CEC Breaking News!
… Father Riley will lead in Holy Eucharist August 11 and 18, and Jane Barnett will lead us in Morning Prayer, August 25, 2019. Services at 10am as usual. Please invite others to join us.
8 PENTECOST, PROPER XIII - c - 19 LUKE 12. 13-21
[1st Reading Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23/ Psalm 49:1-11/ 2nd Reading Colossians 3:1-11]
Jesus has just finished warning the crowds that followed him of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and concluded with a warning of the one sin that will not be forgiven, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The man’s request of Jesus concerning his inheritance seems odd coming at the time and place that it does.
However, Jesus is not taken aback; rather he takes the opportunity to teach those present a lesson on where true riches are to be found. He illustrates his point with simple parable. A certain farmer finds himself blessed with a bumper crop. The only problem is where to store it.
His grain elevators are old and way too small to accommodate his current harvest. It does not take him long to come up with a solution. He decides to tear down the old silos and build bigger and better ones. Then, he will sit back and relax and watch the market and when the price is right - sell and enjoy the profits.
Only one thing is wrong. The Lord informs him that his days are up and it will not be he who will enjoy the fruits of the harvest but another, perhaps even one he does not even know. Looking closely at the parable we see that it is permeated with “I” and “my.”
There is no room or consideration of anyone else, and more importantly, no thought of whether or not there will be a tomorrow. He is a greedy man and his greed has consumed him. “Vanities of vanities,” says the teacher in today’s first lesson…“all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” So it would seem.
Well, Jesus put it this way. Those who expend all of their efforts storing up treasures for themselves in this life are like the foolish farmer. They end up being poor in the eyes of God.
The desire to have more is the passion of acquiring, a desire that leads us to want more than we need. It comes at the expense of others for it requires that we focus entirely on self and self-interests. The getting of those things sets us up to put things in the place of God.
Jesus’ farmer is called foolish not because of his gifts of entrepreneurship. He is not called unjust because of his economic decision to replace old barns with new ones. He is just foolish because he lives in and for himself. He congratulates himself, plans for himself.
He will soon die and has failed to distinguish between what one has and what one is. He is unable to know what is enough until he reaches the point of too much. His inordinate craving to hoard disregards those in need and places goods in the place of God. It’s all about “I” and “my” and “me.”
What does it profit him? A moment’s pleasure perhaps in thinking that he has enough to last him a long time only to discover that he will not be around to enjoy it. Jesus is saying that life, as God intended it to be, is not like that. The
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To be possessed by motives of self-interests is to miss laying up treasures in heaven. To be “rich” toward God means to be rich in experience of communion with God and fellowship with one another. This only comes from a life lived not by looking inward but outward in an effort to use the gifts and talents we have been given by God in meeting the needs of others.
However, that is not what the world teaches or our society recognizes as being successful. It is all about accumulating wealth. The more you have the better off you will be. When I was kid, I never heard the word billionaire. Society and individuals alike can easily fall into the trap of building false security. By false, I mean, laying up enough treasure here on earth in the hope that it will be more than enough to last us our lifetime.
Think about it. How many times during the week do we hear advertisements asking us that very question “will you have enough,” enough life insurance, enough amassed wealth, enough interest, dividends, income? Financial planners, stockbrokers and those who sit glued to their TV screens watching the nightly business report all have one thing in common. They stress out over the question whether or not they will have enough, hoping they have enough, and in some cases, more than enough to last their lifetime.
The only problem with all of that is of course the one Jesus pointed out in today’s parable - none of us knows if we will be around tomorrow to enjoy what we have amassed. There is no guarantee that there will be a tomorrow. To follow that, who’s will it be when we are gone and what will they do with it?
For those whose life is centered on “greed” that question certainly creates anxiety. Man’s true “life” does not lie in the acquisition of material things, which are not real wealth. As St. Ambrose said: “The things we cannot take with us are not ours.” Only virtue will be our companion when we die.” How sobering a thought is that?
Whatever possesses us, wherever there is a possession by possessions, it needs to be put down.
Looking at today’s parable, we see that Jesus makes three points in his example of the foolish farmer. 1.) Our lives are always in God’s hands. None of us knows how many days God has allotted any of us to live on this earth. 2.) All that we have and whatever it is, we have managed to possess in this life will not go with us when we die. It will belong to someone else. 3.) What is important in this life is not our learning to store up earthly treasure but our preparing ourselves to inherit that of the kingdom, that is, to receive the riches of God that He longs to give us both now and in the life to come. AMEN+
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