Luke 12:13-21
Last week I had the opportunity
to travel with the high school youth to Seattle for a mission trip. Our trip was organized through Flathead
Lutheran Bible Camp in Montana. Our main
mission was to better understand homelessness in the city of Seattle and at
large. We spent time assisting with a
variety of feeding ministries throughout Seattle. We served dinner at three homeless shelters,
prepared and served a lunch for over 200 people, and visited the compass
center, which is the umbrella of services for the homeless population in
Seattle.
The
opportunity to serve was wonderful, but I think the conversations we had were
even more meaningful. We were able to
sit down and talk with our homeless brothers and sisters at each of these
service opportunities. It was through
those conversations that we learned that the face of homelessness is different
than our preconceived ideas had led us to believe. Homeless people are a lot like us in many
ways. They are educated. They have traveled. They have had or still do have items that are
worth a decent amount of money. They
have nice clothes and look put together.
If you saw them on the street you might not even know that they are
homeless. They don’t carry all their
belongings around with them. They have
jobs. They are appreciative of what they
have. They are trying to get out of
homelessness. Of course all of those
things are not true for every homeless person we met, but many of them shocked
us with their stories of somewhat normal lives that had been turned upside down
in one swift moment. Often it was
difficult for them to talk about that one moment that had changed their life
and made them homeless, but they were very quick to tell us about how their
lives had been and what they had done.
Their willingness to share their stories helped us recreate the image of
homelessness in our minds. Homelessness
is no longer faceless for us. We now
know some of the faces of homelessness.
This
experience made me read our text for today in a different light. In the homeless shelters that we visited
individuals have permanent beds. At the
foot of each bed is a space for them to keep their belongings. That space is two plastic totes or bins. The lids must be able to close and they are
stacked. I tried to imagine what I would
put into those two plastic containers and I couldn’t even begin to think of
what I would have to get rid of to downsize that far. All it takes is an immersion in urban
homelessness to realize that I am like the rich man. We are like the rich man.
Want to make
this parable more contemporary? Ariel,
from the Little Mermaid, is also like the rich man. You remember her little tune:
Look at this
stuff, isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you
think my collection's complete?
Wouldn't you
think I'm the girl
The girl who
has everything?
Look at this
trove, treasures untold
How many
wonders can one cavern hold?
Looking
around here, you'd think
Sure, she's
got everything.
I've got
gadgets and gizmos a-plenty
I've got
who's-its and what's-its galore
You want thing-a-mabobs?
I've got
twenty
But who
cares? No big deal. I want more.
It is so
very easy to be greedy. It is so easy to
tear down our barns and build bigger ones, doing so only so we have more room
to keep things for ourselves. This text
confronts us, you and me, and it confronts our habits of greed. It confronts our sinful nature. “St. Augustine once said that God gave us
people to love and things to use, and sin, in short, is the confusion of these
two things.” Our love of things is what
gets us in trouble. It distracts us from
loving the people around us, which was God’s intention.
Sure
having money provides stability for us and our family, which is important. Money creates jobs, which allow others to
have an income. Money provides shelter,
food, clothes, and transportation. Money
does benefit us, but it is not meant to be stored up in a greedy way. Money can be used to bless the lives of
others, too. It can be shared. Money in some ways gives us life. It does not give us the life that Jesus
promises to us. It does not provide
full, abundant, eternal life. Money is
only temporary. It is only needed here
on earth. It is not needed in
death. “A seasoned pastor once said, “I
have heard many different regrets expressed by people nearing the end of life,
but there is one regret I have never heard expressed. I have never heard anyone
say, ‘I wish I hadn’t given so much away. I wish I had kept more for myself.’”
Death has a way of clarifying what really matters.”
All it takes
is the words Jesus says to the rich man to make us consider how we live our
lives. Jesus says, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded
of you. And the things you have prepared
whose will they be?” If your life was
demanded of you today who will inherit your things? Will they benefit your next of kin, maybe a
spouse or child? Are they intended to be
given to some of your favorite causes?
Will they be used richly toward God?
Jesus’ words, even though they may sound a bit scary and fearful, should
point us in the right direction.
That
direction is back to the promises made at our baptism. In the waters of baptism we shed our sinful
clothing and are clothed with Christ. We
die with Christ and are raised with him as well. In that dying we are to put to death our
earthly desires, according to Colossians.
That list of earthly desires includes greed and a myriad of other things. In letting go of greed and other earthly
desires we are made new by Christ and his love for us. In letting go of greed we also are freed to
be rich toward God.
So, instead
of living like the rich man, tearing down our barns and building larger ones,
or like Ariel, singing of all the things that we want, let’s live proclaiming a
different story, let’s live singing the story of the abundant gifts God has
given. Let’s proclaim the story of salvation that was given to us in our
baptism through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. And in response to all that has been given to
us let’s be rich toward God. Amen.
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