A Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Ecclesiastes 1:12-14 2:1-7, 11, 18-21
Psalm 49:1-11
Colossians 35-17
Luke 12:13-21

But God said to him "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you." You are going to die. There's no avoiding it. All of us have to do it sometime All your possessions can't stop that from happening. Death: It could happen tomorrow.

For many in our contemporary culture that's a new thought. But for some of us death has become alarmingly familiar. We've already been to too many funerals of those who died too young. We live in the shadow of HIV - AIDS and some of us live with its reality. Death: It could happen tomorrow. It could be you.

Facing death changes everything. It robs us of our security -- our neat plans and savings for the future. It changes riches into vanity. What treasure do we have then?

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes had it all -- money & wisdom, land & pleasure. He worked hard. He did well. And in the end he found he had nothing. Might as well chase the wind.

It isn't fair. Karen was only four but she knew it wasn't fair. Her twin brother Karl had not one but both the new red dump trucks. "MOMMYYYYYY. Tell Karl to share!" Mommy arrives with a double load of building blocks and dumps them in front of Karen. Karl hangs on to both trucks and greedily eyes the blocks. But before long both kids are busily hauling blocks in red dump trucks.

"Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." And what is Jesus' response in today's Gospel? Not "Be fair and share." Not even "Hey, kid, who are you to tell me what to tell your brother." But "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?"

Jesus isn't going to tell us who is right and who is wrong. We know what would happen if Mommy says Karen is right and Karl is wrong. When Mommy judges between them, Karen gloats and Karl sulks. The red dump trucks stand between the twins. And no one's having fun.

At age four the separation seldom lasts. At age forty-four the pain and leftovers of ‘you are right and he is wrong' or ‘you get the family farm and she doesn't' may be fatal to the relationship.

Jesus isn't saying red dump trucks or possessions are bad. But he warns us that our greed for possessions can destroy our relationships. He tells us, "Take care. Be on your guard against ALL KINDS of greed." So what kind of greed tempts us? What do we lack that we want for our own? What possession do we want or need to store away for our security?

"Teacher! tell your children to divide the family inheritance! Some have more than their fair share. It isn't fair! My sister can marry the man she loves. And everyone rejoices. But my brother can't marry the man he loves. They can't even hold hands without someone hurting them. My heterosexual brothers can be ordained and serve you, God, and many of your children an all kinds of ministries. My gifted lesbian sisters are seldom ordained and struggle to find a church to accept them. And that's only the start of the list of possessions they have and we don't. MOMMYYYYYYYYYYY! Tell them to share"

And Jesus says, "Take care!" and dumps a bunch of building blocks in my lap.

It felt like they were saying. "We have all the red dump trucks. Come and you can play by our rules." I try dutifully to thank God that they are willing to share, but part of me screams: "MOMMYYYYYYY! He's doing it again!"

"Little one," the reply comes, "did you listen to today's lesson for you?": "You have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourself with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all in all!"

When we live in Christ, our differences do not divide us. When we live in Christ, we celebrate our diversity. So maybe they have all the red dump trucks that we want: The right to marry the one they love most. The right to show that love without fear. The church buildings and rules and traditions. And maybe they cling fearfully to those possessions. And we cry out for justice "It isn't fair!"

And Mommy Jesus comes along with her building blocks. She hands us not "the treasures we store up for ourselves" but the things that make us "rich toward God. " Our real treasures are not our possessions -- not even the good possessions like justice and equality - the real treasures are the things that bring us closer to others and to God. These treasures give life -- our treasures are found in our relationships -- the building blocks of life.

Did you listen to our first reading today? None of those things for which the teacher in Ecclesiastes toils has to do with relationships or with community. The work he doesn't mention, the work that is not vanity, is the work of love.

The Apostle Paul describes this work: "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. . . . Bear with one another . . . forgive each other . . . Above all, clothe yourselves with love . . . " for then you are rich toward God.

They've got all the red dump trucks. But It seems no one told them that we've got the building blocks.

Jesus tells us that "life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" There is more to life than possessions -- more even than equality of red dump trucks and social rights. Life is about relationships, about loving God and others. Those are the real treasures, the building blocks of life.

So, Go ahead, cry out when it isn't fair -- reach out to possess justice and equality. Go ahead, "eat, drink, and be merry" -- enjoy what you do possess. But take care: Don't let your possessions rob you of the real treasures -- the treasures that give life.

Return to The Living Waters Main Page
Go to The Living Waters Sermon Index