Storing Up Our Treasures (7/31/16)
Rembrandt, Parable of the Rich Man
This past Sunday we heard the Parable of the Rich Fool. In this sermon, I examined the ways in which poverty and wealth can affect our faith, and how our possessions can make fools of us all.
Sermon
Good
morning! How are you folks doing this morning? I’m feeling really good today
because I had a very productive week. It was also a very reflective week. I’ve
been spending a lot of time thinking about the time we’ve spent together and
how important you folks have been to me on my own faith journey.
This
really hit me on Thursday when I was at Costco. My cart was full of groceries
and I wasn’t even paying attention to how much food I had in the cart. And
that’s kind of a good thing. In the year or so between my graduation from
seminary and the time you folks called me to be your interim pastor, money was
very tight. When I went to the grocery store, I kept a running tally on the
items that were in my shopping cart. I didn’t use a calculator, but I’d make a
rough estimate and say to myself, “that looks like about sixty-five or seventy
bucks worth of food; I’d better not spend any more.” I might even take a couple
things out of the cart, so that I could get the total down to fifty or sixty
bucks. In those days, my fridge was never more than half-full. So it’s always a
really good feeling when I’m in the grocery store and I don’t have to worry
when I spend eighty or a hundred dollars. It means that I’m not in a place of
scarcity.
On
Friday I did a bunch of cooking and every time I opened the fridge I got this
overwhelming sense of wellbeing. Well, almost every time. Once, when I opened
the freezer and saw all the chicken and Italian sausage that I’d purchased at
Costco, I had a moment of panic. What if I had to move to take my next call to
ministry? What if I’m called to serve a congregation that’s far away from here?
I might have to move in six weeks! Did I just buy way too much food?
In
that moment, I realized that I was standing at the intersection of this event
in my life and today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke. This story is often
called the parable of the rich fool. The story begins with a man in the crowd
asking Jesus act as a judge in a dispute between the man and his brother, so that
he can get a share of his inheritance. Jesus offers a sharp rebuke: “Take care!
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in
the abundance of possessions.” To illustrate his point, Jesus tells a parable
about a rich man whose lands produced such a great harvest that the man can’t
store the entire harvest, so he plans to build new barns with even more storage
space, so that he can hold on to everything!
And there I was, trying to fit all that food into my freezer; I felt like the
rich fool.
Money
and wealth are not looked upon kindly in the Gospel of Luke. This is “a central
theme in Luke and in Jesus’ preaching,” throughout the gospels, where wealth is
a problem “in the context of the holy kingdom where closeness to God is life
and attachment to things reflects soul-stifling anxiety and fear.”[1]
Money and wealth are distracting; they can take our focus away from God.
The
rich man in the parable is focused entirely upon himself. The man is quite
literally talking to himself: “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.” Think
about the language: I, I, I, my, my, my:
The man has shut
everyone else out from his life and his thoughts. There is no one else in the
story—just the man and his possessions—until God speaks to him. No sooner has
he envisioned his future than God speaks to declare what the future actually
holds for him.[2]
That future is God’s judgment; God calls the rich
man a fool because the man has focused on his own possessions at the exclusion
of God and of his neighbors. The rich fool was isolated by his wealth.
Wealth
isolates us, too. In times of scarcity, our fear can lead us to forget that God
will provide for us. In times of plenty, we can be so confident in our own
abilities to provide for ourselves that we forget that we are dependent upon
one another. We believe that we have earned everything on our own and that we
deserve it. We forget that we rely upon God for everything. We become like the
rich fool in the parable—and it doesn’t take all that much wealth, all that much
stuff for us to become foolish.
Think
of how big our television sets have become. Or just think of the number of
televisions in your house! When I was kid, we had a 19-inch Sylvania. It was
the only TV we had! We didn’t get a second television until I was in college.
We all watched the same program. In the same room. At the same time. I now have
a 32-inch, flat-screen, hi-def TV. It seemed huge when I got it, but now, 32
inches isn’t very big. But hey, my apartment is small, so it balances out.
