Sunday, August 1, 2010

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 12:13-21
SOME OF YOU OLD-TIMERS MAY REMEMBER BLACK AND WHITE TELEVISION AND THE PROGRAM “TWILIGHT ZONE”. EVERY WEEK A DIFFERENT STORY WOULD BE PRESENTED; IT WAS ALWAYS SPOOKY AND ALMOST NEVER HAD A HAPPY ENDING. I STILL REMEMBER ONE STORY. THE WORLD WAS ON THE BRINK OF NUCLEAR WAR. THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA HAD JUST GIVEN UP ON YET ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO WORK OUT A PEACE TREATY. IT LOOKED HOPELESS, AND THE MAIN CHARACTER IN THE STORY HAD BUILT AN ELABORATE BOMB SHELTER THAT COULD KEEP HIM AND HIS FAMILY ALIVE FOR THIRTY YEARS. HE SUSPECTED THAT AFTER THE NUCLEAR WAR THE FEW SURVIVORS WOULD BE SAVAGES, AND IF THEY DISCOVERED HIM, THEY WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO GET INTO THE BOMB SHELTER AND TAKE EVERYTHING HE HAD, SO HE DESIGNED IT SO THAT THERE WOULD BE NO WAY ANYONE COULD COMMUNICATE WITH HIM FROM THE OUTSIDE. HE FIGURED THIRTY YEARS WOULD BE ABOUT LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE SURE THAT THE RADIOACTIVITY FROM THE BOMBS HAD GOTTEN DOWN TO MANAGEABLE LEVELS, AND THE REMAINS OF THE HUMAN RACE WOULD HAVE EITHER DESTROYED EACH OTHER OR STARTED CIVILIZATION ANEW. AND HE PLANNED TO EMERGE AND WITH HIS SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY HE WAS SURE HE COULD LIVE OUT HIS LIFE WITHOUT PROBLEMS. AS HE TRIED TO URGE HIS WIFE AND KIDS INTO THE SHELTER, THEY REBELLED, AND SO HE WENT IN HIMSELF. THIRTY YEARS WENT BY, AND WHEN HE CAME OUT IT WAS TO A BEAUTIFUL WORLD WHERE EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT, AND HE WAS GREETED BY HIS WIFE, WHO HADN'T AGED, AND HIS KIDS, WHO WERE YOUNG ADULTS. JUST BEFORE THE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST, THE WORLD WAS VISITED BY PEOPLE FROM OUTER SPACE, WHO GAVE THE WORLD MIRACULOUS GIFTS – CLEAN ENERGY WITHOUT LIMIT, MACHINES THAT MADE WORK AND POVERTY A THING OF THE PAST; AND MEDICINES THAT CURED ALL HUMAN ILLS, AND GAVE PEOPLE IMMORTALITY. THE ONLY LIMIT WAS THAT THE MEDICINES ONLY WORKED ON PEOPLE WHO WERE 50 YEARS OLD OR YOUNGER.
JESUS ISN'T AGAINST RICH PEOPLE. THE MAN IN TODAY'S STORY IS RICH, BUT THERE ISN'T ANY INDICATION HE GOT HIS WEALTH IN ANY WAY THAT HURT OTHER PEOPLE. AND IF YOU REMEMBER THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS, THE RICH MAN SPEAKS TO ABRAHAM, WHO IS IN HEAVEN, AND ABRAHAM WAS ONE OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. BUT JESUS SAYS THAT GOD CALLS HIM A FOOL. WHY?
IN OUR ENGLISH BIBLE THE WORD “FOOL” APPEARS IN MANY PLACES. BUT IN GREEK, THREE DIFFERENT WORDS ARE TRANSLATED AS FOOL. ONE MEANS, ROUGHLY, TO BE UNTELLIGENT. THE SECOND MEANS ROUGHLY, TO BE CARELESS. AND A THIRD MEANS LITERALLY, TO MISINTERPRET, TO BELIEVE WRONGLY. AND IT IS THIS THIRD MEANING THAT JESUS EMPLOYS HERE.
