PENTECOST 9

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 9
PROPER: 13C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 5,2001

TEXT: Luke 12:13-21 – Parable of the Greedy Farmer
“Take care! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

ISSUE: The parable of the rich fool, i.e. greedy pagan, tells of a man who is given a miracle. Grace upon grace has been poured upon him. His assumption is that it is all his own doing, and stores it all up for himself. Meaninglessness is the result. It speaks to us of how grace and gifts of God are bestowed upon us, and how we need to consider living our lives. Christ the giver of grace died, only to rise again. His life is the life of meaning.

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There was a TV show a few years back called “Early Edition.” It was the story of guy who could miraculously know the future by reading a mysterious newspaper, which told the news events of the following day. He would then work at changing the bad news of the future, saving persons who were to die in a fire, or some such impending doom. David Buttrick, an homiletics professor, and author tells a similar story of a man who had the gift of reading the newspaper on one occasion that gave him a miraculous advance warning of the future, one year in advance. In David Buttrick’s story, the man turns immediately to the Business Section to read the stock tables. He plans carefully what stocks to buy for the future so that he can make a real killing in the market by the end of the year. He then notices in the Obituary Section that his name appears listing him as having died the day before. The story sounds a little bit like the parable of the Rich Farmer in today’s gospel reading from Luke.
Luke’s parable is set up by having two brothers come to Jesus to arbitrate an inheritance dispute. Such disputes at the time could lead to bloody feuding. The brothers asking him to arbitrate their conflict honor Jesus. However, Jesus takes a more humble stance by refusing to be seen as a judge. At the same time he is really avoiding being caught in the middle of a conflict over greed. He uses the occasion to teach a parable about greed, and the uselessness of the abundance of possessions, at least greed according to the culture of that time.
Jesus tells of the farmer who has a remarkable, bountiful harvest of crops. The land miraculously produces a very abundant crop. The crop abundance is so enormously abundant that the farmer does not know where to store it all. He decides to do what every good capitalist would do. He has the small barns torn down, and builds much larger barns. He is very proud of his good sense. He then says to himself, or to his Soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But then God speaks to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasure for themselves, but are not rich toward God.”
We modern Americans may have some trouble understanding what’s going on in this parable. We find it very acceptable to save up and prepare for the future. We like the idea of relaxing, being merry, and having a secure nest egg prepared for our future retirement and old age. Money in the bank for us is usually considered to be a sign of success, achievement, and status in our culture. People who do not prepare for the future are seen in our culture as the real fools. Some people will go to extremes to attempt to store up wealth, and become very anxious about their future, even participating in illegal schemes and conniving to accumulate wealth for themselves. But I would suppose that the most of us are fairly honest, but we really do have an affection for financial stability that keeps us guarded and cautious in our dealings, spending, and giving.
In the first century, however, the thinking was very different. By and large the Gospel of Luke says in effect that anyone who is wealthy or greedy cannot be a Christian. “Blessed are the poor, but woe to you who are rich.” (Lk. 6:20ff) Also in Luke when it comes to discipleship, Jesus says: “None of you can by my disciple unless he give up everything he has.” Remember also the Rich man who comes to Jesus and declares that he has kept all the commandments, but what should he do to gain eternal life? And Jesus replies: “There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven: then come and follow me.” But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich. Anyone who gains any wealth in this period and who was an honorable person, a godly person, living in this very limited economy would share the wealth. The Rich Farmer in the parable is not punished for building barns by dying. Dying is a part of life. But his life is not an honorable one, because he is just greedy keeping the wealth all for himself. He is totally self-centered. God speaking in the parable refers to him as a “Fool.” A fool in the Bible is a person who does not believe in God, and has no spirituality. Psalm 14:1 reads: “Fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’” The Hebrew Scriptures in Leviticus declare that the land belongs to God, and the people are like foreigners who are allowed to make use of it. (Lev. 25:23) The rich farmer has stolen from God and kept it all for himself without giving and sharing with those in need. He could have made something honorable and made his life honorable and worthwhile, but he is a pagan fool.
In our world that sees the Rich Fool as responsible, it is hard for us to translate the meaning of the Parable of Jesus and the thinking of the early church into some kind of relevance. We are inclined to think that the Bible and teachings of Jesus can be dreary. Why not do some eating, drinking, merry making, and saving for the future? After all a little paganism is fun, never hurt anybody, and we Americans have and do work hard for the good life. On an Apartment Building complex and advertisement was written the slogan, “You deserve the life style!” Why not rent a limousine for the prom or squander some money in Atlantic City? We deserve the fun, and religious teachings ought not be so up tight.
My understanding of the ministry of Jesus and his teachings hardly come across to me as particularly up-tight, or lacking in joy. Repeatedly Jesus is found at the heart of banquets, and wedding feasts. He even challenged the more up-tight types, Pharisees and Scribes of his time. But his teachings and parables at times were annoying by their startling nature that dared to challenge people to examine their lives and lifestyles.
The Parable of the Rich Farmer tells of a miracle. Droughts were often the curse of the time, and years of poor and modest crops were common. Jesus tells of a miracle crop that a farmer is given. It is far more abundance than he could possibly of dreamed to be possible. There was not enough room to store it, and the usual barns are not big enough. I suggest that Jesus is not talking merely about material abundance, but about grace. The farmer is given more than he knows what to do with. God’s land and ground has produced more than he knows how to handle. But the poor soul tries to keep it all for himself rather than to share it.
Needless to say, many people today are very taken with their affluence, and use the abundance of the moment to indulge themselves in so many possessions that they don’t need. We have become as Americans a very self-centered, self-indulging pagan hedonistic culture. The parable demands that we look at that wealth and our lives and our self-giving with the same attention we give to our self-indulgence.
What we Americans have today is based not so much on their own hard work, but on the hard work of their ancestors. Some of our richness comes as an inheritance. Invested wealth is also multiplied not by our own doing but by the hard work of poorer laborers in our own country and in foreign lands. There is a sense in which in spite of the great pride we have in ourselves, we are all actually welfare recipients in one way or another. The hard work and bounty of others has fallen to us without our deserving.
The parable is about grace, the bounty of God that comes to us without our work or deserving. God’s grace comes to us and through us that we can extend it, and be channels of the grace of God. We are stewards not of our own, but stewards of what God has given to us. Everything we have is by the grace of God. And God’s chosen are the channels and agents of the grace. The Rich Fool Farmer doesn’t get it. Often we don’t get it either.
What are we meant to be as a church, as a community of God’s people? We have been given a faith that tells us we are forgiven for our sins and loved by a compassionate and merciful God. And we are called upon to proclaim by word and deed that message of bountiful grace. Visit the sick, raise the dead, give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty. Go to the world with the message of love, baptize, immerse the world in that love. Yet we often maintain the message for a select few, and indulge ourselves with the deadly saying, “Isn’t it nice to be a part of a small church.” But if anybody should find their way here and drop in, we’ll accept them, so long as they don’t want to change anything.
We are all so richly endowed with life itself, with bodies and minds that think and reason. We are given the bounty of rational thinking, with talents and abilities, and even with considerable wealth. We have so much to share that God has given to us, and such a wonderful spirited message to proclaim. We keep it to ourselves. We have to maintain our own buildings and grounds. We have Bible School for ourselves. We train our own, but do we train them in the real message of seeking and loving others. Taking up the cross, willingness to die for others, to give to others is the spirituality and the way and the very thing that Jesus himself did. In pouring out of himself and God’s redeeming grace, we see real life with meaning, purpose, value, worth. Investing in the world, he saved the world and brought the grace of God’s love and forgiveness for all.