Deceived By Abundance
by Jim Westmoreland
It is good to be home, not to a rented room or a borrowed room, but home to my own place and space. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, how many of us have also said, “There’s no place like home.” During this time away, I have been enriched by my grandchildren and by my daughter and her husband. And, I have been deepened, challenged and stimulated by participating in the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which met in Ft. Worth.
My clothes are all unpacked, but I am still unpacking all that I heard and experienced. Please pray for me as I seek to balance the important and pressing needs of the present with the hopeful, but challenging ideas and insights of my experiences at General Assembly.
The Theme for the week at General Assembly was Share the Feast, which was based on Matthew's account of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000 men. Throughout the week we heard faith stories of how God was working through people to start brand new churches by getting people into home bible studies in the cities, in the suburbs and in rural areas, in the U.S. and around the world. It happened because people who thought they only had a little time, or a little apartment to meet in, or a little or no experience reaching out to others began offering what they had to God, and He has been providing the increase.
This morning’s reading from Luke focuses not on offering our small offering, as the boy did his loaves and fish, but on one who kept everything to himself. For many of us, it is our nature to tighten up whenever anyone starts talking about money. “Just preach the Bible and don’t meddle talking about money” is the feeling of some. Did you know that the Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions! Isn’t that great?
The old Jack Benny radio program had a sketch of Jack being robbed at gunpoint. Jack Benny made a living acting like he was the tightest man alive. In the sketch the robber says to Jack, "Hey bud, your money or your life." He got no reply. He said, "Hey, I said your money or your life." Jack replied, "Don't rush me, I'm thinking, I'm thinking! We laugh at that idea, but Jesus' parable makes us stop and think it over.
It is easy for us to be deceived by money and possessions.
Money and possessions represent many things: security, power, prestige and self-esteem, independence, enjoyment, freedom from anxiety and worry. The list goes on and on. It is important that we face the dangers and temptations that come from living in a very materialistic society.
Most churches have members and friends in a wide range from financially secure to profoundly worried about money. In a country of enormous wealth and persistent poverty how do we help each other wrestle with the question of wealth and material goods in relation to our spiritual welfare? How does this parable from the Gospel of Luke speak to the subject of financial wellness, and how does that relate to our relationship with God? Why is it that we are often afraid to talk about money in church?
Have you ever fantasized about receiving a windfall of money, and how it would make you feel relieved and secure at last? Do you think you would be free of worries? Isn't that what happened to the rich farmer in today's parable? True, he started out with advantages in his society, where a tiny percentage of folks actually owned land. On top of that, his harvest that year was staggering and he had to tear down his barns and build new ones to hold it!
It's always interesting to think about what might be in the minds of those listening to Jesus, and it's not unreasonable to think they might remember the story of Joseph in Genesis, when he built new barns to hold the abundant harvests during the "fat" years so the people would have enough to eat during the "lean" years. Jesus' story undoubtedly rang a bell somewhere in their memories. But, Joseph wasn't plotting for his own profit and he wasn't motivated by greed. The rich fool, however, thought only of himself. From the telling of the parable, that's all he had, anyway, and he even had to carry on his "financial planning" all alone. He seems to be completely turned in on himself and his own future, however lonely it might be (and we wonder how could this life be "merry!").
In this section of Luke we find much more than this parable. In fact, Jesus is addressing the question of value, of our value, and he tells us that we are precious in God's sight, so we shouldn't worry about "stuff" or believe that any storehouse of treasures equals “real” wealth.
The rich fool doesn't seem like an evil man who has cheated and stolen his wealth; like all of us, he's benefited from the rain that falls on good and evil alike. The trap he falls into is in his next steps: when he has a windfall, he doesn't run into the village celebrating and announcing his plan to share his good fortune with the community, let alone get their help with deciding how to deal with this excellent problem. He stays inward, and figures that he can be self-sufficient and secure because of his wealth. Eleven times he uses the first-person ("I" and "my") and never "our" or "their." Several commentaries point out the irony that the community, unaware of his solitary thoughts, will inherit his bounty and probably think well of him!
It's tempting to think that Jesus is opposed to material things and wealth. But it's much deeper than that: he knows their seductive power, and he wants to clear the way for us to receive much greater blessings and joy. The anxiety of the man about the inadequacy of his barns mirrors our preoccupation with handling our possessions, protecting them with security systems, investing them safely, and worrying about them. It's not that such things are irresponsible or wrong, but they can distract us from what is really important. As beloved children of God, we have a Parent who wants to give us good things, if we can just make room in our lives for them!