LISTEN TO THE RICH MAN. IN HIS SPEECH, HE SAYS “I” OR “ME” OR USES THE WORD “YOU” ABOUT HIMSELF, FIFTEEN TIMES. YOU GET THE FEELING THAT FOR HIM THERE IS NO ONE ELSE IN HIS LIFE, AT LEAST NO ONE WHO MATTERS. HE IS SO INTO HIMSELF THAT HE EVEN TALKS ABOUT WHAT HE IS GOING TO SAY TO HIMSELF WHEN HE GETS HIS NEW BARNS BUILT AND HIS HARVEST PUT AWAY – “THEN I SHALL STORE MY GRAIN AND OTHER GOODS AND SHALL SAY TO MYSELF, 'NOW, AS FOR YOU, YOU HAVE SO MANY GOOD THINGS STORED UP FOR MANY YEARS, REST, EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY!'” TO ME THAT SOUNDS A LITTLE PATHOLOGICAL. AND GOD SHOWS HIM HE BELIEVES WRONGLY, HE IS A FOOL. BECAUSE YOU CAN'T CONTROL YOUR LIFE, YOU CAN'T FIND PERFECT SECURITY, NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY TO CONTROL THINGS, THERE IS A CANCER CELL GROWING IN YOU, A DRIVER ON A CELL PHONE WHO DOESN'T SEE YOU, AN ECONOMIC DISASTER THAT DESTROYS THE VALUE OF YOUR SAVINGS – IF YOU THINK THERE IS ANY WAY YOU CAN REACH THAT POINT WHERE YOU CAN REST, EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY, YOU MISINTERPRET, YOU BELIEVE WRONGLY, YOU ARE A FOOL.
THE MAN IN THE BOMB SHELTER NOT ONLY SPENT THIRTY YEARS COMPLETELY ALONE, BUT BECAUSE HE LEFT THE REST OF HUMANITY BEHIND, HE MISSED OUT ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF EARTH INTO A PARADISE. I THINK THAT IS SOMETHING LIKE JESUS' MESSAGE HERE.
JESUS IS SPEAKING TO A MAN WHO HAS ONE THING ON HIS MIND – “MAKE MY BROTHER GIVE ME WHAT IS MINE” AND AT THE END OF THE STORY, JESUS SAYS THAT THE BIG MISTAKE IS TO BE “NOT RICH IN WHAT MATTERS TO GOD”.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT MATTERS TO GOD, OR HOW TO BE RICH IN THAT? HERE ARE A FEW THINGS THAT MATTER TO GOD. “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR JUSTICE.” I DESIRE MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE.” “WHATEVER YOU DO TO THE LEAST OF MY BROTHERS, YOU DO TO ME.” DO YOU KNOW WHAT MATTERS TO GOD? “LET THE CHILDREN ALONE, AND DO NOT HINDER THEM FROM COMING TO ME; FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO SUCH AS THESE." A LITTLE CHILD NOTICES, A LITTLE CHILD APPRECIATES THE MOMENT, THE BEAUTY OF A FLOWER, THE TASTE OF A STRAWBERRY, THE EMBRACE OF A MOTHER. NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CONDITION, GOD DOES CONSTANTLY SURROUND YOU WITH SIGNS OF HIS LOVE. AND IF YOU FAIL TO NOTICE THEM, THEN YOU ARE POOR IN WHAT MATTERS TO GOD.
THE STORY OF THE RICH FOOL IS NOT ABOUT GREED, OR THE EVILS OF WEALTH. IT IS ABOUT THE WAY THAT OUR DESIRE FOR SECURITY CAN LITERALLY DESTROY OUR HUMANITY, BY DISTRACTING US FROM BECOMING PARTNERS WITH GOD IN BRINGING ABOUT HIS KINGDOM, BY MAKING US IGNORE OUR LOVED ONES, AND BY DISTRACTING US FROM THE SIGNS OF LOVE WITH WHICH GOD SURROUNDS US. AND HOW SAD TO HAVE LIVED OUR LIFE SEEKING SECURITY, AND FINDING AT THE END OF OUR LIFE THAT WE HAVE NO SECURITY, THAT WE HAVE NO TREASURE STORED UP IN HEAVEN.
THERE WAS A POOR WIDOW WHO PUT HER LAST TWO PENNIES IN THE TREASURY OF THE TEMPLE. THERE WAS A RICH FOOL WHO TOOK ALL HIS WEALTH AND STORED IT UP AND PLANNED TO ENJOY HIMSELF FOR MANY YEARS TO COME. AND YOU AND I ARE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THESE TWO EXTREMES. AND WHAT WILL GOD SAY TO US? “SHE HAS GIVEN MORE THAN ALL THE REST, FOR SHE HAS GIVEN ALL SHE HAS” OR “YOU FOOL, TONIGHT YOUR LIFE WILL BE DEMANDED OF YOU, AND THE THINGS YOU HAVE ACQUIRED, TO WHOM WILL THEY BELONG?”