Rich Toward God

Colossians 3: 1-11 Luke 12: 13-21

How many of us have had move from a large house into a smaller space. It has been said that for every year you live in a house, you accumulate 1000 pounds of stuff. My mom who lived in her house for over twenty years accumulates over 2000 pounds per year, you do the math. Over ten years ago I helped move my mother from a large two story house with full basement into smallish a two bedroom condominium. It was daunting to say the least. It took one large yard sale, a couple of dumpster runs, and even some stealth throwing away of junk to get my mom to downsize her stuff into a manageable amount for her smaller space.

What amazed me were the contents of her basement. Deep beneath the stairs which went into her cellar were hidden a multitude of rusty and moldy treasures, jars upon jars of rusty nails and screws, broken fans and pots missing handles. There were even extension cords with cloth coverings. But what most surprised me were the old cans of food that she kept in her hidey hole. One shelf upon another held a large number of cans of soup, stew and vegetables. I found jars of tomatoes and fruit that she canned herself when I was a young child. You see, my mom kept a large stash of food hidden her home because she remembered times where she had no food. She grew up in Poland during World War II, most of which she and her family spent imprisoned in a German Labor Camp. Before the war, her family lived comfortably, but then they lost everything when the Nazis invaded Poland. They went from having more than enough to having absolutely nothing. My mother knew first hand what it was like to go hungry and it was the fear of it happening again that drove her to stash food away as a guarantee that she will never go hungry again. Unfortunately, by the time I found all the food in the basement it was not fit to eat because the cans were at least ten years old.

I admit that I have picked up my mother’s tendency to hoard. It is as if it were part of my DNA. Although I did not feel the hunger that she felt growing up in war torn Poland, I feared the hunger almost as much as she did. I find that when I feel especially anxious about scarcity I take more than what I need so that I can gain sense of security, by hiding myself behind the cans of food in my pantry to protect myself from an unknown disaster that is surely lurking around the corner.

I have come to believe that the fear of scarcity is part and parcel of the human condition and some note that our culture perpetuates this fear by telling us that we are in an unending battle to overcome scarcity and it is only through the competitiveness of our capitalistic marketplace that we are saved from all going hungry. However it is this mindset that causes us to create the very scarcity that we fear (1) and left up to our own devices our inclination is to take more than we need and toward stockpile resources rather than distributing them in such a way that all may have what they need. Our fear overcomes our ability to have compassion. It would seem impossible for us to transcend our fear but the gospel reminds us that “those who store up treasures for themselves…are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12: 21)

Prior to this morning’s passage in the Gospel, Jesus was preaching to his disciples to fearlessly confess their faith in God always even if they are in a situation where they are risking their lives for giving such a confession. Then out of the blue a person in his audience interrupts him asking him to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance with him. Now in Jesus’ time, it was not uncommon to seek the help of a religious teacher in matters of inheritance. The bible has much to say regarding who should get what when a family patriarch dies, however Jesus dismisses this request with a parable about how the accumulation of things is not way to lasting security.

The rich farmer has just gotten a bumper crop. As the farmer thinks about what to do with his excess crop he seems to contemplates concern for himself alone, “What should I do? For I have no place to store my crops?” (12: 17) So the solution he comes up with serves himself alone, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, there I will store all my grain and goods.” (12: 18) Do you hear a pattern here, I….I….My, I….I….My, I…My, the farmer sounds just like a two year old. Some say that the farmer has “fallen prey to worshiping the most popular of gods: the Unholy Trinity of ‘me, myself and I’” (2)

Now, we must remember that the scriptures do not speak against saving for the future. All you have to do is read the story of Joseph in the Hebrew Scriptures (or see the musical Joseph and the Technicolor Dream coat), to see how storing up excess in the fat years to carry a community through the lean years is a part of proper stewardship of God’s bounty. (3) However, in the case of the rich farmer in the parable we find that he is not concerned with proper stewardship that takes into account well being for all of God’s creation. Instead he seems more concerned with his own need to accumulate in excess, to keep more than he needs so that one day he can “relax, eat, drink and be merry.” (12: 19) It is noted that “He is not foolish because he is making provision for the future; he is foolish because he thinks his wealth can secure his future.” (4) The parable takes a sharp turn and the rich farmer dies. As he stands before God, God says to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (12: 20) Basically the rich man is a fool because he put his possessions in place of God or as Luke would say, the rich man was not being “rich toward God.”

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he tells his readers to set their minds “on things above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col. 3:2) To clothe oneself with a new self “which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” (3:10) What happens is nothing short of transformation, where we see the world through God’s eyes and our discernment always takes into account the well being of all God’s creation and faith that in all things God will take care of us.

This is a timely message for us all as we are in a time of economic uncertainty in our country. Many in our community both inside and outside of our church are grappling with the reality of losing jobs, losing homes, losing our very way of life. Now more than ever is the time for us to rely upon the power of God’s grace as shown to us through Jesus. It is now more than ever that we need to be open to the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom on earth. Now more than ever we need let go of our fear and become rich toward God. This means using our resources for the benefit of our neighbor’s in need, just as the Good Samaritan did. This means prayfully trusting that God will provide our daily bread just as Jesus taught us in praying the Lord’s prayer. This means believing that God has blessed all of creation abundantly and investing all that we are on the eternal economy of Christ’s grace and mercy. (5)

May it be so.

Amen.

(1) Frances Moore-Lappe “The Scarcity Myth” Seasons of the Spirit Congregational Life – Pentecost 1 (Inver Grove Heights, Minn: Logos Productions, Inc, 2008), 112.
(2) Davis Lose, “Stewardship Season Already” http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?tab=4 (accessed July 31, 2010)
(3) Stephen L. Cook, David Lyon Bartlett, and Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word. Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary Year C. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 312.
(4) David Lose, “Stewardship Season Already” (accessed July 31, 2010).
(5) Feasting on the Word. 314-315.