We're used to looking for the price tag on items, and miss the incalculable worth of our own lives, how precious we are in God's eyes–not just some of us, but all of us. That value is not correlated with the value of our possessions, either. And because of that, when there's an abundance of goods, sharing is the way to go. That was the mistake of the rich fool. He could have known an incomparable joy in the short time he had left, if he had spread out the abundance among the community.
The rich fool has used his wealth to set himself up as a kind of "god" who can ensure his own welfare." The deceit of abundance, the seduction of wealth, is the illusion it gives us of control over our lives." What is "rich toward God?" "This is the wealth we acquire when, trusting the future to God, we unselfishly use what is given us. The way to real life is to give our lives away." Could this be what it means to "love God back?"
Richard Swanson, in Provoking the Gospel of Luke, observes that the rich fool "imagines that his fields have produced for him, and that such abundance exempts him from future work, and (more crucially) from present sharing. Economies work because they are knit together. Both earning and sharing are essential to the fabric of God's world." Swanson finds a way to bridge the gap between two very different socio-economic settings, and to shine the light of the gospel on both.
Not only would the man himself die, unable to enjoy his good
fortune: the treasure he stored would be subject to decay and go
to waste: "When the fruits of the earth are not used to enhance
the life of the earth, they lose their value; they spoil and even
decompose. Life itself is the far greater good; goods only
enhance life."
Alan Culpepper writes in his commentary article on this
passage, "Practical Atheism: This is Peter Rhea Jones's
provocative term for the rich fool's approach to life. The rich
fool may protest that he has always believed in God, but when it
comes to managing his life, dealing with possessions and
planning for the future, he lives as though there were no God.
The parable, therefore, probes our basic commitments. What
difference should our faith in God make in the practical matters
of life?"
We have been learning in the Gospel of Luke just
what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. Today we have
a powerful lesson on the obstacle of greed that might block our
path along the way.
In the movie Shenandoah, James Stewart plays a Virginia farmer during the Civil War years. He begins every meal with the same prayer: "Lord, I planted the seeds, I plowed the ground, I gathered in the harvest. If I hadn't of put the food on the table it wouldn't be here. But we thank you anyway." We had all better understand the role of grace and mystery in life or we too might fall pray to the sin of thinking too highly of ourselves.
When we hoard everything into our barns, our containers of wealth and security, caring about justice and the needs of others will be a distant thought. And yet, Justice is not optional for Christians. Justice is essential. Jesus tells us that at Judgment Day we will be judged not by how nice we are to those like ourselves, but by how generous we are to those we deem to be the least among us. If we want to see Jesus, we have to see him in them, to serve him in them.
Justice is not separate from spirituality. Justice is spirituality. Spirituality is not sentimentality, but hard work. Unlike material wealth, spirituality cannot be hoarded. We cannot freeze-dry manna. God supplies it in ample quantity, but only one day at a time.
TV, movies, and magazines effectively market the security for which we all yearn. We strive to build bigger barns every way we can, but what barn can we trust finally? How big is the bank deposit box we need for our soul's sake? Can we rent a storage unit to hoard abundant life? What kind of insulation will ward off the chill of whatever is coming? Should we get a security system to warn of the inevitable? Will even a steel door lock out the end?
In the magazines, they have perfect closets. One woman commented, “I flip through pages in the closet sections and my heart sings. Ah, to be the queen of closets the size of small countries! To be the mistress of ample storage with order and room for everything, like stuff I need but just not right this minute or maybe not this decade.”
Even in our biggest, deepest closet, we cannot store life. We cannot lock out death. We and our closets and possessions all float on the Titanic, and we know deep down how the trip always ends. Our endless dilemma is that all our wisdom, all our work, all the days of worrying, all the restless nights -- none of it can store life.
Help us, God, to look up from our house plans and stock quotes and even our church budgets. Help us to listen for the word that refuses to be market-driven. Teach us about the shadowy deceit of the things we work so hard to get. Help us to listen for the Voice who can lead us not into another closed closet but into abundant life. Help us to turn, with all the energy and richness of our very being, to you, Oh God. Help us to choose what is truly important and live! Amen.
Century Christian Church, August 5, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
