Living the Faith

Grace, Mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

How do you ever know if enough is enough? We often have this habit of wanting more know matter how much we have in our lives - we always want more of that delicious German chocolate cake even though our brain and our doctors are telling us no - We say Let’s Have More. Or as we are watching football on TV - the game ends, we flip to the next station for the next game because we want to watch More. Or maybe as we look at our bank accounts - we see the dollar amount we have but we think through ways to gain More. We have this habit in our lives and in our world of never being satisfied with the amount - we have we always find ourselves craving and wanting more. We see this attitude on full display in a conversation with Jesus and a few brothers and the parable that Jesus tells after.

Jesus is there in our text, surrounded by a crowd of people hearing His teaching. Many people were always willing to hear what Jesus said; He taught as someone who was different, someone with more authority than the other teachers of the Law. So people gathered around Jesus. And someone in the crowd was bold enough - to yell and speak up to say, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Maybe he felt comfortable asking this because he had heard of Jesus doing the many signs and wonders of the Messiah. They maybe have heard of people speaking up to Jesus and asking Jesus to heal their loved ones and He did it! Or perhaps they have heard of the encounter Jesus had with the paralytic man - where his friends carry him to Jesus and Jesus heals him - says pick up your mat and go home, they asked Jesus to heal him and He did it! Or perhaps the people in the crowd heard about the Roman ruler, Jarius - who asked Jesus to heal His dying daughter and Jesus did it! But the this brother yells out to Jesus - for Jesus to have his brother give him a share of the inheritance - he is asking Jesus for stuff, but Jesus has a much different reaction this time. Jesus responds to this request, “Who has made me judge or arbitrator over you?” In other words, Jesus is saying that’s not my role, and then Jesus launches into this parable about the rich fool.

In this parable, Jesus is talking about a man whose land, whose field was producing a great crop. This man is so completely focused on himself. Listen again to the inner dialogue going on in this man’s mind: “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” - He answers his own question: “I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods.” He goes on to say, “I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years, relax, eat, drink, be merry.”Jesus goes on and gets to the punch line of the parable, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? - Jesus goes on, so is the person or the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. This man Jesus describes is so focused on himself that He becomes complacent, he becomes content in the possessions he has rather than the foundation of faith that God has given him.

Jesus is telling this parable to combat against the attitude of the brother who approaches Him from the crowd - the attitude of covetous of possessions, rather than focusing on the work of God in this world. Jesus wants the people to see past the material to look to the spiritual. Jesus is saying to the people standing there before Him - you don’t need all these different things, you don’t need all these different things to be satisfied, Jesus is saying to us today, You have Me - that’s enough! Jesus is saying I have provided for you and given you everything! Jesus as He is giving up His life on the cross to reveal the love of God - He says to you, You have Me and the love that I have won for you - it’s yours! Jesus through the gift of Baptism - which Kate has experienced, God says to us as He claims you as His child - Life in God’s Kingdom - It’s yours! As He rises from the grave, He says - life even greater than death - It’s yours. And who Jesus and the work that He has done for us - is everything we truly needed.

Has anyone ever spent time packing a storage unit or a moving pod? It can be hot and sweaty work, it can be tiresome, but at the same time it is worth it, because you are able to handle all of your possessions, you are able to make sure that they are all safe and sound, you are able to touch them and put them exactly where you want them. But imagine with me that you are packing a storage unit with all the possessions of your life - everything you have ever acquired is going into this U-Haul storage unit. And as pick up each possession you are evaluating it, you are asking yourself why do I need this? What am I going to use this for? Am I using it for myself or possibly to serve others? Maybe as you put the Christmas decorations in there you say - well I need this to light up my children or my grandchildren’s day in the Christmas season. The decorations just bring so much joy to other people in the season, I have to keep those. Or as you are packing your U-haul unit you pick up your children’s momentos, and say well, I have to keep these. One day my kids, kids would like to see these different things, I want to them to share in the joy of being able to see all these great memories. Or perhaps you stuff in the back of the storage unit all the different important papers, like bank statements, passwords, birth and marriage certificates. You say well I definitely need this to make sure everything is in order in my life. But as you continue to pile stuff into the U-haul of life, you have to keep asking yourself, am I keeping this to serve others, or am I keeping or hoarding things just in case I run out of something, just in case I need a back-up of something, am I keeping things because I really like this thing, and just need it. Over the years, over time, your U-haul of life stuff keeps getting filled with all these different objects from throughout your whole life, and after the Lord has called you home, people begin to go through all the stuff that you deemed important enough to save. As they look through all the stuff you kept, what kind of person will they see. Perhaps as they pull out bank statements and financial records will they see a person full of themselves or someone full of the love of God - investing in His Kingdom with their financial gifts. Or as they view the boxes of memories, will they see a person full of love for others and the love of God, or a person who has collected things that only talk about individual awards? Or as they look through the photo albums, will they see a person invested in the community of God - the church or someone only invested in themselves?

God has gifted you with many different gifts. He has gifted you with talents and passions for His Kingdom work in this world. He has gifted you with treasures, with your finances He has given you blessing after blessing. God has gifted you with many different gifts and talents, however it is up to us if we use them poorly or not. God through His love and mercy continues to provide for His people. How are we using His gifts today?

Now may the grace of God, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, may it guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord, Amen.