Possessed

Read: Luke 12:13-21

 

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - August 4, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

My brother-in-law has  favorite sayings which pop up now and again in conversation.

One of them is “This is the good life.”

It has become something of a family joke, and we laugh whenever he uses that line,

but it is interesting to note at what times the line tends to be used.

I suppose it might happen when one is rejoicing over a new car or some other major purchase, but I do not remember it ever being said then.

Much more likely is a time when the extended family is able to be together and we have just said the table blessing: “Ah, this is the good life, this chance to be together, at table, again. What a gift it is!”

Another time is when we are sitting on the farmhouse front porch as the sun colors the sky at sunset.

“Ah, this is the good life, things for which we can never pay, but can only receive as generous gifts from God.”

When it is used in these kinds of contexts, the line catches some of the flavor of Jesus' first pronouncement in the Gospel lesson today: ...one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

That sunset as a thing of beauty is available to us whether we have a Lexus, ...or no car at all.

We cannot conjure it up on demand, or control it; only receive it, enjoy it, point it out to others, and give thanks to God for the whole experience.

Ah, this is truly the good life.

 

So much of our time, our attitude is not one of appreciation and gratitude to God, but rather demanding and abrasive against God and our neighbor.

Here we can plug in our whole discussion from last week about prayer.

Think of our own prayer-life, how easy it is to begin complaining:

Why did this or that happen to me?

Why don't I have such and such?

I want...

Do you even care about me?

It's not fair to me about......

The problem is, of course, that each of those prayers has “I, me, or my” at the heart of the petition.

They are all about the things, opportunities, and possessions that I want, I demand of God.

And our appetite for them is insatiable.

We are all afflicted with this problem, sometimes in more noticeable degrees than at other times.

 

And what is God's judgment on them all?  “You fool.”

Aren't you being a little harsh here, Jesus?

After all, I Just want what is due to me!”

“You fool!”

 

The man who came to Jesus with his question did not come to listen to Jesus, but rather to demand that Jesus do what the man had already decided was his right.

He wanted enforcement, not learning.

Are our prayers like that?

Are we telling God what to do, and how and when to do it?

Or are we in a 2-way conversation that includes a lot of listening to God?

 

Perhaps someone will remember this from literature class,

an old short story entitled “The Appointment in Samarra”:

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. 

Death looked at me and made a threatening gesture,  now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. 

I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. 

The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. 

Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw Death standing in the crowd and he came to Death and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? 

That was not a threatening gesture, Death said, it was only a start of surprise. 

I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

You fool!

 

In Jesus story,

A man died and two sons survived him.

What was the inheritance he left behind?

Some folks may not have many objects who nevertheless leave a precious legacy that includes good character, strong values, time for others freely offered, and most of all, a love of the Lord Jesus.

But all that this man had left his sons was a pile of stuff and a week in court to sort it out.

And apparently the sons learned that lesson well.

All that he left them of importance when he died was a brother against brother struggle over who gets the goods.

One brother wanted to separate himself completely from the other, and tries to enlist Jesus into enforcing his predetermined outcome.

Jesus refuses to become a divider, since his task is the opposite, to be the ultimate reconciler between God and man, and among humanity.

To drive home the futility of the brother's demand, Jesus tells the story of the man who, when faced with a superabundant harvest, merely builds bigger barns.

“You fool,” Jesus pronounces him.

But why?

Isn't he doing what any prudent person should do?

 

Let's begin with a question:

What did he say in his prayer to God?

That was a trick question...there was no prayer!

He was talking only to himself; there was no prayer of thanksgiving, which we noted last week should begin all our prayers.

There was no recognition that all these crops were not his doing.

 

No matter if we use abundant rainfall or irrigation from wells, we do not make the crops grow this or any other year.

They are in truth gifts to us.

 

No matter how cleverly we use them, we did not make the brain that made all of our plans, nor the muscles to carry them out.

They are in truth a gift to us.

 

So if thanksgiving is the first step, what is next?

What are the choices?

1.Take what we want and let the rest rot.  We see that often.

2.Take everything, sell everything and waste it on riotous living.

3.Use what we need and share the rest.

4.Store what we don't need so that we won't need to work at all next year.

Number 4. is the option that he chooses.

It was all about himself.

“You fool,” Jesus labels him.

 

In our day to day lives, we have received much.

In our time together as church, we have received much.

What shall we do with it all?

If it is our right and our possession, then we will use it or waste it as we please, and no one else should say a word.

But if the things are God's gifts, then lots of words come into play:

thanksgiving, use well, share, invest, give, remember, praise....

Jesus is not interested in settling our property disputes; “foolish,” he calls them.

He is quite interested in changing our hearts:

“blessed” he calls them,

and that blessing will guide all that we say and do today,

all that we are and all that we hold, this day and always.

Ah, this is the good life.  Amen.