I used to think that there must be more McDonalds restaurants than any other chain in America. After all, my mom used to tease me that I always gave driving directions according to where the McDonalds was! But there is another industry that beats McDonalds and Starbucks combined; the storage facility industry. There are approximately 50,000 self-storage facilities in this country; there are only about 14,400 McDonalds restaurants and 12,000 Starbucks. (Of course, I couldn’t find any stats on Dunkin’ Donuts, which has to be the 2nd most in New England.)
Americans have so much stuff that we can’t keep it all in our homes anymore. And we’ve even outgrown our garages. We use about 1.7 billion square feet of storage space in these self-storage units; that’s about 21 feet of storage space available for every American household. And we are willing to pay well for this space; average cost is $89 a month, making this a $38 billion dollar a year industry.
Why do we hang on to all this stuff? Now, I can understand using a self-storage facility in the short-term, for example, when a person downsizes from a large home to an apartment and needs to take time to figure out what to keep and what to get rid of, or when a parent passes away and you need to clear out the home as soon as possible and have to postpone going through the belongings. But most people rent these units over a long period of time. They just can’t bear to let go of their stuff. Why? Sentimentality, maybe. Or the hope that someday it will be worth something, like an original Shirley Temple doll or first edition comic book might be worth today. But I suspect that the deeper reason is fear. We don’t let go because we think that all this stuff provides us with some sort of security. The more stuff we have, the safer we are. Or like the bumper sticker I saw years ago said, “The one who has the most toys in the end wins.” We think that the amount of our stuff – or our money – is a measure of our real worth or value as human beings.
Concerns about belongings and money are nothing new. They were just as present in the days of Jesus. And Jesus understood that these issues matter; of all his parables, about a third of them have to do with money or possessions. Our wealth – or lack of it – can be a source of spiritual dysfunction.
In this passage from Luke, we start with a man coming to Jesus to ask him to intervene in a family dispute. There is nothing uglier or sadder than a family fighting over an inheritance. My mother’s family went through that when her grandmother passed away. My grandmother was one of 5 sisters and 2 brothers, and when their mom died the girls split two against two about dividing up the belongings, with my grandmother squarely in the middle. The two brothers stayed out of it, much to their credit. This division in the family never really healed, and there were bitter grudges carried till they were all dead and gone. It was heart-breaking.
This man in the story was worried about his inheritance. Now, that doesn’t make a lot of sense in New Testament times. Jewish law was very clear about inheritance laws: the eldest son inherited 2/3 of the father’s wealth, and the other third was to be divided among the younger sons. So, it is strange that this man asked Jesus to settle an inheritance issue. Apparently, he wasn’t satisfied with his share, and wanted more. He was being greedy and wanted more than he was entitled to. So, Jesus told this parable about greed.
The man in the parable was no fool by worldly standards. He did what any wise investor would do. When his fields produced abundant harvests, and his barns would no longer hold his crops, he knew exactly what to do about it. He would tear down his barns and build bigger ones! Then he would have plenty of room to store everything, and he would be set for life. He could sit back and relax, just eat, drink, and be merry. What a great retirement plan! Who wouldn’t want that for themselves?
If we were all honest, we would have to admit that we admire this man for his hard work and success in life. He used his resources wisely and made a huge profit for himself. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, he embodies the American dream, doesn’t he? He made the most of what he started with and ended up with a fortune. A self-made man. But then, that was kind of the problem. He was all about self. It was “me, me, me” with this guy all the time. And the future was not going to be what he had planned on.
In fact, this man heard directly from God. In a harsh, abrupt interruption, God called this man a fool. That is pretty strong language! It is a put-down that none of us would feel too good about hearing someone say to us, much less hear it from God. But from God’s point of view, the man was actually foolish. He was foolish because he had put his trust in the wrong things. He didn’t recognize what really matters in life. He was so caught up with his possessions and his wealth, that he missed out on a relationship with God and with other people.
