Take Care!

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull 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, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

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Most of you probably already know that I love folk music. Folk music is my jam for many reasons. One of these reasons is that many of the songs tell a story and sometimes contain a lesson on morality. But there's another kind of folk tradition that does something similar, but instead of music uses words to craft a story, often with creatures that the writer has anthropomorphized. Of course, I'm talking about Aesop's fables, which have made their way through time, even though there were never any written copies made. But as I was thinking about this folk tradition, there was one story in particular that seemed particularly relevant to this morning's reading from the Gospel According to Luke. 

Aesop tells this story about a grasshopper who lived a carefree life. The grasshopper went around playing their fiddle wherever they went. One day the grasshopper came across an ant who was toiling in the summer sun, and the grasshopper stopped and mocked them. "Why are you working in the hot sun?" asked the grasshopper. "We need to gather food for the winter!" replied the ant. Well, you would think that the grasshopper would take those words to heart, but instead continued merrily along until the seasons changed. One day though the seasons finally changed and the grasshopper found that with the bitter cold there was no more food to be found. When the grasshopper asks the ant for some food, the ant scoffed and said that the grasshopper should go and dance the winter away. 

You know what's interesting is that the story about the grasshopper and the ant is commonly known to be a criticism against laziness and sloth. But there's another interpretation of Aesop's fable, which critiques the actions of the ant. In this telling of the story, the ant is so focused on gathering material goods that they steal from others. It's the nature of the ant to want to collect goods and food, but that nature is a fault when it means that they turn their back on those who are in need. The same is true for us! We tend to want to gather spiritual and material things that will benefit ourselves, but the work of discipleship often asks us to sacrifice those things to help others. It's this dichotomy, the urge to follow God and store up earthly treasures, that seems to trip us up every time. 

We find tension in this fable and this morning's reading, between our tendency to want to gather and save and to live in the present moment with God. It would be great to live a life without fear, like that of the grasshopper, but our minds tell us we always need to prepare ourselves for winter. We hear Jesus warning us about this conflict in this morning's reading, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." This theme runs throughout the entirety of the Bible. We find that God punishes those who are greedy, those who take from the have nots and emphasizes that a full life does not require earthly treasures. 

I've found that most things in life boil down to balance. If it sounds simple, that's because it is. But take care! The act of keeping all these things in harmony with one another will be hard to do if we lose sight of what is truly important. As hard as we try though, we'll find that on some nights when our heads hit the pillow at night, our late-night conversations with God turns into a list of the things that we need. We have student loans, parents who are sick or aging, bills that we need to pay, and when the sun rises we find once again our minds have bought into the belief that if we had more our lives would be fulfilled.

So how do we make sense of this tension then? If we find that our late-night conversations with God take a self-centered turn, how do we fix it?  Ultimately what we are asking this morning is, "Is it possible to center ourselves on God instead of earthly possessions?" To which I would say, "Yes, of course!" But it all depends on what bar we are going to set for ourselves. If we think that we can do it flawlessly, then that's an unrealistic goal. As I said, most things boil down to balance; and the same is true for our expectations. There are times when living fully in God will be a joy and there will be times when it's hard, yet as long as we keep trying that is where we will discover that our journey has provided us with a rich well of experience.

Part of this balancing of our lives requires a change in our perspective. Our life and our faith is not some bank where we cash in and save for our heavenly retirement. We can't think like the rich man in the parable and be content with the riches we have gathered for ourselves. Discipleship, living life with God and one another, requires constant work. Regardless of our age, our point in life, we are called to persistent vigilance as we strive to set our minds on things that Christ calls us to pursue. The path we are called to walk requires sacrifice, perseverance, and dedication to the belief that our work together is what will bind up the broken hearts of those around us and our hearts as well. 

When we look at it from a distance, the greed in this morning's passage is a call for something deeper, something meaningful. Greed is a desire to be loved and to love, but in a warped way. When we try and fill our barns with crops and lots of other goodies, we will discover that instead of binding up the brokenhearted, we are taking the things that could have helped them and ourselves. So the things we have hoarded for ourselves become gods created in our own image. Our hearts were never meant to be closer to things than to people, so if we find that we've reached that point, we need to readjust ourselves and refocus our minds on the heart of God that provides for all people. 

The truth is that we were never meant to possess everything within our reach. We're told that even from the beginning the world we were never expected to have everything. And even if we were able to have everything we wanted we wouldn't be living a full life. Hoarding things because we think they'll make us happy is not what God intended for us.  Can you imagine what the world would be like if God decided to be greedy and keep everything locked away up in heaven? From the start, we are told that God was generous in outpouring love to the entirety of creation. And we should remember, of course, that this sacrificial love led to God sending Jesus to earth to show us how we ought to live in community with one another. 

Jesus knows how messy arguments around possessions can be.  Jesus knows that money, power, and material goods can cause division that is real and hurtful. Perhaps then that is why we're meant to channel both the spirit of the grasshopper and the ant. We need to live lives that are free-flowing in God's Spirit, and lives that are open to being forged by sacrifice and the hard work of following Christ. It's possible only if we set our hearts and minds on God. Otherwise, our fears and worries will tempt us back into thinking that we don't have enough and that we are not enough for the work that we have been called to do. 

There's been a lot on my mind this past week. I've been thinking about Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Uniontown, Gilroy, Chippewa Falls, Columbus, Rosenberg, Haskell, Southaven, Elkhart, Suffolk, Pomfret, El Paso, and Dayton. I've been thinking about the 53 dead and 90 injured people who were shot this past week alone. More specifically, I've been asking myself the question, "Why would perpetrators do such a thing?" And in the end, it usually comes down to fear. Fear that came from the words they've heard on the television, internet, and radio. Fear that outsiders are going to come and take their jobs or their earthly treasures. Fear of things that don't look like them, talk like them, or live how they live. And I can only imagine what might have gone differently if they only heard the message of abundance, peace, and the rich tapestry of our diversity, that flows from our God who walked on stormy seas. Let us condemn us for what it is, evil! And let us go forward knowing that our storehouses filled with treasures mean nothing if the world we created results in a broken, shattered, and tattered reflection of God's hope for our life together. 

You and I have the power right here and now to change the narrative. You and I can go out and tell others about this love that comes from God. Love that is so plentiful there is enough for everyone who yearns for it. Love that knows pain so dark and real that it can comfort us in our times of need. And love that is so precious that it contains a rich diversity of stories from everyone who has partaken of it. There is mercy enough, and there is sufficient grace for everybody. Christ invites you and me to take care of and guard ourselves against the fear that there is not enough and invites us to work together in our seeking to lift one another out of the ashes and pits of death. 

Perhaps it's appropriate that the reading for today has to do with the question of balance and abundance. On this Sunday as we celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, we are reminded that God gives us our daily portion. We break bread, and we pour the cup, and we find that God reorders our lives to tell us that life can be lived differently. Everything we need and desire is at the table that the Lord has prepared. Except there aren't any possessions at the table, only love, love that will not let us go. At the table, we will find that each and every one of us has brought something of value, and it doesn't matter who brought what. All that matters is that we share what we have as we engage in fellowship that reflects God's desire for us. 

Christ has embodied this love. Christ is the bread of life for the entire world. And Christ will satisfy our yearning souls. So take care and guard yourselves against greed and selfishness desires. Let us come and open ourselves to God's love, which provides for all who come searching for it. Trust in that love, trust in that power, and may we work together then as we take care of all creation. Amen.