From The Pulpit Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday of the Year (C) (4th August, 2013) Based on the Gospel Sir 1:2; 2:21-23; Ps 89:3-6.12-14.17 (R.v.1) or Ps 94:1-2.6-9 (R.vv.7-8) Col 3:1-5.9-11; Lk 12:13-21. It is always good to have targets. Targets can either be good or bad. There is always a sense of fulfilment attached to the attainment of targets. But being fulfilled is always a beginning for another. It is like selecting the gear of a vehicle. It is always one after another until one reaches his/her destination. Hence we can ask after this target, what next? Topic: What next? The case one of those listening to Jesus presented before him was one of such that were presented before great rabbis to settle. The response of Jesus looked like one who wanted to avoid the question. A student was asked to write on John the Baptist during Introduction to the New Testament examination and unfortunately he did not read that. As a result, he wrote: “Who am I and what is my lineage that I should write on a great saint like St John the Baptist. I am not worthy to write on this great man cf. 2Sam 7: 18, Matt 3:11 I humbly therefore prefer to write on St John the evangelist” which was what he prepared for the examination. This student in question tried to avoid the question because he was not prepared but in this case, Jesus used the opportunity to address a higher issue: the attitude of Christians toward the accumulation of wealth. It is important to note that the problem of the rich man was not in what his land had produced but in his failure to recognize any other person than himself and any other world other than his own. William Barclay told a story of an ambitious young man and an experienced older man. The young man never thought of death and was fully preoccupied with what he would achieve after another in this world but the older man knew that after everything, one must leave this world (The daily study bible, IV, p. 165). Jesus warned: “… Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (v15). This warning is very important for everybody. If we remember always that no matter what one accumulated in this world, what is important is one’s quality of life; it will go a long way to shape our lives for better. The rich man was much preoccupied with himself as expressed in the pronouns: I and my. These exclude both God neighbours. Let us look at this: “18… I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry” (vv 18-19). The Psalmist wrote: “A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save” (Ps 33:16-17). Despite all that was produced by land of this rich man, he did not live to see his soul “relax, eat, drink, and merry” as he proposed (v. 19) because the owner of both the rich man and all he had called. The last two verses of today’s gospel call for serious meditation: “20 … ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God” (Lk 12:20-21). John Wesley’s rule of life was to save all he could and give all he could (Barclay, p.164). Let us take a quotation from New Living Translation, NLT: “The rich man in Jesus’ story died before he could begin to use what was stored in his big barns. Planning for retirement – preparing for life before death – is wise, but neglecting life after death is disastrous. If you accumulate wealth only to enrich yourself, with no concern for helping others, you will enter eternity empty-handed” (NLT, p.1713). As one plans for tomorrow, it is always good to put one’s neighbours and God into consideration. A better tomorrow must enhance the wellbeing of the self, the other, and the creator. What one has here on earth is not the measure of how rich he will be in the world to come but how one lived with what he has. There is a story of a man who had so much on earth. As he was being escorted to his abode in heaven after his death his guardian angel introduced him to a number of things and places in heaven. One of these was a very big mansion that belonged to one of his stewards. With this in mind, he was expecting another paradise within paradise but behold the angel stopped at a mud house with grasses for the roof. He asked the angel what they were there for and the angel told him that that was his own house to which he objected and asked the angel to check well. The angel told him that despite all he had on earth, he never stored up treasure for himself in heaven – did not live for the world to come. Bible Reading: Matt 6:19-24; Lk 16:1-13; Lk 11:37-54. Silent Prayer: (Have you ever thought of how rich or poor you are in the world to come?) Let us pray: God, help us always to store our treasures in heaven where they will be forever instead of here on earth – Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 03:59:07 +0000
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