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August 5, 2007,
Pentecost 1f0, All Souls' Episcopal Church
So is he that
layeth up treasure for himself but is not rich toward
God.
The Gospel reading today
features a parable told by our Lord Jesus. It is a
parable which explores the sin of covetousness. Just
yesterday morning I had the pleasure and privilege of
baptizing a baby, one of the newest members of the
church. During the baptism, I asked the godparents, “Do
you in the name of this child renounce the devil and all
his works, the vain pomp and glory of this wicked world,
with all covetous desires of the same?” Covetousness is
mentioned here in connection with the world because the
sin of covetousness distorts the way we see the world
and our place in it. The covetous man is not like
someone who might be inspired by the prowess and success
of others; be it success as an academic, an athlete, a
businessman, or a guitar player. We may well be inspired
by others and seek to emulate them, but not the covetous
man. He isn’t really interested in learning and in the
hard work involved in achieving excellence. He is only
interested in the end result. He wants what others have.
He can’t stand the fact that others have something which
he doesn’t. Covetousness distorts everything.
Of course, the setting in
which Jesus tells this parable is important. We should
always be mindful of the setting. As the twelfth chapter
of Luke’s Gospel begins, thousands of people have
gathered to hear Jesus. He tells them to beware of the
influence of the Pharisees. He tells each person in the
vast throng of humanity that God cares for each one of
them and knows the number of hairs on their heads; God
cares for each of them down to the smallest detail. He
tells them that he is The Son of Man, or the Messiah. He
says that if they acknowledge him, God will acknowledge
them. He warns the crowd that if they follow him, they
will be brought up on charges, but that in the time of
trial, the Holy Spirit of God will given them words to
say. Now, given all that information; this knowledge;
what is the first question he receives. Some guy says,
“Tell my brother to share his inheritance with me.”
You know, humanity has
learned a good deal, made a lot of changes over the
centuries, and brought about enormous technological,
cultural, and political advances, but human nature
hasn’t changed very much at all. If we needed any proof
of that, just look at this man’s comment made two
thousand years ago. After all that Jesus revealed, this
guy says, “Tell my brother to divide his inheritance
with me.” Talk about your totally ego driven, childish,
defective, self-centered, personality. Our Lord Jesus
responds ever so much more lovingly and effectively than
I would. He says, “Man, who made me judge or arbiter
over you. Take heed, and beware of covetousness.” He
then tells his parable.
The fields, farms, and
vineyards of a certain rich man bore much fruit. The
harvest was massive he didn’t have adequate space to
store of the bounty. So, he decided to build bigger
barns and then just sit back, eat, drink, and be merry.
He does this, but cannot do if for long, for as soon as
the building is completed and the harvest stored, his
soul is required of him.
Let us examine this parable.
First of all, the man in the parable is no poor farmer
struggling just to get by who happens to strike it rich.
No, our Lord calls him a rich man. He already is a man
of means. He is a rich man who happens to have a huge
harvest. And what does he decide to do with his
overabundance? Share it with some of those poor farmers
just struggling to get by? No. Will he find a way to
reinvest his wealth in the community so that everyone
may be lifted up in the rising tide? Rich people often
do this, but covetous people don’t think in those terms.
No, instead, he decides to keep it all for himself and
live off of the bounty for years. What will he do with
his free time? Will he with a grateful heart and a
thankful soul devote himself to the study of God’s word
and a life of prayer and good works? No. He says, I
shall take it easy and just eat, drink, and be merry.
Maybe this rich man was one
of those people who thought he had God on a time table.
Perhaps he thought of his life this way. As a youth, he
could have fun, party and carouse right up until he got
married. Then, he would devote himself to the
acquisition of capital, and since that requires
discipline and good industrious habits, most people
would think well of him during this period. What he is
doing here is merely refining his getting mechanisms and
acquiring new ones. He is not growing up. Perhaps he
supposed he might get to a point, like in the parable,
where he could just sit back and enjoy himself for a
while. Finally, in old age, he would get right with God,
basically getting his papers in order for that big
journey still to come. As Jesus points out, the problem
with this theory is that God has his own time table. The
time to “get right with God”; the time to pray; the time
to repent and devote your life to God is now. The Bible
is explicit on this point, even to the extent of
describing our relationship with God as that between a
bride and a groom – not a husband and wife – but a bride
and groom, because that relationship is ever new, always
just beginning. The time is always now.
Another obvious point of the
parable is how futile it is ultimately to place your
trust in mere abundance. Most of us would deny that we
place our faith in mammon. We don’t look at it that way.
We use other terms instead – security, preparedness,
long-term investment strategies, all of which are good
things, but none of which can remove the fact that
someone more powerful and bigger than you – bigger than
all of us – holds your soul in his account and shall
require it of you some day. What’s your long term
strategy for that?
The central problem for the
man in the parable is the same problem with the guy who
asked our Lord to get his brother to share his
inheritance. Remember, this is a parable about
covetousness. As a covetous man, he was thinking only of
himself. It was all me, me, me, with him. If you had to
live in this guy’s head, you’d find yourself in a bad
neighborhood. Living with you in this neighborhood would
be the guy in the parable, a narcissistic, pushy,
dominating, aggressive, headstrong, determined,
impatient little brat. You’d find out pretty quickly
that what’s his is his and what’s yours is his also. In
fact, you’d eventually get evicted from this
neighborhood because there would not be room enough for
you and anyone else, really, with this guy and his
massive ego.
What the man in the parable
has to learn is the same lesson that guy who asked our
Lord the question had to learn; life is about more than
you. Both of these guys have to learn humility. And
let’s be clear on our terms. Humility doesn’t mean
thinking less of your self. Humility means thinking of
your self less. It means accepting yourself the way God
made you. It means rather than trying to see what you
want to see, you need to see what’s in front of you.
Ultimately, it means realizing that you’re not the
director of your own play.
The Epistle lesson today
shows us a better way. St. Paul writes of how we must
seek to be kind, humble, gentle, patient, forbearing,
and forgiving. He tells us that most important of all we
must have charity; that love which thinks of others, and
serves others, forcing us to live outside ourselves in a
life of service. Living this way, with a mind attuned to
the things of the spirit, a heart open to grace, a
spirit humbled in the presence of one mightier than us,
is to store up treasure for Heaven. It is also the way
to live if you wish to be whole; complete, healthy, in
full possession of all you have because you’re willing
and able to give it away. Jesus said, if any man would
gain his life, he must first be willing to lose it. When
we learn what that means, we can truly become rich in
the things of the spirit. And in so doing, let us heed
the words of the apostle: “Whatever you do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him.”
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