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Sermon - The Rich Fool - 12th August 2007
Saint Aidan’s West Epping 8.30 am
Saint Gerard’s Catholic Church Carlingford 10am
Readings: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 or Wisdom 18:6-9, Psalm 50:1-8, 8-16 or 32, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke 12:32-40(8)
Last week we heard the parable of the rich fool. The parable as Jesus told it suggests that the fool’s follies were many. He was preoccupied with his possessions. He was into a materialistic life style. He thought that he was secure in his self-sufficiency. He thought that he did not need anyone else. He was greedy and made no attempt to share his good fortune. He was into a hedonistic lifestyle, for his greatest good for him was to maximize his own pleasure. He was a practical atheist as there was no mention of God in his plans. He made the mistake of believing that he really possessed his great wealth but in fact his possessions owned him!
This week Jesus says, “Sell all your possessions and give alms. … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!”
All this talk of money and possessions can bring on much anxiety. Anxiety must be a by-product of human freedom. At least it seems to be a universal art, cultivated by people in all generations and cultures. Those who do not have enough to live on, to feed, shelter, or clothe themselves, naturally are anxious about how they will live. Those who have opportunities to develop a better life than they now enjoy worry about how they will get ahead. Those who have all they need and more are anxious about maintaining and protecting their wealth. Having more, then, is no solution to anxiety.
Faith in Jesus Christ awakens our consciousness of the spiritual dimensions of life. By so doing, faith allows and even forces us to see our lives from a new perspective. Then we can see that some of the things we have been so concerned about are not all that important. We may also see that we have not given enough attention to important things: family, friends, a more just and peaceful society or our own personal, intellectual and spiritual development. When the rat race of materialism threatens to control you, remember Jesus’ words; there is more to life.
Followers of Jesus should be the freest persons, free from anxiety, free from the social conventions of materialism, free with their generosity to others. The lives of Jesus’ disciples count for more than the pursuit of material wealth. They should be devoted to higher things. This cluster of sayings of which today’s gospel comes offers both the challenge to centre one’s life on promoting concerns related to God’s kingdom and the extravagant promise of God’s providence for those who will do so.
What changes would we make if we were as concerned about God’s kingdom as we are about the size of next month’s pay cheque, the purchase of an LCD TV or the next step up the career ladder? What value would we give to reconciling broken relationships, sharing the gospel of God’s love, and working for peace and justice for the oppressed?
One of Jesus’ most difficult statements is this: “Sell your possessions, and give alms”. As in other parts of the Gospel, this saying contains a tension between two responses to the dangers of wealth and materialism. The first is divestment: “Sell your possessions.” The second is generosity in almsgiving. In our culture, the latter has always been easier to consider than the first. Obviously, there are good reasons why divestment should not become the norm for all Christians. On the other hand, this provocative call needs to be considered. Most of us have possessions we do not need. Yet, we hold on to them while other persons are homeless and hungry. Perhaps it is time for churches to hold “discipleship sales” and call on all who will to sell all the goods they do not need in order to give to charities and human services. Such detachment from our materialism would also be a dramatic declaration of the values by which we live.
We could ask Jesus if he was physically here today,
“Would you please explain to me what have you got against rich people? I like rich people. I’ve met some great people who are rich?”
Well, like it or not, built right into the fabric of the gospel and the practice of the Christian faith, there seems to be a deep suspicion of, even sometime a hostility toward, the prosperous. As G. K. Chesterton said,
“It may be possible to have a good debate over whether or not Jesus believed in fairies. It is a tantalizing question. Alas, it is impossible to have any sort of debate over whether or not Jesus believed that rich people were in big trouble, there is too much evidence on the subject and it is overwhelming.”
There is a peculiar pastoral burden of having to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified in the midst of a nation of prosperity, particularly if the affluent are among us when we preach. Most of us in world terms are relatively affluent.
William Willimon, the American scholar, tells this story concerning a visit he made to an affluent Episcopal parish (Anglican in American terms).
“The liturgy went well enough until we got to the sermon. The lectionary’s assigned text was from 1 Kings, the reign of King Solomon. The priest told us that Solomon was the world’s wisest man, king at a time when Israel at last stood at the summit of national development. No longer was Israel jerked around by larger nations. Israel had a big army and lots of chariots. The economy was booming. A great temple was being built as a sign of national prosperity. Then he paused and said, “And yet Israel learned that the reign of Solomon was a time when the nation was as far from the heart of God as it could get....” Then the preacher hammered us for our stock portfolios, our pointless leisure, and problems with our spoiled children.
Where else but church would you get a reading like that on a “well-functioning economy”?
The plight of the poor becomes particularly problematic in a time of prosperity”.
Therefore, in our land of relative prosperity and socially sanctioned greed, I see the following agenda for Christians:
We must cultivate, in our churches and ourselves, a deep suspicion that affluence is a spiritually debilitating and morally dangerous condition. Christianity and material prosperity sit uncomfortably together.
Christians must practice resistance through a studied determination to notice, to care for and to stand with the poor among us. They represent a visible, undeniable minority report on how well our society is doing.
One of the greatest gifts we have to offer this aggressively materialistic culture is a prophetic Christian critique of the present order. We created this economy; God did not. We have decided to reward some for certain sorts of work and not others. A “fully functioning economy” is to be measured by factors greater than the aggrandizement of the few. It falls to Christians to be among those who point this out.
Finally, we must preach in word and deed that, no matter what we do or don’t do, God will finally have God’s way with the world. God will get the world God intended. That, as the scripture suggests, involves good news for the poor and less than good news for the rich. Whether God’s news is for me good or bad depends to a great extent on where I happen to be when I get the news.1
1 This sermon prepared using the assistance of www.sojo.net and the Interpreter’s Bible Vol IX.