For what it’s worth, in my opinion, our reading from Luke’s gospel this morning is difficult. It starts with a man asking Jesus for a legal ruling, and it ends with the story about the man who decided to build more storage to house a bumper crop. Neither, on the face of it, would seem to be a bad thing. But Jesus seems quite unsympathetic to both. Why?
It’s not so much the case these days, but rabbis in Jesus’ day functioned, really, like judges. They interpreted the law of Moses in legal disputes. They also taught. We translate the term “rabbi” as “teacher.” But they not only taught the law, they issued judgements to settle disputes (like Moses did). Back then, they really didn’t function the way Christian ministers do. They really weren’t pastors, except in the sense that they settled legal disputes. They might sort out problems between members of the community that way.
So it is not unreasonable that the man in the crowd asked Jesus, as a rabbi, to settle his legal dispute with his brother. Presumably his older brother, since that’s where the power would have been. It was not uncommon for some small portion of an estate to be shared with younger sons – sometimes even during the lifetime of the father (like in the story of the “prodigal” son) – even though the vast majority of the estate would go to the older brother.
Presumably the father had died, and the older brother wasn’t sharing. The younger brother wanted a piece of the estate. My first thought was that perhaps Jesus was reading his heart and finding it greedy. But when I thought about it, he’s rejecting the whole idea that he should sit in judgement over other people – even though that was the accepted role of rabbis. “… who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”
I’m reminded that Jesus was not much of a rule-maker or lawgiver. No, Jesus told stories to make his point. And, at least in my mind, the point of his stories was usually about how to be in relationship with others. And when I say others, I’m not just talking people. I’m also talking God and creation in general. That seems to be the case here.
Jesus introduces today’s story by telling his hearers: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
In his story, a rich man’s land produced an abundant crop. And this rich man seemingly confused this abundance with the life of his soul. He makes plans to build a bigger barn and store up his goods to provide for many years in which he can simply eat, drink and be merry. He seems to equate this with the well-being of his soul.
God does not seem to cross his mind. The well-being of other people does not seem to cross his mind. The idea that he might have been entrusted with this abundance for some useful purpose does not seem to cross his mind. For him, the good life seems to mean enjoying life, coasting through life, without having to do any kind of work. He has ample stuff, now, to make this possible.
I want to be careful here. Because Jesus’ incarnation, God taking flesh in the person of Jesus, means that for us what happens in this world must be taken seriously. And also because when people do not have enough, they often suffer and die without ever having an opportunity to become what God meant them to be. We are not a religion, in spite of God’s care for the birds and flowers of the field, which ignores or minimalises the needs of this world.
But maybe the point of the story is that we can equally fail to become what God means us to be because we have so much “stuff” that we are isolated from need (and end up focused on the “stuff” and not on our relationship with all that surrounds us). Maybe it’s a question of where our focus is. Are we focused on earthly stuff or on the things that bring true life? And I think that’s our relationships.
The rich man in Jesus’ story is going to die that very night, before he can enjoy the stuff he’s making plans to use for years. Where is his soul then? What good will what he treasures do him after he’s dead? It does us no good, Jesus says, to store up treasures for ourselves if we are not rich towards God.
What do our practices with regard to things (which we usually think we own, but which ultimately we may just be stewards for) say about our relationship with God and God’s plans? God calls us to live lives oriented towards building up our relationships with God and our neighbor (and I would add the things of God’s creation). Does the way we use the stuff of our lives contribute towards living this kind of a life. Or is our stuff our treasure and our focus in living? Where your treasure is, Jesus tells us only a few verses later, is where your heart will be. Where is your heart? With God? Or with stuff?
And, of course, this doesn’t mean that Jesus has laid down the law and said that we must live in poverty or that we cannot be wealthy if we want to follow God. But it does mean that Jesus is challenging us to think about what it means to follow God and how our relationship with our stuff effects how well we follow God.
Jesus doesn’t say you can’t have stuff.
Jesus invites you to think about how your relationship with your stuff effects your relationship with God.
And he quite clearly warns us that our relationship with stuff can seriously undermine our relationship with our God.
Our lives, our true lives in God, do not consist in the abundance of our possessions …
The Sunset Juggler (formerly The Dragon's Mouth) 