Have you ever been to a book signing? I’ve been to at least one that I remember. It was Madeleine L’Engle, and the book was “The Sphinx at Dawn,” two imagined stories of the boy Jesus when the family was abiding in Egypt. What if, at that book signing, someone had walked right up to her and said, “Tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me!”
That’s the strange situation which begins this unusual parable in Luke’s Gospel. Here we have this astounding healer and teacher that people are calling “rabbi,” but while other people are trying to figure out who Jesus is, and what he’s really saying, here’s this money-grubbing clueless person trying to turn Jesus’s attention away from his true mission to get right in the middle of a family financial squabble.
I can imagine the crowd surrounding Madeleine L’Engle saying: “What are you here for? Get yourself some lawyer, and leave this author alone.” Maybe the crowd around Jesus said, or at least felt, something similar. Jesus simply replies, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”
But Jesus takes this out-of-the-blue question and creates a teaching story! Jesus tells us of a rich man trying to solve his problem without asking God ‘s guidance. What am I to do? I have no space to store my bumper crop harvest! Ah, I’ve got it — I’ll tear down my little barns and build on a much larger scale for my future.
We get to overhear him speaking to his own soul, as if to a pampered little pet: “Soul, you have ample goods for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” Years ago I’d see a bumper sticker: He who dies with the most toys, wins. This man’s chariot sticker could easily read: the one who dies with huge barns, wins.
This is the most boring parable in the Bible. I’m not trying to be flippant here, but I really want to point out the complete lack of any dramatic tension in this parable There’s really only one actor on the Biblical stage: a rich man talking to Self. All the other parables of Jesus have people interacting, but this is the only monologue. God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And these things you have prepared, whose will they be?…So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves, but are not rich toward God. We might ask ourselves, just what did this man do wrong? why was he called “fool”? Well, he never once thought of sharing his bumper crop with those less blessed. This particular rich man failed to invite anyone else into his story of great abundance.
This country we love is currently re-enacting today’s melancholy parable. The richest country that has ever existed suddenly refuses to share its abundance with poor people in poor countries. And at home, medical treatment will be curtailed, and legal immigrants swept away (presumably out of sight), while the rich simply build bigger barns to hoard their new riches.
But you already know all this only too well. You came here for hope, and good news. Everything we have comes from God, yes, but it’s crucial for us to break free of the power of our possessions to turn around and then possess us!
Jesus tells us not to store up treasures for themselves, but be rich toward God. Being rich toward God does not mean living without possessions — it means bringing other people into our situation; not hoarding goods, but sharing them. We have assumed that those in positions of power would reflect this generosity of spirit. Well, Joni and I worship most Sundays at All Souls Church in Berkeley, and the Rector there, Phil Brochard, put our situation very clearly a few Sundays ago. We can no longer rely on our government to do our Christianity for us.
And I do want to remind you of the Good News you already embody: You are already rich toward God. You are already generous Christians. Even when you are tempted to despair about what is done in Washington, you also know how pendulums swing, and that public opinion will change.
As that great Republican Abraham Lincoln once put it: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” You already are sharing your abundance with those in need. Be counter-cultural! Let other build bigger barns. You’ll help other people build their first.
There are so many ways we can do this — with Episcopal Charities, which does intake and houses more of the Bay Area’s homeless than any other agency. I have admired the work of Episcopal Relief and Development even before I joined the Episcopal Church — their outreach is both international and local. I’m sure you’ve got your own ways of reaching out to the poor and marginalized. And do not give in to despair. Don’t let the stinginess of politicians change you! You are God’s beloved in Christ! So make sure that you stay rich — toward God.