There is a story about a man who thought that he had secured a prosperous future for himself. By some magical
circumstances, he had gotten a copy of the “New York Times” dated a year in advance. He had an advantage over everyone else! He could read in that copy of the “New York Times,
“the stock-market conditions for that day in the future. He knew in advance
what stocks to purchase, as well as what assets to sell. He thought he had hit
the jackpot! Excited to know what the future would look like, he then turned
the page and read his own obituary! He could have it all, but then he was going to lose it all!
The
story is a shocker! But it is no more of a shocker than the parable which Jesus told. The parable had been initiated by a
family argument. It seems that one day, when Jesus was teaching the crowds about
not being fearful—a young man interrupted Jesus with a request. His request was reasonable. As there was not any separation of synagogue and state—just as the situation exists in some Middle
Eastern countries today— a rabbi often would settle such civil disputes.
In the case the younger brother presented to Jesus, the two brothers were to receive
an inheritance from their deceased father’s estate. The father had appointed the elder brother as the executor of the estate. However,
his younger brother felt that his older brother was “dragging his feet” in his execution of the estate. Of course, as in most arguments over estates, there probably was a long history of
the brothers feuding with one another. Instead of being caught in the middle of a family argument, Jesus named the primary
issue at hand—he named it clearly, it was “greed.” The Greek word for greed is “Pheonexia”—“the insatiable desire for more.”
Therefore, in Jesus’ response to the young man, Jesus told him to be careful
not to allow greed to entrap him: “Be
on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then, to illustrate his point, Jesus told the crowd the following parable:
There
was a rich man. As a rich man, he had political connections with the Romans. He
also was in the upper 2% of the population in wealth—while the great majority of people lived in poverty. Further, the rich man was not a “small-time” farmer. He
headed up a large landholding corporation, and therefore he controlled agricultural production over an entire region. As the story goes, one year this rich man had a bumper crop. People considered a bumper crop as God’s blessings upon such a person. Such a bumper crop therefore could be saved—later to be used to feed the community in times of famine. In contrast to Jesus’ other parables—there was nothing mentioned that
the rich man had sought to do wrong to others. Let me say it clearly: There were
no indications that he was stealing from others or creating a fraudulent act—there were no indications that he was treating
his workers unfairly. He was an upstanding member of his community. He simply was trying to earn as much money as he could, so that he would be financially secure—and
to have a secure retirement “nest-egg.” However, in his decisions, this rich man made three fatal errors:
His
first fatal error was that instead of harvesting and storing what he could in his current barns, and then building additional
barns to hold the windfall production— he decided to tear down the barns that he already possessed, and to build bigger
barns with a larger capacity. In doing so, he created a tremendous debt for his
family, which the family would be forced to pay off in the lean years. Further,
while his new barns were being built, his crops faced the potential of rotting in the fields. What
would possess such a man to make such a risky business venture?
His
second fatal error, was that the rich man forgot that he was a member of a community—a community to which he had social
and economic obligations. The Bible never condemns wealth! For throughout the Bible, God gives wealth to some persons, so that they might share that wealth
with others who are in need. God had blessed this rich man with great wealth. Yet
this rich man only thought of himself and his own future. “Self, you’ve got goods laid up for years to come, take it easy—eat,
drink and be happy.”
His
third fatal error was that he thought possessing greater wealth could give him greater security in life. Barbara Brown Taylor asks the question, “How much money or
possessions do we really need to feel secure?” She then goes on to
suggest that everyone has a figure; it may be higher or lower than someone else’s figure. However, everyone has one—the amount of money, or land, or inventory, or livestock—which will
allow us to be able to feel financially secure. Perhaps, for some of us, having
a million dollars in the bank would make us feel secure. However, a million is
not what it used to be—so maybe two million dollars, or even better three million dollars. Yet, frankly, most of us will not have even a million dollars “squirreled” away in a savings
account. Therefore, most of us have to console ourselves with smaller treasures:
perhaps some nice clothes and jewelry, or perhaps a nice new car, or perhaps a new set of copper-bottomed cookware.
Further,
there are stores that will sell treasures to you, even if it is on “easy-pay” credit. Having purchased our treasures, we then can enjoy them—wearing them, driving them, cooking with them.
Nevertheless, after we have had them for a while—we discover that they
really do not make us feel any more secure. For when we wake up at three o’clock in the middle of the night, worrying, and cannot go back to sleep—I doubt that any of us wants to put on our
jewelry or sleep in our new car, or bring our new copper-bottomed cookware to bed with us.
In
the parable that Jesus told, God spoke a word of judgment to the rich man. “You fool! This
is the very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” No one sets out to make foolish decisions. However, sometimes life’s distractions
can lead to poor discernment, and we overlook important facts. The consequences
of our choices then reveal that we made decisions foolishly. Yet most of us do
not want to admit to ourselves when we have made foolish decisions. We therefore,
keep trying to “dig ourselves out” of our choices, through working harder in doing the same thing, that got us
in trouble in the first place. Of course, all that does is make the “hole”
get deeper and deeper and deeper. Perhaps we too can learn from what Jesus told
that younger brother. In the end, Jesus had told him that he never could purchase
enough things, or have enough rental storage units in which he kept his accumulated “stuff”—to make his
life feel safe.
Do you remember the movie, “Flight Club?” The story began in telling
about Edward Norton, who worked as the recall coordinator for an automobile manufacturer. His
job was to investigate fatal car accidents, and he knew how many lawsuits his company could afford before having to incur
the expense of a car model recall. He was good at his job, and his employers
rewarded him with substantial bonuses. He had filled his high-rise apartment
with high tech Scandinavian furniture and electronics – a “yin-yang” symbol on the coffee table, a huge
entertainment center, halogen light fixtures, and off-white blinds in his windows.
By accident, one day, he met a shady-seeming
character named Tyler Durden, who initiated him into an entirely different lifestyle. Before
long, they were living in an abandoned house in a rundown neighborhood, refereeing “fight clubs” at night. In these “fight clubs,” young
men signed up to fight other young men, so that they could feel important among their peers.
One night, Tyler Durden looked around at all
the young men preparing to fight that evening, as well as the cheering crowd of onlookers. He said to them, “I’ve seen in Fight Club the smartest, strongest men who ever lived. I see all this potential and I see it squandered...
We’re the middle children of history… Man, no purpose, no place…We
have no great war, no Great Depression...We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all
be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars, but we won’t. We are slowly learning that fact and we’re very,
very (angry).” In that moment, Tyler Durden realized that his life
could not be fulfilled by the larger purpose he had chosen.
This
morning, Jesus parable stirs up the question in us— what might some larger purpose for our lives look like? “Great
wars” and “Great Depressions” may give some people purpose, but they also destroy other lives. In contrast,
Jesus said that such a desire will only be achieved through being “rich toward God.” Jesus did not identify what being
“rich toward God” might
look like. However, it is much like “love.” For we know it, when we experience it. We know it, when we
sense that their lives, and God’s life, they are flowing in the same direction.
Moreover, as we are involved in helping God to mend the world, we discover that in the process that our lives, too,
are being mended, for we know that our lives are making a different in God’s scheme of things.
