In the passage leading to the one read today, Jesus told a parable about a man who was a real business success. He was a farmer whose crops produced more than all his barns and warehouses could hold. The man worried about how he could hang on to all he had made. His solution was to build bigger barns and warehouses. Jesus said, "God called this man a fool." God knew the man would die before he had enough barns and warehouses to hold all his stuff.

One of the temptations of men and women such as we are is to have the same outlook as this man God called a fool. Like him we believe if we can just make more and keep it, then we will really be okay. And so we work very long hours accumulating more and more and moving from bigger house to bigger house in order to have a place for all the stuff we are convinced will make our lives worth living. We work long hours, to provide our children with more and nicer things. They may not see us very often, and when they do we are not at our best because we are so physically and emotionally drained that all we really want to do is rest so we can go back to working hard so that we can earn more money so we can put more stuff in our barns. And we tell ourselves, "We are doing all this because we love them so much." All too often, it is not until our children are grown and gone repeating our mistakes and we are discovering the reality of our own mortality that we begin to understand that the person God called a fool in that parable Jesus told is really us.

It was to fools such as I and perhaps to fools such as you that Jesus was speaking in that parable and in the verses that follow it—the passage we read today.

The essence of the message is clear. Jesus was urging his materialistic followers to stop being so materialistic. He was urging his followers and us not to be so focused on money and food and clothing and barns and things. He was urging us not to worry so much about making more money and hanging on to all the stuff we call "ours."

He saw what our problem is. Like that man who thought if he could just hang on to all his stuff he would have it made in life, we tend to live by the same value system. Our problem is that regardless of what we say in church about what we believe, the pattern of what we do during the day and what we worry about at night reveals that what we really believe is that making more, having more and keeping more is what really makes our lives worth something. Jesus was aware that because we have so much in common with that man God called a fool, we are in danger of wasting our lives just as he did.

I don’t know about you, but quite often when a passage of Scripture begins to make me feel uncomfortable, without a lot of effort I find ways to wiggle out from under the glare of scriptural examination. And so I try to shift the focus of the passage. I say, "You mean food and clothing are not important? What about that poor woman who is under-educated, has three children, her husband has deserted her, and she and her children do not have enough food to eat, have to live in a terrible slum, and do not have adequate winter clothing? You mean she should not be worried about the basic necessities?" And then, having justified that woman’s worrying, I pretend I have also justified my anxieties and also justified our way of living, which has us using up our days making more and more, and spending our nights worrying about how we can continue to make more and more and how we can hang on to all we make.

The problem with this way of dealing with passages such as this one is that in passages such as this one, Jesus was not talking to the people who do not have the basic necessities. In passages such as this one, Jesus was talking to his followers who have more than they need for themselves and their families. He was talking to people who have something in common with the man Jesus said God called a fool. The problem is, passages such as this one are not addressed to the hungry and homeless; passages such as this one are addressed to the followers of Jesus who have more than enough.

And deep within us, we know this. When we quit fighting the passage, when we stop saying: "Yes, but …" to what Jesus is trying to tell us, we can see the profound truth in this and similar passages of Scripture.

This passage is a call, a plea for us to change our focus, for us to change our priorities, for us to change the way we view living so we can be set free from much that keeps us worrying in the night and misspending our lives during the day. "Strive for God’s kingdom," Jesus said, "and all you need will come to you as well."

What was Jesus saying? The word that we translate as "kingdom" is a word that has to do with God’s reign, God being in charge. So, what Jesus was saying is: "Strive to live your life with God in charge and you will have all you need." Our focus in living is to be on living as God intends us to live.

Our goal is not that of keeping up with the Jones. Our goal is keeping up with Jesus. Our goal is not that of being number one in our business. Our goal is being faithful. Our goal is not that of having more trophies, toys and gadgets than our neighbor. Our goal is loving our neighbors as ourselves. Our goal is to live as God intends. We are to strive to live our lives, with God in charge.

And when we live striving to do what God wants, our living is characterized by the kind of love we see revealed in Jesus Christ. When our focus is on God, and we live our lives striving to do what God wants, we discover the focus of our caring shifts. We are less concerned about making more and keeping all we have, and we are more concerned about all of God’s children. When we shift from focusing on ourselves to focusing on God, we begin to see life from God’s perspective. We begin to see our fellow human beings as children of God, and as our sisters and brothers.

When our focus shifts from making more and trying to keep it all to that of living as God intends, generosity becomes a way of living, not merely something we do every once in a while. When we focus on God as revealed in Christ and view life from that perspective, preoccupation with ourselves is replaced by concern for others, and our worries about making it and keeping it are replaced by the joy that comes in sharing it.

One of the primary implications in the parable Jesus told about the man God called a fool, is that the essence of human foolishness is to live assuming that having more and more is what makes our lives worth living. The essence of human foolishness is using up what limited time and energy we have trying to justify our existence by the accumulation of money and things, titles and trophies. To be anxious about such stuff is to miss the whole point of having been given the gift of life.

It is living in relationship with God that we humans discover our lives are worth living. And when we live in relationship with God, we are able not only to see the needs of others, but we are also set free to be the instruments of God in providing what others need. Sharing what we have with those in need is part of God’s economy of compassion; it is the economics of God’s grace.

 

God, we confess we have all too much in common with that man Jesus said you called a fool. Keep us focused on you and your will so that we will not waste our limited energy in fruitless anxiety, wasted worries and futile efforts to make our lives worth living. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

God, show us the way to peace—not merely the way to end violence but the way to bring healing and hope. Help us discover that justice is not revenge for the past, but that justice is whatever puts an end to injustice, that justice is not rooted in hate and fear, but that justice is rooted in hope and compassion. God, replace our human desire for revenge with the desire for reconciliation.

And as much as this is needed in the Middle East, it is also needed all around this planet. We, too, need to let go of old hurts and the pain from old injustice. We, too, need to be set free from old resentments and lingering feelings of self-pity. We need to focus more on striving toward the future you see is possible than on getting even for past wrongs we dwell on.

God, we are fond of remembering Jesus said that just as your eye is on the sparrow it is also on each of us. Help us realize this means all of us, that the love that keeps us in your care is the same love that embraces even those who have hurt us. Help us not only see ourselves as precious in your sight but also to see that even those who have hurt us are also precious to you. And God, help us live accordingly.

Enable us not merely to say but to live the prayer Jesus taught us. "Our
Father …"