19 August 2007
Luke 1213Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
What are you reading this summer?
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Evolution’s Captain by Peter Nichol
The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake by Samuel Bawlf
Gonzo Marketing by Christopher Locke
Basilica by R.A. Scotti
Rough Crossings by Simon Schama
Summer in Canada is a time for rest and relaxation. Sure we don’t have as many weeks of holiday as the French or the Germans, but Canadians seem to make the most of the warm months. We head for water. Lakes, rivers, oceans: we have an almost primordial urge to sit by the edge of the water and relax. Reading Evolution’s Captain, it seems clear that we’re just heading home, back to the ooze that gave birth to us, back to the very spot where we sprouted legs and began the long march to the office.
We sit somewhere between the Americans and the Europeans. If you haven’t seen Michael Moore’s new movie Sicko yet, don’t wait. It is a remarkable film. For all the praise of Canada and the brief mention of Tommy Douglas, we come off looking like healthcare curmudgeons compared to the French. So we sit in between. The same goes for work and leisure. We don’t have the insatiable urge to make money that our American cousins have, but we don’t understand “the good life” in the same way that Europeans understand it. Full-time is 35 hours a week in France, with a minimum of five weeks of holiday. The US minimum is one week.
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Jesus loved to talk about money. He didn’t say much about vacation days or healthcare, but he was a volunteer who did his own healing. But get him on the topic of money and he couldn’t keep quiet. Forty percent of his parables are about money, second only to the Kingdom of God, which doesn’t really count since the Kingdom is the theme of all the parables. Ask him a question, he would turn the conversation to money. He had a lot to say.
This morning we began with a plea: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Now, why this man thought that Jesus was an arbiter of estate planning disputes seems a little puzzling. But people brought lots of problems to Jesus, and this day was no different. Jesus won’t arbitrate. He will, however, use this as an occasion to tell a parable:
“The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build bigger barns, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
Notice I didn’t include the little editorial note that Luke attached to the end of the parable: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” Luke writes to inspire us with the story of Jesus but also to instruct new believers who may be slow to get the gist of these parables. He kind of wrecks the point. Parables were meant to be puzzles, stories that make you go away and think and then suddenly get the point late at night when it’s too hot to sleep. They were never meant to be explained, and so we ignore the editorial comments.
As you can imagine, my description of how parables work runs counter to the enterprise of sermon-writing. Most often the preacher explains the parable, once again robbing you of the opportunity to figure it out yourself, and further, to be commended or convicted by it’s meaning. So I should sit down. But I won’t, because, of course, I have more to say.
Friday morning I was listening to a program called “Feeling the Heat,” prepared by Ian Hanomansing. It’s a regular look at how Canadians can be environmentalists and practical at the same moment. Apropos for a week of 30 degree plus heat.
The phrase of the day was “eco-narcissism,” a term coined to describe the people who think they can buy their way out of the environmental crisis we all face. They are the new green consumers, purchasing so-called environmentally friendly products to assuage their consciences and continue the consumerist patterns that we were all reared in. As the New York Times described it, there are some who believe the hemp-fiber sheets and $245 organic cotton Levi's will somehow same the planet. Even the humble hybrid gets it, as consumers choose greener cars over public transit. Jesus has one word for them: bigger barns. Our green saviour would wonder out loud if living with less might be the answer, rather than perpetuation the culture of consumption that is killing our planet. After all, he sent the disciples out (on foot) without GPS and without a second pair of organic cotton Levi's.
We are a security obsessed people. Long before 9-11 and global terror we lived with a constant fear of the future. Fear sells. You need a firewall to keep the past safe, an cellphone to keep the present safe and a RRSP to keep the future safe. You are continually at risk, you can’t trust anyone (least of all your neighbours) and disaster can strike at any moment (so we are told). Jesus has one word for this culture of fear: bigger barns. Storing all that excess grain will not safeguard your life, or add to it, or make it any more meaningful. It just won’t.
The key here (without explaining the parable) is security versus gratitude. One is hard to define and harder to achieve, and the other is the stance we are called to pursue. In all our striving for security we forget to stop and be grateful for all we have. Security is a pursuit that ignores others (or worse, tries to overcome others) and gratitude only opens us up to others. We are called to be those grateful people, looking beyond ourselves, and open to all that God gives us.
It is gratitude that will save the planet, it is gratitude that will overcome fear, it is gratitude that will help us truly understand the parables of our Lord. Grateful people act for others, grateful people set aside fear and grateful people know the grace of living every day with God’s many gifts. May we feel and know this blessing, today and every day, amen.
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