Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Tuesday Easter V - Luke 12:13-34
Tuesday Easter V
Daily Lectionary Readings: Leviticus 23:1-22; Luke 12:13-34; (Smalcald Articles: 3/1-3/2)
Luke 12:13-34
[13] Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” [14] But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” [15] And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” [16] And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, [17] and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ [18] And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. [19] And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ [20] But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ [21] So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
[22] And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. [23] For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. [24] Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! [25] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [26] If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? [27] Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [28] But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! [29] And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. [30] For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31] Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
[32] “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [33] Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. [34] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (ESV)
It is easy sometimes to wonder if Jesus is talking about us. After all, most of us don’t consider ourselves rich. Many of us are past the point in our lives where we are expecting anyone in our family to receive a vast inheritance, let alone be concerned about getting our fair share. So what does Jesus’ parable have to do with us?
Coveting sounds like a sin that doesn't apply. But greed can take many forms and lie hidden in one's heart. We don't know how or when it will manifest. When it does, it can be particularly destructive. There is a word that encompasses all the shades of meaning here that's fallen into disuse. Avarice. It is one on that famous list of "seven deadly sins." In olden times avarice was considered a sin so great that practitioners were in danger of going straight to hell. And, it is not always about money or accumulating "stuff," though it frequently is. The root of the problem lies in our priorities. We can become jealous of something or someone and not even realize that is what we are feeling. A wise ruler once said that we begin to covet that which we see every day.1
A man shouted out from the crowd to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” He asked Jesus to intervene in a family dispute. This was a common thing to ask a rabbi to do in those days. So it was probably surprising to the man to hear what Jesus said next!
"Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?" Hmm. We think of Jesus absolutely as the One Who has been set as our arbitrator over all things brought to Him in prayer. Why does He now say He is not? And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Jesus tells us not to sinfully crave what isn't ours and seek more than we need.
Avarice makes us misuse and misplace the blessings we are given. The sin of greed is what makes us chase after more than we need, and it blinds us to things that are truly necessary for our lives. When we accumulate too much of the wrong things, it is like we have bricked ourselves in by a wall we build to keep them within reach or within touch. Eventually, the wall gets so high we can not see anything else. What is on the other side becomes like trying to see the road when the fog rolls in. When we go too far, when our sin becomes too great, we lose sight of the path God has laid because the mist of our own making is too thick. Using our possessions sinfully can take over, transforming our lives into one that revolves only around ourselves. Used well, they are the tools of a life lived to the glory of God. Listen again to Jesus’ illustration:
And [Jesus] told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’” But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
So we see that our money and our possessions are just things. They cannot do anything but sit there like a rock on their own. The only value they have is the value we give to them. Otherwise, they are just objects. Objects in and of themselves cannot be good or evil. Men are good or evil. So money and things must be what we make of them.
Well, all that is just great! Yes, we sometimes put too much stock in material things or the money we need to acquire them. It's especially hard on the middle-aged on down to the very young. We live in a society driven by consumerism. We want the latest and most fabulous toys. That new phone, a cool car, fashionable clothes. The older generations that lived through the World Wars or the depression and then raised their own children, knowing what it meant to make do with what you had, they understood. The constant bombardment of advertising for things we don't really need is bizarre to them. Times are different now. Yet all of us fall for the temptations of avarice – the greed and covetousness of what we don't possess. In this land of abundance, the devil plays his games in the most creative ways. Our sinful nature is all too willing to play along. It's easy to see how material possessions and the desire for more can take over our lives. But what about feelings and emotions? How do we guard against that?
Instead of being envious of someone else's car, or house, or money, we can envy our neighbor's mental health. We can envy their contentment. We can even desire to possess their faith. We tend not to understand that life in a fallen world is not fair. Some people seem to suffer hardship after hardship. Like the rich fool, others seem to have the sort of problems we would love to have! Life gives you lemons! Build a bigger barn to keep them in, and make lemonade whenever you want! Easy street! I wish I had it as good as that guy! Then I'd be happy! It's easy to have strong faith when everything goes your way!
Or would we? Why are we jealous of those who seem happy? Are we envious of the rich fool? The one who dies with the most toys certainly doesn't win! Money doesn't buy happiness! Those are cliches because they are true. But it's harder not to be jealous of a couple that seems to have the perfect marriage, the household that runs like a well-oiled machine. The family that seems to have it all, body and soul. We want that. Then we look for things that are wrong with them to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. Or we learn that things are not as perfect as they appear, and we harbor a secret joy that we might be better than them after all. Sin begets sin. Jealousy and coveting breed all new sins, and that wall we built gets higher and thicker.
Our things are just tools. Our feelings are only indicators. When we misuse them, we are the problem. It is a problem of the heart. Just as the heart is the center of the body, what is at the center of your life defines who you are. "Fool! This night your soul is required of you!" When we come to the end of our lives, what will be at its center? When the man shouted out to Jesus at the beginning of our text, he was looking to get his hands on half of an earthly inheritance, one that wasn't owed to him. He wanted that wealth more than anything. That was his center.
Jesus is offering him the whole of a heavenly inheritance. When God is the center of your being, the wall gets torn down. When Christ died on the cross, the bricks of your covetousness, envy, and jealousy were crucified as well. His death and resurrection burned off the fog of our avarice and granted you the inheritance in full. Not half, whole. No money down, no equal payments, nothing more to buy. And the offer never expires. There is nothing more for us to do than claim the prize. With Christ as our center, all the fleeting things of this life mean nothing. We do not need to build a bigger barn. We don’t need a barn at all.
Instead of jealousy, we rejoice in what we’re given and rejoice in what our neighbor has been given. We don’t envy another’s peace of mind, either. We thank God for it. Jesus told us how to have that peace of mind for ourselves. It’s here in His Word and His Sacraments. We’re still going to want things, whether it’s the new gadget or the ability to meet the struggles of life head-on. Having money isn’t wrong. Having stuff is OK. It’s only when they begin to become our gods that we run into trouble and put our souls at risk. We try to add bricks to the wall Christ tore down by His blood.
The good news is that your soul belongs to Jesus. He bought it. He restored it. When your soul is required of you, and he calls it home, he will return it on the last day with the new perfect body like His that He will raise. No more jealousy. No more greed. Only joy. Meanwhile, we give thanks for those that have gone before and have received their inheritance. We guard against building new walls around our hearts. We hope in the kingdom to come. That is the treasure laid up for us in heaven.