PROPER 13-C, August 1, 2004

Almost every time someone approached Jesus with a question or a request, Jesus took the time to respond to the question or answer the request. When asked about which was the greatest commandment, he gave an answer. When asked who are neighbor might be, he answered. When asked for a healing, he healed. To be sure, some of the answers Jesus gave were not always as clear as the asker would like. Invariably Jesus told a parable as a way of responding – which often made the questioner wonder why he dared ask the question in the first place.

But Jesus was also wise enough to stay clear of matters that were simply out of his hands – as in today’s Gospel reading. Someone in the crowd wanted Jesus to get involved in a family dispute over an inheritance and Jesus simply would not. In fact, he would not touch it with a ten-foot pole. It was a lose-lose situation. No matter what he said to help resolve the problem would have made someone upset, perhaps even everyone involved. Of course, what Jesus did do was, again, tell a parable, which probably upset everyone involved in that family dispute more than they already were.

I know. I’ve been there. I have been asked to be the mediator of family arguments over inheritances. Unlike Jesus, I tried to help settle the issue. Afterwards I wish I, too, had not touched it with even a twenty-foot pole. I suspect you know what I am talking about. I suspect we all know about at least one family that has been pulled apart because of an argument over possessions. I know of two sisters who have not talked to each other for fifty years because they are still fighting over their mother’s sewing machine. You can tell similar stories.

There is much discussion these days about family values and how the family is in trouble. Depending on whom we might read, there are various opinions as to why this may be true or why it is happening. But the truth is that marriage, the family and family values are already going down the tube mainly because of the same issue today’s Gospel is all about: materialism. Only today it is worse that ever, especially in this country. We work longer hours and take less vacation than ever. Why? So that we can have more and more possessions: bigger houses, better cars, more toys.

When I was a child and I was disobedient, as punishment I was sent to my room. For my children and for most of the young people I know today that is no punishment. Their rooms are filled with a plethora of toys: computer, television, video games, CDs, DVDs, telephones, you name it. We give our kids their own cell phones on the pretext that it is to be used for an emergency. The way they use them must mean they are in dire straits all the time because it is glued to their ears.

Family time is hard to find any more. Family meals in many homes are rare, too few and too far between. We eat on the run, do not have time or make time for conversations, and always seem to be rushing from one place to another. We have possessions, too many of them, and want more of them and yet do not even have time to enjoy the ones we do have. It’s crazy, isn’t it?

Did you know that one of the fastest growing segments of the gross national product these days is the storage business? Investors can’t seem to build enough of these mini-storage, self-storage units, or build them fast enough. They provide a safe, temperature-controlled environment where we can store our stuff, stuff we can’t find room for at home. We Americans are building bigger and better barns to hold all our stuff.

Now there might be nothing wrong with that, unless we begin to develop that barn-building syndrome that afflicted the landowner in today’s parable. Faced with increasing fortunes and possessions, he pondered his next move. There was no room at home for his newer and bigger boat, RV, and sports car. The garage was already full. And he is so proud of himself. Notice the pronouns: “I, I, I, my, my, my.”

To which Jesus responds, “Take care! Guard against greed. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Or, contrary to what that old bumper sticker says, the one with the most toys does not always win. You see, the trouble with possessions is that, if we are not careful, our possessions can possess us. The “I, me and mine” refrain is a popular song today, especially for those whose philosophy is “Enough is never enough.”

Now I know what you’re thinking: “He’s not talking about me. I am not controlled by my possessions; others, maybe, but not me. I certainly would not fight over a family heirloom or some inheritance. The pursuit of possessions doesn’t get in the way of what is really important in my life – like my family, my church, my friends. I have a handle on all this.” Well, maybe.

The Gospel parable is a warning that we cannot allow our souls to sink so low beneath the weight of the stuff that we have gathered that we lose sight of what is important in life. The farmer is rich in possessions but poor in heart. His life is wrapped up in and centered on himself and his possessions. He adores the idea of success. His thinking centers on success alone, believing possessions will satisfy his soul. And so he becomes, if you will, a barn building fool.

The man fell into the trap Paul talks about in today’s Epistle. There Paul says that the truly great sin is greed, which he calls idolatry. Greed makes us think we are the most important person, that we are self-sufficient, that we need no one. Life is centered around me my possessions. Our self-worth is based upon the number of possessions we have, on how rich we are. We become our own God.

But being rich is not the problem. Having a good job, living in a big house, driving a fine car is not the problem. Having a shed to store all those toys we have, all those possessions we are not using at the moment, that is not the problem. Allowing our possessions, the hoarding of them and the pursuit of more to get in the way of our relationship with our family, our friends and our God, that is the problem. Forgetting God, thanking God, the giver of life and the giver of all things, that is the problem.

Jesus notes the irony. The man thinks he is the creator of his own wealth. Jesus says, “Not so.” It was the land that produced the abundant crop. The rich man had little to do with it even though he may have owned the land. God gave him his blessings. The man forgot that it is not our stuff, our possessions that make us important and they are not what is truly important in our lives – and not just because we can’t take anything with us when we die or because those who inherit our possession may foolishly waste them or destroy the family by fighting over them.

Again, where and how we store our possessions, in an attic or a barn or a garage or a mini-storage shed is not the problem. Nor is Jesus saying that we should give away all our possessions or that possessions in and of themselves are somehow bad or bad for us. The issue, the problem, is not one of possessions but of attitude – our attitude toward ourselves and our attitude toward God.

Even though we are not rich like the man in the parable, even though we may not have a storage shed to store our stuff, even if we only have a one-car garage or maybe even no garage, a huge question still remains to be asked by you and by me. And that is: if materialism, the pursuit of possessions and money and stuff don’t make us truly rich, and we know they do not, what are our riches? Are they not our spouse, our children, our friends, our church, our faith, our God – none of which money can buy nor any possession replace? What are our priorities in life? How would we like to be remembered?

No one can answer those questions for us. They are very personal. But answer them we must. How we answer them will make all the difference in the world.