Of
course, as the TVs have gotten bigger and better, we have to build bigger and
better rooms for those TVs. This has led to the phenomenon known as the man
cave, because if the TVs in our homes are as nice as those in a sports bar,
then we need to have all the amenities in our home that we’ll find in a sports
bar. That’s a lot of stuff. And it doesn’t matter if nobody else wants to watch
the game or the movie that you’re watching because there’s a big-screen, hi-def
TV in every other room, too.
Even
without intending to, we hoard these things. This can isolate us, even from our
own families. We become like the rich fool in the parable and all we say is,
“I, I, I, my, my, my.” While we’re in our own bunkers, we go on social media
and post our own opinions. Or worse, we re-post other people’s opinions; we
copy-and-paste other status messages that only seem to increase our isolation.
For
instance, there are a lot of status messages that say something to the effect
of, “Click ‘Like’ and share if you think America needs to turn back to God!”
Now on its surface, that seems like a good idea. But we say this from the
isolation of our own homes and our own electronic devices. We say this at a
distance from others. Then our like-minded friends Like the status and share
with their like-minded friends.
The
very means of communicating this message—personal computers and cell
phones—shows that we are isolated from one another. We don’t send these
messages in conversation. What’s worse, in our isolation we become
self-righteous. We believe that everyone else needs to change. Nobody ever
says, “I need to turn back to God.” We always say that everybody else needs to repent. When we do and say
these things, we show ourselves to be like the rich fool. We forget that we are
entirely dependent on God’s grace; we forget that we must repent, also.
Jesus
concludes the parable of the rich fool by saying, “So it is with those who
store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” Thus Jesus
offers a way out of the trap of wealth and materialism: Be rich toward God!
This doesn’t mean that you have to sell everything you own and donate all your
money to the church. This is not just about giving extravagantly to the
church—though, please, please, please, be generous with your offerings.
Remember, Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments are to love God and to
love your neighbor as you love yourself.
To be
rich toward God is to turn toward God and to turn away from the possessions
that isolate you from God and from your neighbors. If your stuff separates you
from God or neighbor, then your stuff may be causing you spiritual problems. As
one of my favorite scholars points out, there is nothing inherently wrong with
owning things:
But notice that for the
[rich fool], determination of what matters has everything to do with himself—and
absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. There’s the crux of the issue. Our
criterion for possessions, in the end, should not be about what we amass, but
what we have that has meaning—and meaning should be determined by the presence
of someone else.[3]
That criterion may also be applied to wealth: if
your wealth is devoted for the glory of God and the care of your neighbors or
God’s creation, then your wealth may not be causing you spiritual problems. The
answer is in the relationships that are facilitated by your possessions or your
wealth.
As
Christians, we believe in relationships. Scripture is a witness to God’s
relationship with and love for all of humanity. As individuals and as a
community, we are transformed through our relationships with God and Christ.
When we come together as a community of believers, we recognize that we are
called to share the transformational love of God and Christ with everyone we
meet.
Ultimately,
that love that we have, that comes to us through God, that’s the greatest gift
we have. When we share that gift with others, we offer an invitation to be
transformed. And in the same way, when we accept that love from others, we
accept that we may be transformed through that relationship. If the gifts and
treasures we have foster that love, if our possessions foster that love, if our
wealth is used to foster that love, then we glorify God by sharing God’s love.
But if we store up our treasures, whether out of fear or greed, then we are not
living into the love that God intends for all of us. Let us freely give of
ourselves, let us give of our talents, our time, and our treasure, in the same
abundance that God has given to us, and may we all be transformed as we share
God’s love. Thanks be to God. Amen!
BENEDICTION
Now, Beloved,
as you depart from this place, remember that we are transformed by the love of
God and through our relationship with God. Use your talents, your time, and
your treasure to show your love for God. Go forth and be instruments of God’s
peace and reconciliation. Do not return evil for evil to any person, but know
that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to reflect that love to
everyone we meet. This is the truth and the love in which we were created. Go
forth and live fully and abundantly into that love. In the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord, let all God’s children say, Amen!
[1] Meda
Stamper, “Commentary on Luke 12:13-21,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2923
[2] R. Alan
Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. IX,
(1995, Nashville: Abingdon Press), p. 256.
[3] Karoline
Lewis, “Treasured Possessions?” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=4693
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