July 31, 2022 Sermon
Sermon title: "What is Your Treasure?"
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21
(Other lectionary choices include Hosea 11:1-11, Psalm 107, and Colossians 3:1-11.)
Luke 12:13-21
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15And 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." 16Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And 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. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20But 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?' 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
"What is Your Treasure?" That is the title of the sermon today, and in the Scripture that we heard, Jesus tells a parable about the apparently successful farmer who was called a fool, and by GOD, no less! Why?
In my humble opinion, this farmer, after having a successful yield, thought only about himself. He thought nothing about other people, and his first thought was not to share his good fortune with others, but to pull down his older, smaller barns so that he could build bigger, newer barns to contain all his wealth. And he even says, "Let's eat, drink, and be merry!" Now there is nothing wrong with celebrating success. We do it all the time, and that's fine. But this guy's sin, if that is what it was, is that he thought only of himself and not of others. And I am reminded of this saying, which you have probably heard before: "There are no pockets in a shroud." Also, "You can't take it with you."
There has been a huge mega-millions jackpot these past few weeks, and I like what I've heard some people say they'll do with the money if they win. Some say that they'll give to charity and to family members, and then go on a cruise! I like it when people say they'll give some of it away. I hope I would do the same. But the guy in today's Scripture lesson said none of that. He was going to keep it all himself.
We heard the word "greed" today in the Scripture. And greed is one of the seven deadly sins, I think. And I think all of us are tempted to be greedy from time to time. A miser is a greedy person, and I remember one of the renditions of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". One of the spirits visiting Ebeneezer Scrooge points to the curve in Scrooge's chin, suggesting that that curve is the sign of a miser! And Scrooge cries out, "No, no!" And that scene reminds me of another in that great work: when Jacob Marley's ghost visits Scrooge, Scrooge says, "You were always a good man of business, Jacob." And then Marley's ghost practically screams, "The WORLD was my business!" In other words, people suffering should have been his business, children without enough food should have been his business. Marley's ghost was saying, in a way, I AM my brother's keeper. So be careful of all kinds of greed, says Jesus. He didn't say it in today's Scripture reading, but last week's sermon was about the Lord's Prayer, and we learned that when Jesus says, "Give us this day our daily bread", he was referring to the manna in the wilderness that the Israelites received from the hand of God. It was DAILY and it was ENOUGH.. Trust God, Jesus is saying. Don't be GREEDY and take more than you need. Trust God to provide your every need.
Greed is mentioned in today's reading - but maybe there was MORE than greed involved here. Maybe the farmer in the parable "was fearful and insecure - not trusting God to provide his daily bread." That's an insight provided by Amy Elizabeth Hessel, that Lutheran minister from St. Paul, Minnesota, whom I have quoted before. She says that maybe the farmer just liked to WIN, and he enjoyed beating his fellow farmers in the Biggest Crop of the Year competition. It doesn't matter whatever his reasoning was. "Jesus makes it clear that this farmer's life is at odds with what God regards as a meaningful and substantial life."
I also mentioned earlier that God called him a fool. What is a fool, anyway? Rev. Hessel says Jesus is using the definition of what a fool is from the Wisdom Tradition. The Wisdom Tradition comes out of the Old Testament, and such books as Proverbs, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Job come from the Wisdom Tradition. "To be a fool was to be one who failed to comprehend the power and the purpose of God in all things." The farmer we heard about today "is a fool because he seems little concerned or aware of the fact that he is not in full control of his own destiny and welfare. As he goes about his business, he doesn't think about the fact that his days are numbered. He acts as if he has all the time in the world, when in truth only God knows the number of any of our days."
Have you ever thought, SOMEDAY I'm going to do such-and-such? Don't be a fool about it! Better do it now. Okay, I realize that we can't all do everything we want whenever we want. But today's parable should remind us that life is short, and we don't have all the time in the world! Also, shouldn't we be as successful as we can be with our talents? (There's a parable about talents, too, but not today!) And the answer is: OF COURSE! But don't forget how blessed you are, and don't forget to acknowledge GOD for whatever you have accomplished.
I saw a bumper sticker years ago, and it said, "I fight poverty. I WORK!" That bumper sticker offended me on so many levels! First of all, Pal, you WORK because you are BLESSED with a job. Not everybody can say that! And the jobs that are available may not pay a living wage. I just saw something on the news this week about a San Diego woman who is living in her car because she can't afford an apartment. She has had a bunch of low-paying jobs, but the rent has increased, and now she and her daughter and grandchild, I think, have to live in their car. "I fight poverty. I WORK!" Humph! So does THIS lady, but what she makes isn't enough. Harlane mentioned last week that I thought the first step toward being religious is to thank God for what you have. She's right: I still believe that. And this saying comes to mind: I felt bad because I had no shoes....until I met a man who had no FEET! Be thankful for what you have; the farmer in the parable showed no signs of being thankful.
Today's Scripture lesson ends a little too soon! Why do I say that? Because it goes on to talk about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. I'll bet you know that Scripture by heart: Consider the lilies of the field. They neither toil nor spin. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. And aren't you worth more than birds, O ye of little faith? The point is, if God looks after the lilies and the birds, isn't he going to take care of you? The farmer in today's parable didn't even consider God in his thinking.
Earlier I said Jesus was drawing on the Wisdom Tradition of the Old Testament. I just remembered a verse from Proverbs: "The fool says in his heart that there is no God." The way the farmer in the parable behaved is as if there were no God.
Says the Rev. Amy Elizabeth Hessel, "The weather has produced a fine harvest and he {the farmer} benefits from it. Yet, he fails to acknowledge that God's abundance has been poured out for anyone other than himself. His life is all about what he can create, what he can consume, and what he can accomplish. His days are like golden fat-saturated french fries consumed one after another. He has no awareness of how sluggish, flabby, and poorly fed his soul has become.....No need to worry about the things of God. There is always tomorrow. There are retirement days ahead that can be devoted to matters of God....Right now, personal {things}" take precedence. "God's business can wait. All the while, unaware, a slow spiritual heart disease sets in."
Don't be a fool like the farmer in the parable. As Jesus says elsewhere, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. And what does that mean? Don't think only about yourself. Think of others. Let us be "aware of our place within God's wider plan for all humanity and all creation." Amen.
Pastor Skip
