Luke 12:13-21
Today’s gospel begins with a brother bringing Jesus a dispute over an inheritance. But instead of arbitrating between the man and his brother, Jesus tells one of his parables, cautioning the crowd first, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions.” (v. 15)
In the Contemporary English Version or CEV translation, he says, “Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.”
And then, Jesus tells the story of a man who has a problem. The problem the man thinks he has is that he has stored up so much of his harvest that he needs to build bigger barns to keep all his crops and goods.
This man isn’t someone you’d see on “American Pickers”, who has barns filled with old treasures and junk, or a hoarder who has stacks of newspapers towering in the study and closets filled with paper towels because they were on sale. He hasn’t just let the attic overflow with boxes of stuff. His problem won’t be solved by a good spring cleaning, decluttering, or a yard sale.
As Jesus tells us the story, we see that the man’s problem isn’t what he thinks it is. His problem isn’t the abundance of crops and goods, possessions and things. Or, maybe it is, but having enough storage for his things is not the cause of the problem.
If you have watched "Seinfeld" maybe you remember a scene when Jerry, George and Kramer are in a locker room after a basketball game and they’re talking about a fourth player named Jimmy who was really on top of his game. And then Jimmy comes in the locker room and talks about himself in the third person for the whole conversation. “Jimmy played pretty good.” “Jimmy couldn’t jump at all before he got these training shoes.” “Jimmy will see you around.”
Like Jimmy, this man in this story only refers to himself; six times in fact he addresses himself and his soul, questioning how he can solve his problem and proposing a solution that would leave him with “ample goods laid up for many years.” (v 19): “What should I do?” “I have no place” “I will do this” “I will pull down” “I will store” and “I will say”.(v. 17-19)
He was a rich man, so it’s unlikely he worked his own fields, and yet, he never mentions the people who helped him prepare the land and reap the harvest; he never mentions his neighbors or community, or even family; and, of course, he never mentions God.
This kind of self-centeredness and individualism is the very turning in on oneself that is Martin Luther’s definition of sin.
And, then, there is his lack of compassion. As a rich man in Jesus’ time, in what was a subsistence economy, his neighbors would have been more concerned about “daily bread” – where their next meal was coming from – than whether they could “eat, drink and be merry” in the future.
While the story is set more than two thousand years ago, it remains relevant to us today. While many of us have refrigerators, freezers and pantry shelves filled with groceries, many of our neighbors right here in Shelby and Cleveland County experience poverty, homelessness and food insecurity every day. Even when people are employed often their earnings aren’t enough to pay for housing, food and medical expenses. And, of course, it’s not just adults. As much as kids love summer vacation, the start of school means many children and teenagers will eat free breakfasts and lunches again after a lean summer. So even in 2019, for many families, like our ancestors in faith, the concern isn’t where to store an abundance, but whether they have “daily bread”.
Going back to the parable: is it really that surprising that God calls this man a fool?
His disregard for others impoverishes him in ways he doesn’t even recognize.
Artist James B. Janknegt (jankneg), in his painting “The Rich Fool” shows “Death” – a skeleton dressed in a dark robe – and the rich man at a dining room table in a large empty house while in a more modest, neighboring house, eight people including children are gathered around a table together and there is a fenced-in yard and toys by the front door. While the rich man has his ample crops and goods, he has no one to share them with and no community where he belongs and is loved.
And that brings us back to Jesus’ initial warning:
“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions.”
The writer of Ecclesiastes has learned this lesson. We only have a few verses from the book’s first two chapters, but the rest of those chapters tell the story of one who went searching for meaning and found great wisdom but no satisfaction. Wartburg College religion professor Walter Bouzard notes that, the writer, who is called the “Teacher” continues searching “in pleasures of sensuality, labor and wealth” but ultimately “declares all these activities to be equally vain” or pointless.[i]
What the Teacher discovers,
and what the rich fool fails to learn,
is that the “stuff of life” is not “stuff” at all.
Life is not found in work, wealth, pleasure or achievement.[ii]
Life is found in the relationships we build and cherish, in the communities where we live and give of ourselves, and, especially here in our context as a community of followers of Jesus, in our faith.
Today’s texts remind us that our own efforts can not deliver security, safety or salvation.
That is the rich fool’s problem. Either he fails to acknowledge that all he is and has comes from God or he is ignorant of the truth and does not see that God provides both his daily bread and his hope for the future.
The Good News is that, forgiven of our sin and reconciled to God, our security, our safety, and our salvation are in Christ Jesus. As Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin….having died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:6, 8)
Even as we rest confident in God’s reconciling and redeeming grace, as we listen to Jesus tell this cautionary tale, we are encouraged to ask ourselves how we are like the rich fool and how we are poor in the sight of God:
When has avarice, greed, or arrogance closed my eyes to the ways God has provided for me?
Who have I overlooked as I rest in the safety and security that I enjoy?
Where do I find life – with God and in community?
Today especially, with the echoes of gun violence again reverberating through our lives after shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, Jesus’ warning that “things cannot make our lives safe” brings us again to the cross – empty-handed, heavy-hearted and gut-wrenched at the death of dozens of innocents – where we meet the One in whom we find safety, security and life.
Let us pray…
Wondrous God,
We give thanks for Your Son Jesus who reconciles us to You,
even when we sin and fall short,
failing to love as we are loved.
Guard us against all kinds of greed and idolatry
and set our minds on the ways of Your Kingdom.
Lead us by Your Holy Spirit to abundant life in relationship with You and our neighbors.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
[i] Walter C. Bouzard. “Working Preacher Commentaries.” Workingpreacher.org, 2016.
[ii] ibid
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