FOOL’S GOLD
Pat Edmond’s reflection of August 4, 2019
Based on Luke 12:13-21
If you have ever taught a class or chaired a meeting you know there is always at least one person in the group who always gets the others off-topic, whether accidentally or on purpose. Let’s look at today’s scripture. The crowd is silent, listening to the words of the Great Teacher. Jesus is telling the people gathered there not to worry if they are called before the authorities. The Holy Spirit will tell them exactly how to defend themselves, what to say when the time comes. Pretty powerful words!
BUT that one person in the crowd is so wrapped up in his everyday problems he obviously is not paying any attention whatever to the Speaker. –and suddenly he breaks in and places a demand on Jesus. “Tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me”, he says. Off topic to say the least, but Jesus answers anyway by saying, “Friend, who set me to be judge or arbitrator over you?” Actually asking advice about legal matters was a role often fulfilled by the clergy in Biblical times. So although the timing may have been off, the request was not that unusual. However the man did not get the answer he was likely expecting. Jesus seizes the opportunity to deliver a lecture on the evils of greed including the Parable of the Rich Fool.
“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” – a very clear message to the man hoping to receive an inheritance and a very clear message to the others listening and a very clear message to us today! Some versions of the Bible use the word “covetousness” which does not roll trippingly off the tongue and others say “all kinds of greed.” What is greed? A definition we might like to consider is “wanting more of what you already have enough of”. Wanting more of what you already have enough of. Saying it that way may help us relate to this story from a long time ago. After all very few of us would like to think of ourselves as “greedy”, but “wanting more of what we already have enough of” sounds a lot more like you and me than is comfortable.
This parable is the story of a man who has worked hard and done very well for himself. He has not obtained his abundance by illegal means or by cheating others. He has worked hard. Through a combination of skill and luck and plain hard work, his investment and labor have paid off. He’s got this massive crop, too big to store in his barns, so he plans to tear down the inadequate storage barns and build bigger ones. This is his vision. Then he will relax, eat, drink and be merry for he has ample goods for many years. Sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it? Work hard for many years, retire and live off the fruits of his labor and probably a few RRSP’s on the side. Sounds like the great Canadian dream! But God puts a BIG wrinkle in these carefully laid earthly plans! For the man’s hours on earth are numbered. All his bounty and planning come to naught for his time on earth is over. The man dies and all his riches are of no use to him.
A few years ago The Rumors website told the story of a rich man. “You can’t take it with you,” said God to the wealthy man. But the man argued so long and so hard, that God finally gave in. “All right,” said God, “But you can only take what you can fit in one suitcase.” The man quickly sold all his assets and used the money to buy solid gold bars, with which he filled a suitcase. Happy, he died and went to heaven, suitcase in hand. At the pearly gates, the streets of gold gleaming in the distance, St. Peter demanded to know what was in the suitcase. The man opened it proudly and showed St. Peter the gold bars. St. Peter took a look and asked, “Paving stones?”
The message of today’s parable is NOT that God doesn’t like people who work hard and are successful. What happens to the rich man is not a denial of any of the good actions, the hard work or even the charitable things he may have done in his lifetime. Rather this is just one of those facts of life that happens to all of us, rich and poor, successful or struggling. Our life on earth is finite.
It’s not an easy story to hear, for it is difficult to face our own mortality.
And Jesus’ teachings around wealth and possessions may be even harder to follow for our age and generation than it was in Biblical times. In fact these teachings may be hardest to follow of all the commandments. After all, we are brought up to consume. My grandchildren, before they could hardly talk and certainly before they could read, were already bombarded with all sorts of messages that told them to have, to want, to need more and more things. As toddlers they already recognized certain brand names and products. In today’s society we’re trained to be consumers at a very early age and when we don’t consume we’re told that because consumers don’t have confidence, the economy is faltering. It seems if we’re not spending our money on goods and services that we already have enough of then we are causing our neighbors to be unemployed! So Jesus’ words that say “beware of greed of all kinds”, beware of wanting more of what you already have enough of, go against the grain of everything we have been taught by modern society.
