Lectionary 18 C
The Rev. Donna M. Wright
St. Matthew’s Kellers Lutheran Church
July 31, 2016
Grace, mercy and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
I got a fortune cookie that said, “God will give you everything you want.”
[magic face] Everything I want….. hmmmmm…… Not having to worry about a
budget for the kitchen remodel. A magical handling of all the paper in my life. For
everyone in this congregation to give 10% of their income to the church, joyfully, and
to worship here 48 out of 52 Sundays a year. People who say, “You know what,
Pastor, it is a joy to volunteer to participate in a certain, important ministry without
you or the staff or the council even asking.” For the causes I care about to catch the
imagination and hearts of the rest of the world. To get down to 120 pounds. Hey, if
God will give me everything I want: 110 pounds! Ah, for God to give me everything
I want. [sigh]
To the wealthy landowner in the gospel story God did give everything he
wanted. The wealthy landowner was pleased with his riches. But, notice, in this
story Jesus tells, the very comfortable man speaks only to himself. He thought to
himself, he questioned himself, he answered himself, and he spoke approvingly to his
soul. Perhaps this example from the gospels was what Martin Luther had in mind
when he described sin as being curved in on one’s self. This rich barn-builder doesn’t
talk to family or friends or community about their needs or how his bigger barns will
affect them. He doesn’t converse with God in prayer. He lives only for himself. He
speaks only to himself. His concern is his pleasure and ease in life.
The rich man’s concern with his pleasure is ironically similar to the reading
from Ecclesiastes and the Teacher’s concern with his toil. Everything is vanity. All
his toil counts for nothing. He wants to leave nothing to those who come after him,
for he doesn’t trust that they will treat his goods wisely. This person does not engage
with God, or community, or family, either. He doesn’t recognize how he has
benefited from the toil of previous generations: the buildings and tools, the stores of
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food laid up by parents and grandparents, the knowledge passed on from one
generation to another. Knowledge like, “This is when you plant. This is how it
should look when you harvest. This is how you smoke the fish, to make it last.” And,
the basis of faith: that “God created everything.” To assume the ingratitude of our
heirs and the absence of contribution of our forebears is another way of being curved
in on ourselves. It is another way of not trusting God. It is sin. And it is a lie.
As it is a lie that God will give us everything we want.
I believe, as many of you do, that God has given me everything I need. God
has given me life and love. God has given me family: a loving husband and
daughter. Extended family, all over the country, in places that are fun to visit. The
ability to work. A calling and a call to serve in this place. God has surrounded me
with faithful people who give generously of themselves. God has also given me
opportunities to struggle. Grief and loss. Relationships that cause hurt. Months
trying to lose 5 pounds or get $500 ahead. Worries about worship attendance and
giving and how ministry is going to happen and how best to be pastor to you all.
Because God hasn’t given me everything I want, I’ve had plenty of occasions to have
chats with God. And there have been plenty of times where I’ve just thrown up my
hands and said, “OK, God, you better take care of this – it is beyond me!” The
struggles are what I need, too. For just about every struggle I’ve gone through has
given me something important: a new learning, a new way of being me, a better
understanding. Another time to learn to trust in God, instead of myself. Struggles are
what lead to growth.
In our reading from Colossians, Paul urges Christians to get rid of all the
earthly ways that lead to death and separation from God. In verses 9 and 10, he notes
“you have stripped off the old self with its practices and clothed yourselves with the
new self” -- this is a reference to baptism. In baptism the Christian dies to the old
way of living. When we come out of the waters of baptism, we are newborns, and we
put on the new clothes of the life in Christ. We have been remade in the image of
God, our creator. Who has created all things, but, above all, God created
relationships. God has created us to be in relationship, both with God and with each
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other. That is why being curved in on one’s self is sin. Because when we are curved
in on ourselves, we are not in relation with God or with others. We don’t care about
the community around us. We don’t care about those who will live after us. Like the
wealthy man who built barn after barn. Like the Teacher, whose wisdom was foolish,
because he cared only for himself. Like the sin of greed, which St. Paul equates with
idolatry: because greed places self above God and above the community that God
created and desires us to live in.
When Christ is truly in us, we cannot be curved in ourselves – for we will seek
relationship. The brother who came to Jesus asking him to judge the inheritance
problem he was having was really having a relationship problem. “Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed!” Jesus warns him. Obviously, things and money are rich
sources of greed. But whatever becomes a problem in a relationship can be a source
of greed, too. Spending too much time at work, or following sports or other hobbies,
can be a kind of greed – especially when those things get in the way of our
relationship with God or members of our community. Our thoughts and assumptions
about an aspect of life can get in the way of our relationships, too -- particularly when
we build too many barns for our opinions or complain how others are ruining our
opinions with theirs. Especially in this election season. Let me repeat that: Our
thoughts and assumptions about an aspect of life can get in the way of our
relationships, too -- particularly when we build too many barns for our opinions or
complain how others are ruining our opinions with theirs.
The late seminary professor Tim Lull used to caution everyone about thinking
that they were right, just because they were convinced by reason and scripture of the
correctness of their position. As a historical theologian, he had read many wellargued positions taken by thoughtful and committed Christians of previous centuries.
Including positions and arguments current believers found reprehensible. That was
why he refused to believe that every well-argued position of today will be greeted
with universal acclaim, either now or in the future. Even his own well-argued
positions. Lull knew that many of our arguments of today will be looked on by the
future church with as much horror as we look on the arguments in favor of slavery.
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Only, while we agree that ownership of one human being by another is anathema, we
have no idea which ideas being argued today will be rejected or adopted in the future.
The one thing we know for certain? God will not give us everything we want. But
God gives us plenty of good things. Especially our relationships with God and with
other people. God desires that we not to be curved in on ourselves – but that we look
outwards, to God and to the people in our community – to be in conversation with the
community and the world. And not to be greedy, but to be generous. In thought and
in action. That is the new life that Christ lived, and that we are to live, too. What
more could we want? Amen
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