Where did this man go wrong? First of all, the man only thought about himself. He never considered anyone else. If he had so much food that his barns couldn’t hold it all, why didn’t he ever think about sharing it with the less fortunate? There were plenty of poor people in the world of Jesus, many people who lived on the edge of survival. But no, this man only though of how his abundance would benefit him. Second, this man only thought in terms of this world, never in terms of heaven. He was only concerned about his life on this earth, and how much he could enjoy it with his wealth safely tucked away in huge storage facilities. It never occurred to him that he needed to be preparing himself for eternal life in heaven. On that score, he had not stored up any treasure at all. Third, this man forgot about God. He never thought about faith; he never looked at his spiritual life as something important. He only thought about his wishes, his desires, his plans, and his goals. He never thought about what God’s purpose for his life might be. And finally, this man forgot that a person is measured by what he is, not for what he has. We are not the sum total of our wealth. It doesn’t matter how much we have in the bank or in a self-storage facility. It matters what kind of character we have, what our ethics are, what we have done to serve God and other people. Our wealth – or lack thereof – is not the measure of our life.
This man’s life was about to end, and he never got what it was all about. He never understood the purpose of it all. He didn’t even come close to being successful in any way that matters or lasts. And when he died, where was all his wealth going to be then? He couldn’t take it with him, and apparently he had no family to inherit it. All those excess crops were just going to rot in the big barns and do no good for anybody. When confronted by the reality of death, the man had nothing that would be remembered by anyone as an indication of having lived a good and meaningful and successful life.
I remember watching President Ronald Reagan’s funeral on TV. When his daughter stood up to give her eulogy, she didn’t talk about her father’s life as an actor or politician, or describe his success on the world stage. What she shared was a story about how he had taken time to bury her pet goldfish when it died. What mattered wasn’t that he had lived his life on a grand and global scale. What she remembered as important about her father’s life was that he had taken time and showed his love for her by taking care of her dead fish.
The man in the parable experienced a sudden turn for the worse; it was the most tragic thing that could happen to anyone, facing his own death. But there are other ways that our lives take dramatic turns. Daniel E. Harris, Associate Professor at Aquinas Institute of Theology, writes, “There is that phone call in the middle of the night telling us that a family member or beloved friend has suddenly passed away. There is that unexpected pink slip attached to our paycheck. There is the spouse who suddenly walks away from a marriage after many years. Any tragedy like that is difficult enough to bear; it becomes doubly devastating if our lives are not rooted in the Lord. If we have the Lord as our strength, the Lord will help us keep our heads on straight. We can continue on if we know God is still with us, even in the very tough times.”
That is what the man in the parable was missing. He didn’t have a relationship with God to help him through life’s challenges and tragedies. He didn’t even have the knowledge that God was with him as he faced his death. That is what Jesus wanted people to understand through this parable. That we are poor if all we have is money; what makes us rich is having a relationship with God.
A similar story is told in the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is much like the rich man in the parable. All he thinks about is money, and saving his money. He doesn’t ever use his money to help anyone else, and thinks that people who do are unwise. But one night, he is confronted by three spirits, who show him his life in the past, the present, and the future. Scrooge is so horrified at what he sees, at the truth about himself, that he undergoes this wonderful transformation. He becomes a man who is generous and caring, using his wealth to help those who are in need and to bring joy to other people. He was given a chance to change his life, unlike the man in Jesus’ parable.
When you look at your life, at your relationship with your possessions and your money, and at your relationship with God, are you satisfied with what you see? Do you have things in the proper perspective? Or are you like the rich fool, believing only in the security that is found in what you have? If so, you are clinging to false security. The only real security that we can have is through our faith in God. When we know that we have God with us, no matter what life brings our way, we are able to face anything. And we are able to maintain a proper relationship with our wealth, so that we can take care of our own needs and use the rest to help others. In that way, we show that we are true disciples of Jesus Christ.