The Romans had a proverb: “Money is like seawater; the more you drink the thirstier you become.” Yet money, or the things which money can buy, are a passion for many people. Howard Hughes made several billion in his lifetime. It was much more than he could possibly spend. If you spent a thousand dollars an hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, you’d need over 100 years to spend that billion. Why would men like Howard Hughes or J. Paul Getty strive to earn more money when they already had more than they could count, let alone spend? Surely not for happiness since each of them became more unhappy and lonely as their wealth increased. Much as the rich fool in Luke chapter 12, they died alone without anyone to inherit their bounty. And they couldn’t take it with them!
Jesus is asked to mediate an inheritance dispute between two brothers. Unfortunately, stories of this kind are often repeated in our time. Too often families can be divided forever because of such disputes. The very thought of such a thing happening can give nightmares to parents today. We never do find out the details of this story, but it must have been a troublesome time and help was needed. Very few inheritance disputes end happily for anyone involved. The good intentions to provide for relatives after death too often backfire and cause irreparable rifts.
But I found a very interesting inheritance story that gave me much food for thought.
A very rich man died and left his inheritance equally to his two sons. Now one son had married young in life and had a large and happy family. The other was still a bachelor. The night after the division of the estate the single man sat thinking in his living room. “Why did my father make such a mistake? Here’s my brother with all those mouths to feed, so many to provide for and no real joy in it. I’m quite comfortable. I’ve got more than I could ever use. Why did my father divide the estate equally?”
The other brother, when the children were tucked in bed and his wife was off working on some project of her own, thought to himself, “Why would my father divide the estate equally? Here am I surrounded by a loving family and all that joy, while my brother sits alone over in his house. I have my family to care for me, while he will need financial security for his future. Why divide the estate equally?” So each brother, that very night, resolved to place the majority of his inheritance in a suitcase and take it over and hide it where the other brother would find it and make good use of it. As they were doing just that, they met between their two homes and realizing what each had intended, fell into one another’s arms – meeting in love just as their father hoped they might! Because of their equal inheritance they became more aware of each other’s needs and less selfish than before.
All material things are given to us by our Creator to be enjoyed. But it’s easy to become enslaved by them. We find ourselves driven by the urge for more, more, more – more to eat, more to drink, more to wear, more expensive toys to entertain us, more to distract our minds. Every time we surrender to that inner urge for gratification, for more of the things we already have enough of, we lose a little more of that inner freedom that allows us to exercise one of our most important human powers – the power to choose.
To choose what? To choose being rich toward God! Jesus was rich toward God, yet he had nothing – no material possessions. He was born in a borrowed manger; He had no permanent home; He borrowed a boat to travel across the lake; He even borrowed a cross to carry to Calvary! Yet He gave his life for others. You are rich towards God in what you give away to others, not in what you accumulate. When people met Jesus, they realized that he believed in them so much, that they were never the same again. We can choose to give ourselves to others in such a way that that we make a difference in the lives of those we meet. And we don’t have to have great wealth in order to touch the lives of others in very meaningful ways. One of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th Century, Mother Teresa, had very little in the way of personal possessions or wealth. She was rich toward God. Mother Teresa once said, “It’s not what you do, but the love with which you do it. It’s not what you give, but the love with which you give it.” We can all be “rich toward God” as we allow his love to flow through us. Thanks be to God for his bountiful love and blessings. These are our true riches!
Let us pray:
If we ever speak of riches, O God, may we do so only with words about love. For the only riches we have in this world, despite its wealth and poverty, despite its overfeeding and its hunger, despite its power and its powerlessness is the amount of love we have for each other.
So in our poverty, bless us; in our shallowness, challenge us; in our materialism, confront us; and in our living, love us. Amen.