enough already, Jesus
The gospel reading today was Luke 12:13f. It's where Jesus tells the parable about the farmer who desires to build bigger barns in order to hold his access. God says to the farmer, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" Jesus goes on to make the point of the parable: "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
As I said in my sermon this afternoon, If you don't feel conflicted as you think about your retirement plan then you haven't heard what Jesus had to say. If - after having heard Jesus bring down the thunder in Luke 12 - you don't feel the heat when saving up money for your future, then you weren't listening. If you don't feel uncomfortable regarding money in the here and now after hearing that parable in Luke 12 then you've lived too long in America and have sold yourself to ideals that are not of God. When we give ourselves to thinking about money and talking finances we need to know that we are cementing ourselves on ground that is sinking sand and not the Kingdom of God.
Before you start pointing a finger back at me mumbling under your breath something like, "You self-righteous #@*^!" you need to know that the beginning of my sermon was a testimony and confession of how Laura and I have done a lot of thinking about finances over the past month. It's consumed us. It's overwhelmed us. And then this lectionary reading comes along.
What's the answer? I'm not sure but I do know that we better recognize the tension and better confess that when thinking/obsessing over money and finances we are distancing ourselves from the Kingdom of God.
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As I said in my sermon this afternoon, If you don't feel conflicted as you think about your retirement plan then you haven't heard what Jesus had to say. If - after having heard Jesus bring down the thunder in Luke 12 - you don't feel the heat when saving up money for your future, then you weren't listening. If you don't feel uncomfortable regarding money in the here and now after hearing that parable in Luke 12 then you've lived too long in America and have sold yourself to ideals that are not of God. When we give ourselves to thinking about money and talking finances we need to know that we are cementing ourselves on ground that is sinking sand and not the Kingdom of God.
Before you start pointing a finger back at me mumbling under your breath something like, "You self-righteous #@*^!" you need to know that the beginning of my sermon was a testimony and confession of how Laura and I have done a lot of thinking about finances over the past month. It's consumed us. It's overwhelmed us. And then this lectionary reading comes along.
What's the answer? I'm not sure but I do know that we better recognize the tension and better confess that when thinking/obsessing over money and finances we are distancing ourselves from the Kingdom of God.
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posted by jch at
10:10 PM
12 Comments:
Your thoughts on this subject, while debatable, as we may see from some readers' comments, could not have come at a better time for me.
Thanks for the not-so-gentle reminder of one of Jesus' most difficult lessons.
I think sound financial planning is a very biblical concept. One doesn't have to obsess about it. By starting early to save/invest a tiny portion of income, at retirement one will have a sizable sum. With compound interest, it's amazing how it grows over time and one doesn't even have to think about it, much less obsess over it.
Amen and Amen!
I have one daughter at ACU and almost one on the doorsteps of Austin, or Lubbock. I'm obsessing - big time. And, if you're in my shoes and not obssessing too - then I'm jealous of you - which is another sin for another day. Thanks Joe!
Joe,
I heard Jack Reese address this text at the Pepperdine lectures in 1998(?). Get the scenery. Malibu. The Colony. The Surf. The Santa Monica mountains. He's standing in the midst of some of the most pricey real estate in the world, and after some introductory remarks about the research he had attempted on riches and wealth, he admitted to the packed house that he had nothing new to say. The problem, he said, is that we just don't take the words of Jesus seriously enough.
One Sunday, after someone read the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Mt. 20), your brother-in-law opened his sermon by telling us that what we had just heard was the sound of two worlds colliding. I think the same is true with this one. The gospel can offend.
I'm with Jim...your question could not have come at a better time. (I'm going through a divorce, and lawyers and ex-husbands seem to be obsessed with every thin dime.) I'm no scholar, but here are my thoughts (warning: LONG!):
1. The same Bible that gives us the lesson of the foolish farmer who put all of his treasure into the corruptible things of this earth is the same Holy Book that tells of the "good and faithful servant" who invested his master's talents wisely and doubled his master's money. (Matthew 25)
If you've been blessed with children and make no provision for them or plan for their future, that doesn't seem like being a good steward, faithful in little OR much.
