Stewarding an Inheritance

Illustration: Jack Benny

Some of you may remember Jack Benny. He had a famous skit which illustrated how we place money ahead of everything. The scene shows him walking down the street when suddenly he is approached by an armed robber, "Your money or your life!"

There is a long pause. Jack does nothing. After several moments, the robber grows impatient and asks him, "Well?" Jack replied, "Don't rush me, I'm thinking it over."

This morning I would like us to think a few moments about our money and our life. Let’s see what Jesus has to say about these two subjects.

Introduction to the Text

Leading up to today’s gospel text, Jesus was preaching to a crowd of several thousand people. Specifically, he was proclaiming an urgency of the crowd’s confession of faith in Christ. In a nutshell, Jesus was encouraging the crowds that they should not fear people who might persecute them—rather, than worrying about the judgement of humankind, Jesus told them they should be aware of God’s judgement which would continue after death.

Just before we get to today’s text, Jesus tells the crowd this:

Luke 12:11–12 NRSV

When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

Jesus calls for heroic trust in the Holy Spirit, that we might be willing to sacrifice our lives on a statement of faith in who Christ is for the world. He encourages that the Holy Spirit will teach us in that moment to speak courageously to our faith.

There is a promise that Christ makes to the people that any who acknowledge him… who recognize him as their Savior will be acknowledged before God. But any who disown Jesus in public will be disowned before God.

And in the midst of this conversation as Jesus is literally telling thousands of people to prepare themselves to give their lives for their faith in Christ if need be and that God will be with them through their trials even unto death… we hear a man’s voice pipe up from the crowd:

Luke 12:13 NRSV

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

About Inheritance

The question seems trivial in the face of what Jesus’ teaching of offering one’s life for their faith. And from Jesus’ response, we hear perhaps a bit of frustration coming across.

Luke 12:14 NRSV

But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”

Now the NRSV has Jesus address the man as “friend” which is really quite polite. The greek word that is there, ἄνθρωπε, is a bit stronger. It’s more of a “Hey you!” or, if you’re a fan of Jesus Christ Superstar, a very literal translation would actually be, “Hey man!”

“Who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”

About Inheritance

Jesus has been interrupted, and he’s not particularly happy about it. But I think it’s important before we go any further, to ask the question why this guy interrupted Jesus in the first place.

The answer might be a bit enlightening.

So the way inheritance worked among the Jews of Christ’s day was that when the father died, all of the property was supposed to go to the eldest son. The idea was to try to keep the entire house together. If there were multiple sons, the hope was that they would all live together in peace with one another on the land that belonged to the eldest.

That said, younger brothers had the right that they could at any time ask for their share of the inheritance. If things were divided up, the eldest brother would get twice as much as his younger brothers.

This was all perfectly legal according to Old Testament Law.

In this particular case, however, it seems as though the younger brother has been trying to make the claim on his inheritance and the eldest brother is refusing to fulfill what is required by the law. And in such a case, the younger brother is supposed to seek out a teacher to decide the case which, obviously with what we know now, would go in favor of the younger brother.

Everything that the younger brother is doing is legal and correct. He made a proper claim, was refused by his brother, and so now he is seeking out a renown teacher to settle the case as instructed by scripture.

Jesus’ Answer

So the reason why this man interrupts Jesus and asks for a judgement is because that is what he was supposed to do to settle the case. It’s not that he is being whiny or hopes that Jesus will have some special sway… no… it’s the legally correct route.

But here’s the surprise. Jesus refuses to make judgement on the case. No Solomon the Wise dividing of property here. Instead, Jesus almost seems to rebuke the guy. But why?

We hear Jesus’ warning to the man in verse 15:

Luke 12:15 NRSV

And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Ahhhh… so it goes back to this guy having too much stuff, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

The Parable

Jesus jumps right into a parable right after this to help explain his answer.

He tells of this rich farmer who has a bumper crop. And the farmer asks himself what he should do since he doesn’t have enough room to store that enormous harvest. After a bit of pondering, he comes to a conclusion:

He’ll pull down his old barns and put up new barns… bigger barns… better barns in their place. That way he can say to his soul that he is set for life and he can just relax, eat, drink, and be merry.

