Luke 12:13-21
It was a typical evening commute on August 1, 2007. People were in a hurry to get home, to get to the restaurant, to get to the gym or the driving range or the swimming pool. Some were talking on their cell phones, concluding business for the day, confirming social plans for the evening, or getting the list for the grocery store on the way home. Traffic was backed up more than usual, with two of the four lanes closed for road work. Probably a lot of people were getting hot under the collar, frustrated by the delay, waiting until the last possible moment to merge into the open lane, hoping to get in front of the slow-moving school bus or smelly garbage truck. It was just a typical evening commute.
But then the unthinkable happened. The I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed. Those Minneapolis commuters felt the road beneath them disappear. Some cars fell into the river. Others rolled downhill toward the water. No one knew what was going on; it all happened so fast. As of the next morning, there were seven people con-firmed dead and over sixty injured. Officials expected both numbers to rise. Not one of those people got in their car expecting to die that day. Death came when nobody expected it.
Death happens like that sometimes. A sudden disaster, a heart attack, a stroke, a car accident, a flood or tornado or hurricane. No one expects when they get up in the morning that they will die before the day is over. But when accidents do happen and tragedies do come our way, all of a sudden our priorities get rearranged. We make a different assessment of what is most precious, most valuable to us. All of a sudden, it doesn’t really matter what kind of car we drive, or what kind of house we live in, or how much money we have in the bank.
What if we knew that this was the last day we would spend on this earth? Would it make a difference in how we lived it? Would we make different choices about how we spent our time and our money? Consider the story from Luke’s gospel.
A man came up to Jesus one day and asked him to settle a family fight. He wanted Jesus to talk to his brother and tell his brother to give him his fair share of the inheritance. In the ancient world, it was the custom that the older brother would get twice the share of the younger son. But, people being what they are, there were likely occasions when arguments broke out after a death in the family over who would get what. When those kinds of disputes happened, the parties involved would often consult their rabbi for advice. So when this man approached Jesus, he may have been in that situation. But from the way he framed his question, it sounds like he was hoping Jesus might take his side against his brother, to get him a larger share of the inheritance than he might have been entitled to.
Nothing is more heartbreaking than siblings fighting over an inheritance. You’ve probably all seen it, or maybe even experienced it in your own families. People are willing to sacrifice their family relationships over material possessions or money, and there are wounds that are inflicted that sometimes never heal. In this case, Jesus refused to get involved in the dispute. Instead, he raised a deeper issue than this one man’s inheritance. He told a story about greed.
A few years ago, there was a great commercial where a guy started taking things out of his garage and putting them on the front lawn. There were Christmas decorations, trash cans, yard tools, cardboard boxes, bicycles, toys, and sports equipment. At first it looked like he was setting up for a yard sale. But it turned out he had bought a new car and it was too good to park in the driveway; it had to go in the garage. But first the man had to make room for it in there, because his garage was filled with all kinds of stuff.
How many of you have a garage? How many of you can actually get your car into the garage? How many of you have so much stuff in your garage that you can’t park your car in there? Most Americans have more stuff than they need. It fills the closets, the guest rooms, the garage. Some people even pay rent on storage units for their overflow stuff. We are a people addicted to stuff and our houses are stuffed with our stuff.
It may remind us of a man in the story who had stuffed barns. Jesus told this story about a rich man who had some land that produced a bumper crop one year. There was so much, in fact, that his barns couldn’t hold it all. “What do I do now?” he wondered. Then the answer came to him: the wisest course of action was to build bigger barns. That way he would have room to store it all. And then he could just sit back and enjoy the fruit of his labor. He could take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy himself.
Maybe this man is your role model for retirement planning. He had worked hard and made more than enough to provide for himself and his family, assuming he had one. He’d set up college funds for his kids, set aside money for travel, had a more than adequate 401K, and enjoyed a diversified stock portfolio. Everything had been accounted for. Life was good and would only get better. His plan was working beautifully.
Until suddenly it didn’t. God told him, ‘You fool! You’re going to die tonight! And then who’s going to get all this stuff you put in storage? Because it’s really true that you can’t take it with you!” That’s what happens when you have a lot of material riches, but you don’t have a deep and rich relationship with God.
The problem here, of course, wasn’t that the man was wealthy. There’s nothing wrong with reaping the rewards of your hard work. The problem was the man’s attitude towards his wealth. In spite of the fact that he had way more than he needed, it never even occurred to him to that his abundance might have been a gift from God. It never occurred to him to say thank you for his many blessings. It never occurred to him to share it with anyone else. In 1st century Palestine, most people were poor; instead of building bigger barns the man might have considered giving away the surplus crops to those who were hungry. But it never even crossed his mind. He never thought of anything or anyone but himself and his pleasure. He never gave a moment’s consideration to what would happen to him when his life was over. No one can save enough money to prevent death from happening sooner or later. And no one can avoid standing before God one day to give an account or their life.
So what does this story have to do with us? What might we learn from this rich fool and his stuffed barns? Well, we might remind ourselves to be grateful for all that we have and to remember that it is all a gift from God. We might ask ourselves how generous we are with the blessings that are ours. We might think of those who have less than we do, or nothing at all, and ask how we might help them.
A few years ago, there was a story in the Boston Globe about the 50% League, a group of people who had committed themselves to giving away at least half of their incomes, business profits, or net worth to charity. The ninety members of this group came from all across the country. Not all of them were wealthy; some were from the middle class, but had chosen to live on less so that they could give more. Some gave out of a sense of fairness, others for personal satisfaction. Others were motivated by their religious faith or a dedication to some cause. Many chose to give anonymously. They wanted to encourage people of all income levels to consider their giving potential, to help close the gap between rich and poor, and to support economic justice and social change.
It is doubtful that many of us could give away half our money or possessions and still have enough to provide for our needs. But there are ways to share what we have. We could go through our closets and drawers once a year and give away anything we haven’t worn in a year. We could consider sharing ownership of some possessions with a neighbor, such as a lawn mower or snow blower, and use the money you save to help someone else. Make a list of what you need to live and a list of what you want; then commit to buying only what you need for a year. Donate the money you save to a community ministry or church. Don’t rent a storage unit, and if you have one, consolidate your possessions until you only keep what will fit in your home. For the next month, every time you find yourself coveting something that someone else has, say a prayer to be content with what you have.
John Wesley serves as a good role model for us. His policy was to earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. He lived that out in his own life. He figured out what he needed to live on, and he gave the rest of his money away. No matter how much his income increased over the years, he still only kept what he needed to provide for his necessities and gave away the rest.
Are your closets full to overflowing? Is your garage too crowded for your car to live in? Are you actually paying rent to store your extra stuff? Is your bank account looking like a stuffed barn? Maybe it’s time to give away some of what we are storing up. Maybe it’s time we shared our abundance with those in need. Maybe it’s time we let go of our desire for the good life for ourselves and work at making life good for someone else too. Take care that your possessions don’t possess you. After all, it’s just stuff. And you can’t take it with you.
