Community Living
Posted on Jul 31, 2016 by David Whetter
I know exactly what you all thinking right now. You are sitting there saying, “Oh no, here comes the money talk!” I know it is still July and we don’t normally have the money talk until later in the fall, so I get it, you might not be ready for the money talk, but this is the text assigned for today, and it is such a great stewardship text. But, stewardship is not only about money and how much of our money we give to the church. In fact, stewardship literally is about a way of life. Stewardship is how live our lives from baptism to death. So, what if this story isn’t about the money, but instead is about our relationship with God and those around us?
Now in the story of creation, we are told two things that are central to our faith. First, we are told that God created everything and that everything God created was good. Secondly, we are told “God created humankind in [God’s] image” (1:27). Now this doesn’t mean we look physically like God. No, we are made in God’s image means that we have the same characteristics as God. We have the capacity to love, to forgive, to create, to have compassion, and so much ore. In addition, one of the characteristics of God is that God is always in relationship. Our understanding of God as a Trinitarian God is that God is not only in relationship with God’s self (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), but God is also always in relationship with us. So, one characteristic of being a good steward of all God has given us, including our own lives, is that we ought to always be in relationship with others and our story today concerns a man who failed at this. The choices this “rich man” made in his life were self-centered and narcissistic. His choices not only were not centered on God, but they also did not include anyone else, and for that God calls this man a “fool.”
Let’s take a closer look at our story today. A man comes to Jesus and wants Jesus to get involved with his apparent squabble with his brother over their inheritance. But Jesus refuses to get involved in this family feud and instead tells a parable about this rich “fool.” “The land of a rich man produced abundantly,” said Jesus(11:16). From this one line, we learn two critical things. First, since this is a rich man, we know he has a household of people he is responsible for. He may not have a wife, or children, or brothers or sisters, but as a rich man and one who had land, he would have had slaves and other servants that were his responsibility. Secondly, we know that times were good because the land of this man produced abundantly. This man had an abundance of everything.
But, there is a problem and we discover the problem in the conversation the man has with himself when he says, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” (11:17) The man doesn’t have a place to store all his crops! That is an issue, but that is not the problem Jesus is raising because such an issue is easily solved, as we are told in the very next verse when the man said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods” (11:18). This technical problem was easily solved, but there is a huge issue that still went unresolved, did you hear it? If not, let’s look at the next verse. The rich man said, “I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry” (11:19). Did you hear the problem?
The issue, the big problem for this man is that there is no evidence that there is anyone else in his life, anyone else he cares about, anyone else who might have contributed to or benefit from this bountiful harvest. No, instead, when challenged with the blessing of an abundance, this rich “fool” can only think of what he can do for himself, so he can live a long and comfortable life.
This rich man, like you and I do so often, fell prey to the notion that he had the power to secure his own life. This rich fool, like you and I so often do, failed to see the needs of the many around him. He failed to see how others provided labor, ingenuity, compassion, care and so much more to help create this abundance. This rich fool failed to understand that all he had and all the abundance that was his, was first and foremost a blessing from God and that he had a responsibility to use his abundance not only for himself, after all God does want us to enjoy the blessings God gives us, but it was his responsibility to be a good steward with his abundance and share it with those he was in relationship with, as well. This rich landowner claimed to need no one, proclaimed he depended on no one and he apparently thought he did all this on his own and this is why God called him a fool.
All this self-centered, egotistical man had and all he stored up could not and would not prevent him from the one thing that was guaranteed in life and that is death and in the end, he actually got what he planned for. He died alone! None of his savings, could provide the comfort and protection he sought and because of his poor planning none of his savings would go on to others who loved and respected him and can put it to good use, but instead it will all turn to dust in the wind.
In this life we do have a choice. We can choose be rich toward things. We can seek find ways to store all our stuff absent of God and those around us and although all will seem good, in the end, we will die alone. Or, we can choose to be rich first toward God and first see that all we have is first and foremost God’s and what we do with the abundance we have ought to be centered first on God and God’s creation. When we are first rich toward God, then we first desire to share our wealth, not just our money, with all in need and in the effort to share the Gospel as we have been commanded. Then, and only then, should we save for ourselves and then hopefully have even more to share with others. Giving first is not about giving to God. After all, as Martin Luther once said, one cannot be rich toward God without being rich toward others. God needs neither our good works or our wealth, but our neighbor does.
And so today that brings us back to where we started, this parable, yes is about stewardship, but it is about the stewardship of community. It is about the community in which we find sustenance and comfort and help and hope, and the community in which and through which we experience life with God. Keep in mind, this whole parable started by stating that there was a break in a family community, the central and primary community of society. But, Jesus refuses to get involved directly, and instead tells the story of a man so enraptured with his good fortune that he ends up all alone.
Brothers and sisters, today we are challenged to realize that how we live our lives as good stewards is not just about ourselves, but it is first and foremost about the community around us. It is about how we love God and love our neighbor. Let us not be like the rich fool and focus only on ourselves. May all we do be first and foremost about how we might better serve God and the world around us. Amen.