Passing Things

 

Luke 12:13-21

There is a story about a man who had a great talent for making money. He was just very good at it. He instinctively knew how to build a business that was very successful and profitable. And then he invested his profits, and it turned out he had an uncanny ability to play the stock market. Always knowing what to buy, when to sell. And his wealth kept growing.

Like the rich farmer in the parable, this man had a green thumb – of a different variety.

He seemed to be able to do anything he set his mind to, and it was pleasurable. He enjoyed watching his net worth grow. He enjoyed seeing the way his wealth gave him power. He enjoyed the fact that he was never forced to waste his time because whenever he started to feel impatient or bored some underling could take over the task for him.

Life was pretty good.

And one day his daughter died. She was working in her office in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. The plane hit the building and she was gone. Suddenly, life was not so pleasurable any more.

Something seemed to be missing. Weird, because he was still just as wealthy as before, he was still just as good at making money as he was before, still as powerful as he was before. But, somehow, it just wasn’t as fulfilling as it was before.

It was almost as if God had come to him and said, “This very day your life is being demanded of you. All these investments and buildings and homes and toys – what are they for?”

What’s it all for?

It was like he suddenly saw everything differently, through a new lens. And through this lens he saw that there was something else, something different that he wanted now – never before knew he wanted.

Like the rich farmer, who relaxes amidst his possessions, eating and drinking and making merry, reveling in the pleasure of all he has, and the security it brings him – and then he hears the voice of God: You’re a fool.

What are you doing? You’re a fool.

We don’t know what the rich farmer will do about all this, because Jesus doesn’t say. But I can tell you about the rich businessman.

This wealthy businessman made a very big decision. He was going to give away all his wealth. He would set up a foundation, hire some talented people who knew about these things to help him put his money to work in new ways. Now his power was going to be about all the good things he could do for others. Now people will talk about him and write about him for all the amazing ways he is helping the world.

And, of course, this feels like an improvement – doesn’t it?

He’s searching for meaning. He’s finding meaning for himself, in the context of this world in which we live.

But as he is doing this new work in the big-money world of philanthropy, he can’t kick his old habit of playing around in the stock market. You know, just to amuse himself. It turns out he is still really good at making money and, wouldn’t you know, he makes another fortune. Right in the middle of trying to give away his first fortune, he goes and makes himself another one.

Will he have to make this decision again, to give everything away? Will he need to make this decision every day of his life? To give it all away?

Isn’t that a bit much to ask of anyone?

In this story about the rich farmer – or the rich fool, as he is often called – God calls to him, saying, “Your life is being demanded of you.”

We often hear these words as a sort of a veiled threat. Your life is being demanded of you as a way of saying your life is going to be taken from you. You are going to die this very night. And all these things you have built – whose will they be? All the riches you have stored up – do you think you get to take them with you?

There is a saying: the one who dies with the most toys wins, and one could say this parable wants to tell us that is precisely wrong! That there is no winning in stockpiling stuff. That there is no glory in dying amidst a pile of green – whether it be crops or cash. In the end, it is all for nothing. Many times this story has been preached in just this way – and it is true.

But, of course, there is another way to hear this.

When Jesus began his ministry in Galilee he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, for I was sent for this purpose.” And so he went all throughout the region of Galilee doing just that. And he traveled through the land of Samaria and to Jerusalem, all to proclaim this kingdom. He proclaimed it with his words and his actions; with his stories and his blessings, his healings and his commandments, he shared his vision – his hope – that we would learn to see this kingdom.

When he says, “This very night, your life is being demanded of you,” we may hear ourselves being called too – called to see the kingdom of God in our very midst.

Called to see everything in this world through a different lens. To see the upside-down way God loves and asks us to love as well. To see the precious value in people and things that appear worthless, and to see the worthlessness in so many things that appear, in this world, to be of value. To look at others and really see them; to be a friend to others in the way Jesus is a friend to us. To willingly surrender the power and prestige we might have worked hard to achieve, understanding, finally, that everything we have belongs to God. Everything in the world is a gift.

What a difference that makes, to see the world through a different lens. To see that all these things you’ve been storing up are only passing things, but the things of God are the real, lasting things.

To turn your life toward this realm – the kingdom of God. It’s right here. It always has been right here.

To freely give your life to this kingdom, which is close enough to touch, this is what we are each being asked. It is a decision the rich fool needs to make. It is a decision that the rich businessman needs to make. It is a decision each one of us needs to make, every day.

Every single day.

Photo: ChurchArt.Com