Thanks to that harvest, the rich farmer is pretty sure his retirement plan is set to go so he can just slow down and enjoy life.

All and all, it actually sounds like a pretty wise plan.

One could easily argue that the rich man is a wise and responsible person. He has a thriving farming business. His land has produced so abundantly that he does not have enough storage space in his barns. So he plans to pull down his barns and build bigger ones to store all his grain and goods. Then he will have ample savings set aside for the future and will be all set to enjoy his golden years.

Isn’t this what we are encouraged to strive for? Isn’t it wise and responsible to save for the future? The rich farmer would probably be a good financial advisor. He seems to have things figured out. He has worked hard and saved wisely. Now he can sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of his labor, right?

Not exactly. There is one very important thing the rich man has not planned for -- his reckoning with God.

-Elisabeth Johnson from www.workingpreacher.com

Luke 12:20 NRSV

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Luke 12:

Why a Fool

Two things that I think are important to point out. The first is that in the parable, Jesus is not saying that because of the farmer’s decision that his life is being demanded of him. This is not like the Jack Benny story where he was given the option between his money or his life and he had to think about it.

No, instead Jesus is relaying that on that particular night after the farmer has made all of these plans of what he will do with the money… that he is going to die… so what was the point?

The message here begins to become clearer:

The rich farmer is a fool not because he is wealthy or because he saves for the future, but because he appears to live only for himself, and because he believes that he can secure his life with his abundant possessions.

-Elisabeth Johnson

He had become so focused on what he was going to do with everything that he had collected, that he never stopped to think about how his surprise blessing could be used to help others. Instead, all of his focus was on himself and his own desires… not even his needs… his desires of what he thinks will give him fulfillment in life.

Getting back to Inheritance

So why does Jesus respond the way he does to the man seeking his share of the inheritance? Here’s what I believe is the major point for us today:

Jesus’ concern for the man was not about whether or not this younger brother was legally sound in his argument for receiving his inheritance. Rather, Jesus is concerned about how the man his using his energies in the first place.

As it stood, the man would have had a place to stay with his older brother. He would have been provided all of the food and clothing he would need. If he married and then died, his older brother would be responsible for caring for the widow and any children.

But even more than that, Jesus is reminding the man that he should take his blinders off, see the world around him rather than only seeing himself, and trust that God will provide.

The thing that the rich farmer did in the parable that made him a fool was not that he was rich… but rather what he did with his richness. Having wealth can be a blessing if used as a blessing. The farmer was foolish because he was so concerned for himself that he ignored how he might have made an impact for the better with the gifts of success he had received.

As Jesus says in the verses directly following our text today, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”

Conclusion

Remember what Jesus had been teaching about leading up to this passage? Remember Christ saying to the people that any who acknowledge him… who recognize him as their Savior will be acknowledged before God. But any who disown Jesus in public will be disowned before God.

Jesus was talking about inheritance then as well. But unlike this man who is arguing for an inheritance of possessions on his own behalf, as many of us likely would, Jesus here is talking about an inheritance that is not owed us but is shared freely with us.

All that we have, all that we are… it is ours for only a limited time. We are stewards of these possessions from God that we only get to steward for a limited time. Eventually, everything we have will belong to someone else. We rebel against this idea because we want to be in charge of our lives and our stuff.

The good news for us is that because all that we have and all that we are belong to God it means that we will be cared for by the God who created the cosmos. We are given a generous share of God’s Kingdom by the true heir—the Son of God… Jesus Christ himself.

As we will hear Jesus say as we pick up the story next week with , “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

So I leave you with this thought: As inheritors of God’s Kingdom… as children of the Most High, how are we called to steward our time and our possessions that have been entrusted to us? Are there places in our lives where we might have the blinders on and think of ourselves rather than of God’s Kingdom? And if so, which if you’re like me you probably do, how might we throw off those blinders and better steward that which God provides?

Peace be with you.