Pentecost 10

Pentecost 10 (Luke 12:13-21)
Take care. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Greed kills.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. The essence of sin is separation. It is separation from God, other people and from the image and likeness of God imprinted on our souls. The end result of sin is always the same: death.

Greed is one specific form of sin that diverts the mind, the heart and the will from God and redirects it to material objects. Greed is deadly in the same way heroin is deadly, in the same way all of the seven deadly sins are deadly.

Greed is subject to the law of diminishing return. That law states that the more you have, the more you want, and the less you are satisfied. That is how sin kills. It offers us a substitute for God that distorts and diminishes our desire for a loving relationship with God. Sin substitutes some else for God.

The substitute always brings some initial pleasure. That pleasure always carriers a price. The price is the disintegration of our souls.

We don’t always experience the disintegration at first. There are warning signs that we have departed from the path of life. Those signs come in many ways. Usually, the signs come from a twinge of conscience that alerts us to the danger. Deadly sins are deadly because they appear to promise so much. Deadly sins are deadly because they stimulate our senses and appeal to our pride.

The object of greed is generally material possession. There is nothing wrong with the objects. The allure of greed is the pleasure we derive from the possession. There is nothing wrong with pleasure. God designed human beings to experience pleasure.

The corrosive quality of greed is the human will to power. That will to power is grounded in the pride that says: “I and I alone decide what is true, what is valuable, what is God.”

This is why Jesus would not intervene in the dispute over the inheritance. The dispute set the terms and conditions of what the family valued. Jesus revealed to the man who asked for justice that he was really motivated by greed.

Jesus saw very clearly that the man had come to define life in terms of money. That is why Jesus said: life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
There is nothing inherently wrong with money. There is nothing inherently wrong with material possessions. The problem lies in the choice people make to define the abundance of life in terms of money and possessions.

Jesus came to preach and teach and demonstrate that the abundance of life is the relationship God offers us- all of us- each of us- through him.
Jesus once sadly acknowledged that there will always be poverty until he returns. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins that produces poverty.

The parable of the rich farmer demonstrates this. God had blessed the man with material abundance. God had even revealed through Moses and the prophets that God expects those who have been blessed with material abundance to share the blessing with the less fortunate.
Pride steps in and declares: I have accumulated this wealth by my own will. By my own work and righteous living I have become wealthy. What then shall I do? The prophets say: help others. That is foolish. Let them work. Let them perform righteous acts to earn the blessing of God. I did it on my own. Let them do the same.

The rich farmer decides to hold onto his material abundance heedless of the moral, ethical and spiritual principles that God has woven into the pattern of life. Moses and the prophets reveal those principles. Jesus repeated them and then lived them to demonstrate to us how it is possible to make a different choice in life.
The conclusion of Jesus’ parable is in a single word of God to the wealthy self made man. The word is “fool”. It is an echo of Psalm 14 which begins with the words: the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

The parable is a warning to the man and to us. Where is our heart/ What do we value most? How do we respond to the material abundance God gives us? By what principle do we make choices to use our money?

God gave Moses the principle. It is: make the love of God the first priority in your life. God comes first. Worship, prayer, Bible study, the sacraments come first. The second priority is to love other people.

Worship comes first because worship is the only way a human being can offer love to God. Service to others comes next. Service answers the question the rich farmer in the parable posed to himself. What then shall I do with my money and possessions?
The rich farmer answered the question by declaring his intent to build larger storage facilities so he could hold on to everything he had. Jesus recommends we answer the question by refocusing on God.

The rich farmer could have reframed the question from what shall I do to how shall I help? There was and still is overwhelming poverty in the world. No one of us can solve the entire problem of poverty. Each of us can make a difference.

Jesus identifies greed as a barrier to the abundant life.
It seems counter intuitive. It seems illogical that the pursuit of wealth and the acquisition of material possessions fails to satisfy. It takes faith to perceive the reality and the root of the problem.

The faith comes as we hear the word of God in the Bible. That word is a thousand year record of human behavior and human suffering.

That faith comes as we hear the word of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus just doesn’t speak God’s word. Jesus is God’s word. Jesus is the plan and pattern of creation.
That faith comes as we hear the word of God that God speaks to us in worship, in prayer, and in human need. Poverty is God’s invitation for people to share their abundance.

Jesus tells us and shows us that the blessing of abundance comes in the way we choose to live our lives. The blessing is not in the money or the possessions. The blessing is in how we choose to use the money and the possessions.
Take care. Pay attention. Ask yourself and God: how am I doing today? How am I doing in fulfilling the law of love?
Be on your guard. Temptations come from many sources. The world culture is for the most part contrary to the values God reveals through Moses and the prophets. Our own pride leads us to reject divine principles of love and compassion. Our own self will leads us to rebel against the person and plan and pattern of reality in Jesus Christ.
Hear the principle. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The abundant life is a life immersed in the steadfast holy love of God in Jesus Christ. The abundant life is rich towards God in the time and attention we offer to God to fill with the abundance of his love. And, it is rich towards God in the choices we make to become channels of blessings to others.

Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, comforted the lonely, worshipped weekly in the synagogue, offered himself daily to God in prayer. This is the abundance of spiritual treasure that brings us an eternal blessing here and now.
Take heed. Be on your guard. Choose the abundance which is inexhaustible and fulfilling. Choose the Way of Life revealed in the pattern, plan and purpose of life in Jesus Christ.