grass of the
field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more
will he clothe you—you of little faith!
And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to
drink, and do not keep worrying. 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.
One of the big, only differences, instead of worry
or grief, Jesus is now confronting Greed.
He tells a familiar story, a man who accumulates a lot of wealth, who
builds bigger and bigger barns, to store his assets. He dedicates all of his
energy to getting more, he neglects his family, his faith life, his community, he even neglects his own
use of the wealth. He dies on the day
his inexhaustible greed is filled, when he finally has enough and he plans to
start spending it. He spent all that
time working, cheating if he had to, getting more and more, doing more and more
to keep, get and protect what he had, and he enjoys none of it. He told the
hungry he had nothing to give them (despite have an abundance), he has told his
relatives I cannot go, I need to harvest or guard, he has failed to provide for
anyone (including himself). It hurt his city, community and neighbors. I assume he was hated and judged poorly by
many, in his life, the gathering of wealth has been nothing but a burden. Faith is something better, something that matters more
This is a story that reminds us greed stops
life. In a much simpler example, I think
of an aged scotch in my aunt’s basement, getting older and older each year. Most
of the family knew it was there and we all wanted it. Seeing this bottle since
we were children made it seem so special. Finally, there was an occasion to
open it (I think it was a graduation). It didn’t age well. It was kept near the
heating system, and instead of being kept at an ideal and stable 50 degrees it
was kept at an extreme flucation between hot and old, our 30 plus year old
scotch was disgusting, sat on, protected and saved for a special occasion so
long, it was good for nothing, no longer drinkable. We had spent years haggling over and trying
to get a bottle of worthless, rotten alcohol. Todays reading is a call to action, a reminder
that faith can be wasted too, We wait so long to launch into mission when we
are ready, when we have everything fixed, when we have enough people and the
perfect idea, we make it all about us. Jesus tells us to make it all about God,
the comfort and joy now and the good promises for later. That is Stewardship.
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