2. The "good and faithful" servant was wise financially, but he always recognized that it was ALL his master's. The servant never staked a claim on any of the profit. If we recognize that every single blessing comes from God, and that our home, our children, and our bank accounts are His, we show that we Get It. The Big Picture. It's all His, and I'm entrusted with it for a brief time...in fact, it's part of my test...my opportunity.
3. The rich fool was an idiot. Who pulls down existing barns without having the new ones built? Do your cattle and horses have to sleep outside in all weather while you construct the new ones? Do your farm implements sit in the grass and rust while the builders work? Where are you storing the grain in the meantime? What if you die in the interim? You will leave your widow and children with no means...and that is being a terrible, foolish steward of the blessings you were given.
4. Listen carefully to the plans of the rich fool...none of them include blessing others or returning any portion to the God who gave the bounty: "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry." Where is his compassion for the poor? For the church? It doesn't even seem to register that he could help others with the money or invest part of the profit to buy more land, hire more workers, and expand his farm. That would involve even MORE work, and he just wants to coast.
I'm so glad my College Station cousins told me ages ago about your blog. Following Ira's story and praying for him is inspiring and a privilege, and your questions always keep us thinking...whether it's what MP3s to play on a cross-country trip, which book to read to a squirming Brooklyn audience, or The Big Stuff That Matters. It's a great way to start the day!
Even those pesky Egyptians had to save up for a rainy day---I mean a drought.
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Scripture speaks of "retirement"?
"Yes!" to many of the thoughts presented:
We don't take Jesus seriously enough.
The gospel sometimes offends.
And the result is that two worlds collide.
What do we do with it? Does it change us? Seems not, or rarely so.
Joe,
Great thoughts. I agree with where you're going and feel the same sense of angst. Roughly 1/2 of Jesus' parables deal with money in some capacity. I found that fascinating for many years as I studied stewardship and financial planning. Then I backed up a bit and read how these parables begin, "The Kingdom of God is like..." I believe money was a convenient vehicle for Jesus to express his real message, the good news of the Kingdom. It's important we don't get the vehicle mixed up with the message. The good news is about a new kingdom... not about how to remain reasonably self-reliant in a market-based economy until we die.
Vicki, I know a few people whose lives have been visibly changed by Jesus' message regarding possessions (or His apparent lack of concern for possessions). We have our work cut out for us in America.
I heard a great sermon on this at RHCC two weeks ago. "The Poverty of Wealth" by Jonathan Storment, and it gave some really good insight into this scripture. One thing that he pointed out is that Jesus was most likely speaking to a crowd of poor people, and then the dude busts in a complains about the money he is wanting from his dead father. The points made after were very helpful in how christians need to look at money. The sermon is worth the time to listen to if this topic causes you to think. http://www.rhchurch.org/index.cfm?pg=doc&id=99
Maybe Jesus is making an argument for better estate planning?
What if the farmer had said, "And if i should die then my grain will go to my Children. My animals will go to the temple, and my wife shall have all my property."
I think the clue to this passage is in the final warning in Luke 12:21; "This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves, but are not rich toward God."
It's way to simplistic to infer from this parable that God doesn't want us to have a savings plan especially when it seems clear that Jesus doesn't care what you have as long as you are "rich towards God."
Besides, America's problem isn't that it saves to much. According to the US Department of Commerce, Americans saved only about 1% of their disposable income last year (source). Our problem is that we spend too much and save too little.
If being a good and faithful Christian means that I live on a paycheck to paycheck basis then what happens when I am not longer able to work because of age or disability? Is it your assumption that the state would take the responsibility for my care? I guess you could argue that the church should (and did) do that, but that's another blog topic for another day.
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