The Riches of God
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In the story we have today, I feel one of the most pressing questions that you're probably thinking about is, why does this person in the crowd feel that Jesus is the right person to talk to about splitting the inheritance between him and his brother. The answer to that question is that it became custom, and even more so after Jesus’ time, to ask a rabbi about these kinds of issues becuase they were the ones who knew the law and the Torah pretty much by heart. So this person in the crowd, believing that Jesus was a rabbi like any other rabbi, tells him to properly interpret the inheritance laws so that he would get his share. Even though Jesus doesn’t say it directly we can see by Jesus’ response that he is not claiming that role of interpreter/judge/arbiter between him and his brother. yet, think back to the parable of the prodigal son that we talked about earlier this year and how according to the law the oldest son would receive a double portion of the inheritance while all other sons would receive a single portion. We see this law come from Deuteronomy 21:17 so there is a very clear precedent and law that all sons should in fact receive a portion of the family inheritance.
Jesus seems less concerned with what the law says about the legality of it all and is more concerned with what this man’s heart is focused on. Jesus’ response indicates that the man is more worried about the desire to have money and what he is entitled to having, than he is about anything else. Jesus is clearly more concerned about the greed that this causes than he is about the law or rightness of what the Torah says. Perhaps you yourself have experienced the pain and strain that comes from what to do with the inheritance left by a family member. I have heard too many stories of families ignoring the wishes written down by the loved one that passed and letting the greed that Jesus warns against take over. It has and will continue to cause families to break apart.
The juxtaposition that Jesus places before the two brothers and all of us is between one’s life and the abundance of possessions. Which leads him directly into the parable he tells. Something we really have to pay attention to is that this man isn’t building larger barns in order to accommodate the abundance of the harvest so that he can then sell them. Whether or not this man makes his living off selling his crops he is clearly keeping an overabundance for himself so that he can live for many years without having to do anything. His entire goal over the years, is once again not to sell them, or to give them away for the benefit of those in need, it is simply so that he can relax, eat, drink, and be merry. Jesus is telling us that our lives is not about what we possess in our barns or storage units. Life is more than what we own or what wear, or what we drive.
As I was reading a commentary it had this story in it which drives home Jesus’ point exactly. Florence Ferrier was a social worker in poverty-stricken Appalachia. The story he recorded is called "We Ain't Poor! “The Sheldons were a large family in severe financial distress after a series of misfortunes. The help they received was not adequate, yet they managed their meager income with ingenuity -- and without complaint. One fall day I visited the Sheldons in the ramshackle rented house they lived in at the edge of the woods. Despite a painful physical handicap, Mr. Sheldon had shot and butchered a bear which strayed into their yard once too often. The meat had been processed into all the big canning jars they could find or swap for. There would be meat in their diet even during the worst of the winter when their fuel costs were high. Mr. Sheldon offered me a jar of bear meat. I hesitated to accept it, but the giver met my unspoken resistance firmly. "Now you just have to take this. We want you to have it. We don't have much, that's a fact; but we ain't poor!" I couldn't resist asking, "What's the difference?" His answer proved unforgettable."When you can give something away, even when you don't have much, then you ain't poor. When you don't feel easy giving something away even if you got more'n you need, then you're poor, whether you know it or not." I accepted and enjoyed their gift and treasured that lesson in living. In time, I saw it as a spiritual lesson, too. Knowing that all we have is provided by the Father, it seems ungracious to doubt that our needs will be met without our clinging to every morsel. When I feel myself resisting an urge to share what's mine -- or when I see someone sharing freely from the little he has -- I remember Mr. Sheldon saying, "We ain't poor!"”
Mr. Sheldon is right and clearly understands what Jesus was getting at when talking about greed. Greed is the desire to have more and more without the intention to use it for the sake of others. Mr. Sheldon’s story tells us that he wasn’t rich, and yet he had an abundance of meat at that time and felt compelled to share it. He also knew that being rich wasn’t about wealth or possessions, but in your ability to care for, and meet the needs of those who are also in need. And not just that, but to be generous when you do have abundance. We don’t know the ‘needs’ of the social worker Florence, and he probably didn’t need the meat, but it was offered out of love for the neighbor. What was the point of having all those barns if it meant that no one else was cared for with it? What is the point of an inheritance if it drives a rift in the relationship between the two brothers that Jesus told the parable for? What is the point of all that bear meat if not to make sure someone benefits from it’s nourishment?
This parable ties to all the passages in the Bible about the care for the poor, the needy and the outcast. There are countless examples of meeting the needs of others as well as a good number of passages in the Bible about not being greedy and how greed takes us away from our relationship with God becuase the desire for more and more replaces or at least places that above our relationship with God. Which goes against the commandment to not have another other gods before God.
We should also pay attention to the story that follows this one. It reminds us not to worry about the things of this life becuase God who cares for the lilies of the the field and the birds of the air cares for us even more so. And even though there is a gap between this story and when Jesus taught the disciples how to pray in what we talked about last week I believe it ties into that as well. I made a point that the Lord’s Prayer is corporate and it asks for the needs of all to be met. If greed concerns me with only me and what I possess then how am I to make sure the daily needs of my neighbor or those in need are also met? The answer is I can’t. If I can’t then I am not working toward the continual building of the kingdom that we are called to be a part of.
God calls us away from our self centeredness, away from our greed, and invites us into relationship with one another and with God. It is a reminder that the only thing God is greedy about is bringing about God’s love and grace and forgiveness to the WHOLE world. God desires for the most important needs to be met and that everything else will fall into place and when you do that, you will no be poor, but rich in a relationship with the God who gives us more than we could ever truly need in this life and the next. Amen.