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The eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, 07/31/2016
Sermon on Luke 12:13-21, by Carl A. Voges
The Passage
“Someone in the crowd said to him (Jesus), ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to him, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’
“And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?”’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear 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, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” [English Standard Version]
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” [Colossians 3.1]
In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord
As we make our way through this Pentecost season, surrounded by people traveling, close friends emerging slowly from serious surgeries, television watchers moving from political conventions to the Summer Olympics, parishes beginning to develop their schedules for the fall months, we make the continuing observation that what the world’s life does best is to focus on itself.
Along with that observation, though, it is striking to notice how much richer and fuller the life of a parish community can become as its members and friends are drawn more deeply into the Life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This can offer a major shift for the Lord’s parishes.
Consider how we used to have little idea of Baptism’s impact on our lives – when we thought Baptism was just a spiritual vaccination or a social custom! Or where we studied books written by Christians rather than the holy ones written by the Lord God!
Or where we were careful to not schedule the Lord’s Supper too often! Or where we bragged that confronting our sin and confessing it was not really necessary anymore because we now have access to support groups and therapists!
Against such a backdrop, it is a stunning reality to observe that as the Lord’s holy places (Baptism, Scriptures, Forgiveness and Supper) become larger and larger in a parish’s life, that life becomes richer and fuller. The way in which this shift occurs is brought out in today’s Gospel. The passage deals with greed, a reality that is on every list of the seven deadly sins!
As this passage opens up, someone in the crowd is saying to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Note that the questioner starts off in a flattering manner. Is he playing off the wisdom that Jesus has obviously been displaying in his ministry and now seeks that wisdom for his own advantage?
But Jesus says to the man, “Man, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”
With the word, “man,” Jesus is reflecting his attitude as friend toward all people. But his question is edgy; is the man thinking that Jesus is to do something for him just because he wants it? Jesus says to the man and the crowd, “Take care!” This phrase snaps us to attention because Jesus uses it significantly in the Gospels.
Our Lord goes on, “Be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness (greed); one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” All of a sudden our Lord is pointing our attention to a reality we would just as soon ignore! We recognize this is what our Lord thinks, but it does not reflect what the world into which we are born thinks! Baptized or not, we envy people who appear to be basking in the abundance of many things!
Unpacking his thinking even more, Jesus relates a parable to the man and the crowd – “The land of a rich man produces plentifully and he thinks to himself, ‘What should I do; I have nowhere to store my crops?’” The parable turns right here – the man is not recalling the Giver who makes such abundance possible, he is thinking of no one but himself!
The parable continues – “Then the rich man says, ‘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. ‘I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry!”’” In a way the man’s comments are describing the American way of life about seventeen hundred years before the country came into being!
Then the parable concludes – “But God says to him, ‘Fool! This night your life is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” It is striking that the rich, smart man gets nailed with the designation, “fool.” Usually such designation is applied to a poor, ignorant person. All the things this man has accumulated are probably destined for the people around him who have cared about him, who have put up with him, who are anticipating a share of his estate.
Jesus ends the parable with this comment – “So is one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” This comment also runs up against our lives – Are we going to store up treasures for ourselves or are we going to be rich toward God?
As we wrestle with that question, note the three Greek words vital to this passage – “life,” “store up,” and “rich”. “Life” is used in verse twenty. It is a word that describes the world’s life, the one into which we are born; it is not describing the Life that pours out from Baptism. “Store up” occurs in verse twenty-one. Its Greek word is “thesaurus,” referring to a book that accumulates words with similar meanings. “Rich” is also used in verse twenty-one. The word really means “full,” indicating that our lives are not truly complete until they are immersed in the Lord’s Life.
Let us pose Jesus’ question again – Are we going to store up treasures for ourselves or are we going to be rich toward Lord God? It is a difficult question because it reminds us of the tough struggles that rage between the world’s life and the Life of Baptism.
Greed is an honest characteristic of the world’s life (that’s why it always makes the list of the seven original and deadly sins!). By being born into the world’s life, greed comes naturally to us. It flows from the obsessive concern we have for ourselves. Most of us attempt to dodge Jesus’ question by running from it or by pretending we are not all that greedy (we’re just gifted managers of what has come into our possession!).
But our Lord, out of his deep concern for our salvation, will not let us dodge the question.
He wants us to honestly, although nervously, to face up to our instinctive greed. How come? So we can see how he frees us from it, making our lives richer and fuller in the Life he shares with the Father and the Spirit. This freeing took place in his dying and rising; it pours in on us steadily from and through his four holy places.
We can run from greed or pretend it is not affecting us, but that is foolish. Let us confront that instinctive greed, then, letting our Lord pry us loose from its choking ways.
As his Baptism, Scriptures, Forgiveness and Supper continually cross our lives, we will
find the lives of our parish communities becoming richer and fuller. Why? Because these holy places are pushing us into and immersing us in the Life of the Lord God!
Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our
hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord