St Luke’s, Havelock North – Ordinary Sunday 18, 2007 – ‘Living Like A Fool’

Readings: Hosea 11: 1-11, Colossians 3: 1-11, Luke 12: 13-21

Richard Dawkins book, ‘The God Delusion’ is just the latest in a long line of writings focused on proving that Christianity and anyone associated with it is foolish. And it is. Compared to nine out of ten commonly accepted understandings of what’s sensible in business, in relationships, in most of life in general, much of what Christianity teaches is silly and in the eyes of many, those who follow it are fools.

In our gospel reading today we’re presented with a story about another fool and ironically it’s one that would probably at first glance prove acceptable to many of the Dawkins’ among us. In fact, for the most part, it’s a story you can find just about anywhere. Look through any number of ancient writings and you’ll find similar morality stories to this one, and if ancient texts aren’t your thing you can check out any number of self-help manuals or Nicholas Cage movies to find the same message – there’s more to life than making money.

We all know that don’t we? Actually, in a way, the fact that we’re here this morning means we not only know it, we believe it, at least to some extent. Not that it’s a message that doesn’t bear repeating. There are still plenty of workaholics out there and many others who have a lot of trouble with what today is called the ‘work-life’ balance – and it’s not only money that’s the problem. I can introduce you to a number of clergy who spend a lot of time building barns, and social workers and doctors and counsellors and youth workers – the same message applies to them all – there’s more to life than work, no matter how worthy that work might be.

So if that were the only message in this story, it wouldn’t be a bad one, but it’s not, indeed, there are a number of issues in this reading that make me uneasy about trying to boil it down into one easy to swallow point, so I’m not going to try.

For a start I want us to take a closer look at the reading as a whole and its wider context. Jesus is asked a question, or more accurately, he’s given an instruction; “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” It’s a justice issue then, and surely Jesus will come down on the side of fairness? But as is usually the case Jesus refuses to address the issue directly, let alone answer any question. Instead he launches into a warning about greed and tells this story, despite the fact that we have absolutely no evidence of greed on the part of either brother and the parable itself seems to have little if anything to do with their situation.

There’s an important point in this – if you’re looking for the warm and fuzzy Jesus, don’t look here. Just as last week’s teaching about prayer showed that God might be interested in a bit more than just us finding a car park or winning the lotto, so today we find Jesus basically ignoring what for the man involved is obviously a significant and meaningful issue and instead pointing to the bigger picture, and it’s a picture, I have to say, that should make us all feel at least a little uncomfortable.

“The land of a rich man produced abundantly.” In a rural area like Hawke’s Bay we should really be congratulating the farmer in this story rather than damning him. Here we have a hard worker reaping the rewards of his labours and finding a solution to the problem of crop storage so that he ensures he has a good nest-egg for his retirement. What’s wrong with that? What’s the difference, for example, between the rich man building bigger barns so he can store his surpluses for future use and you or I setting up an investment account or joining Kiwisaver so that we can save a portion of our income that we don’t immediately need for our retirement years? Not a lot. But what we would call sensible and prudent use of our resources Jesus calls foolishness. Bugger!

So where does that leave us? And why? Is this just some sort of punishment? Just yet another way of pointing out that the Christian life is hard? Can we just add this lesson to the ones about turning the other cheek and taking up our cross and so on and so forth? And just, if you don’t mind me asking, will we get to the Good news the gospel is supposed to be all about?

Right now, I hope. You see the key, I believe, to seeing beyond the Tom Hanks morality movie side of this reading is found in verse 15 where in part we read these words, “For one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Clear enough? Personally it becomes a whole lot more clear for me when I read Eugene Patterson’s paraphrase of that line in ‘The Message’; “Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” Life is not defined by what you have.

One of the questions I often ask families when we’re doing funeral preparations is what words come to mind when you think of the person who has died. So far no one has ever said, ‘rich’. Mind you, no one has ever complained about having too much money either, but that’s not the point. The point is that when we think about what’s really important about people, what defines them for us and others, how much they’re worth or what they own rarely comes into it. Those things that give our lives meaning, that make them worthwhile, those things are usually made of less tangible stuff than cash and property.

What’s defining our lives?

If we look at the parable of the rich fool in its wider context we find it sits in the midst of a whole lot of teaching about money, much of it equally challenging for us, and it’s immediately followed by Jesus urging his disciples to, “not worry about your life”. Consider the ravens. Consider the lilies. Ask yourself whether worrying about money and possessions will add a single hour to the span of your life? When you look around at nature, at the birds and the fields, if God looks after them so well, how much more will God look after you? It’s a lovely picture isn’t it? Of course real life is just a little different. There’s a lot of truth in the old saying, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ Sitting around waiting for God to drop money and food in our laps probably won’t get us too far, and our reading today goes some way to telling us why – because are those the things that really matter?

At our 9.30 service this morning some of us will be watching a DVD that in part reminds us that as far as most of the world’s concerned, we’re already rich. Do we have food? Then we’re rich. Clean water? Rich. Clothes to wear and cars to drive and televisions and washing machines – rich, rich, rich. Do we need more? Of course not. Do we want more? Absolutely. The question our reading leaves us with this morning isn’t, ‘do we want too much?’ It’s, ‘do we want too little?’

It can be easy, I find, to get all tied up in what seem like the negatives of the Christian life. You know what I mean, the hard stuff, the stewardship and the taking up the cross and the being mocked by those who think we’re crazy and so on – all the things that set out to stop me being the hedonistic capitalist I’d probably be without them, and it’s true, living life as a follower of Christ isn’t always easy or fun and we’re never told it will be. Some Christians like to put around the lie that everyone ‘out there’ is miserable and everyone ‘in here’ is not, but we know better. The question is though, where is true life found?

My two most favourite Bible passages are found in John, where we’re promised that Jesus came to give us life in all its fullness, and Hosea, the passage we’ve heard today; “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. ²The more I^* called them, the more they went from me;^* they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. ³Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my^* arms; but they did not know that I healed them. ⁴I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.^* I bent down to them and fed them.” It’s a beautiful passage that goes on to describe still more ways that Israel let God down and how God loved them anyway. That, to me, is the good news. That no matter where we go or what we do or whether we follow Christ’s path or not, God will still love us. Like a parent who just can’t help loving their child no matter how much they let them down or hurt them, God is stuck with us and we’re stuck with God. But if we do choose to walk in those ways, if we do choose to follow Christ and to let our lives be defined by our relationship with God, then, we’re promised, we will find a life that is fuller than any we could have found without him.

It may be foolishness to believe what I believe and do what I try to do, but what stories like the one we’ve heard today point out is that there’s foolishness elsewhere too. The question we’re asked is a question for us all – how would you have your life defined?

May we never be accused of wanting too much, but only of wanting it all. Amen.