Delivered by Rev Dr John Evans
On Sunday 1 August, 2010
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
Jesus says – Luke 12: 13 “ Take care! Be on your guard against all kind of possessions.” Then later the apostle Paul says in his letter to the Colossians “Set you minds on things that are above. Not on things that are on earth.”
The teaching of scripture is pretty clear. All that stuff we have, or aspire to have – can derail us in the pursuit of a fulfilled and meaningful life. The prophets of the Old Testament and in the teaching of Jesus himself have this common theme: greed and the avaricious pursuit of wealth is idolatrous. It is easier for a rich person to pass through an eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of God; recall the rich young ruler who was told to sell all his possessions and give to the poor – and he went away sorrowful. Today we have the story of the person who we have come to regard as the rich fool.
I always think of the late Laurie Connell – when I think of this story. Laurie was one the main actors in the infamous WA Inc saga in the 1980’s of greed and corruption – Alan Bond was another. Laurie however, was a key player. At one stage, at the height of the greed and frenzy, he acquired then chose to bull-doze, six perfectly good mansions in the exclusive suburb of Peppermint Grove that overlooks the Swan River. He then would build his own larger mansion. Well he got caught out, but more significantly, he died suddenly. And even up to a couple of years ago when we last lived in Perth, there is this eerie cleared area of land on a headland overlooking the Swan, that still stands empty. A tribute to a rich fool.
In the story of Jesus – it was a barn which our wealthy person seeks to pull down, and then build larger ones. However, that night he was to meet his maker: “You Fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
So the conclusions are obvious. And this just a quick sample from the commentary series I often use:
1. The parable challenges our preoccupation with possessions. It exposes the ultimate emptiness of our materialistic lifestyle.
2. The parable sketches the failure we believe we can be self sufficient. Our fool can provide for himself – he does not need the security of support from others or even from God.
3. The grasp of greed is exposed. Greed, as the moral antithesis of generosity, is shown to be bankrupt, and the rich fool’s ultimate downfall. Greed eats away any compassion we may have for others.
4. The hollowness of hedonism is also exposed. The rich fools revels in his prosperity so that he could “eat drink and be merry.” His daydream is to spend his life maximising his own pleasures – without work or commitment to others. There is a sort of juedgement on this.
So there we are – end of sermon.
Such teaching is core to our understanding of the Christian faith. It is where vows of poverty come from for some of those involved in religious service, and why we all are encouraged to live simply so that all may simply live. There is something corrupting about wealth, money and possessions – they do divert us from considering others and worshipping God. This is all very true.
It is also true that if we were to undertake a survey of this congregation – or Christians generally across Australia – they will not be greatly different to their surrounding culture or broader Australian society. They will still live in same sort of houses and have the same sort of car and possessions whichother Australians have. Christians will like collecting stuff, like others like collecting stuff. Indeed it is an oft observed phenomenon – especially where the starting point is at a low base of socio-economic standing – Christians will rise through the ranks, and become wealthy. In the nineteenth century the gentrification of members of the Methodist church here in Melbourne, who began as poor immigrant workers and rose to good middle class citizens is well documented. John Wesley’s dictum of earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can was taken to heart. Certainly in contexts where Christianity is a minority religion – say in Indonesia or in India – it is the Christians who are wealthier; wealthier than the surrounding population.
What is going on? Indeed some of Christian brothers and sisters go so far as to say that the more possessions one has, the more one is blessed by God. . . not I might add a view I endorse.
I will confess – that at this point I am going to sound just a tad wishy washy – and say, the message here is simply about getting the balance right.
I think we can be in danger of getting swept up in the extravagant hyperbole of Jesus’ stories. The rich fool and Laurie Connell are however, not your average citizens. And by any measure we all, whether good card carrying Christians or not, would be outraged by their behaviour. Although I guess I have to be careful here – because at some point envy kicks in; certainly in a celebrity obsessed culture we have – that even these over the top characters – may be people we might aspire to. Beware the aspirational voter.
The trouble is though, we can take the spiritual dimension in this story too far; and seemingly deny the practicality of the here and now. . . and our very real association and link with possessions and material things. There is a tussle between not having enough spiritual insight or spiritual practice and one’s possessions – and at every turn our relationship with God and our following of Jesus must win out, and have priority. However, we be careful we do not down play “the world”, “the material”, or crudely put possessions. Our faith relates to the here and now and the material, as much as it might be “pie in the sky when we die”. It is also steak on your plate when you eat. The central teaching of the church of the incarnation – that God became flesh; that God is here present in the world; that the proponent of a new way of living, this kingdom of God – lived and breathed here; surely tells us that the material world is significant and has to be taken into account. . . in us assessing what is a full life. But the question is how?
The Christian faith has some very concrete dimensions to it. Take justice. If nothing else – and it is other things I would admit – it is about fairness in access to material things. The material things could be services like water, clean water, or health and educational services – but it then moves into housing, or material comfort, or what about enjoyment and pleasure that may relate too sport or entertainment. Are poor people to be condemned because they too aspire for a certain standard of housing and a range of possessions we might take for granted. . . and they thus may at the same time forsake their spiritual well being?
Who was it? – Bill Clinton I think – who said in the midst of an election campaign. “it’s the economy stupid.” And indeed the health of our economy is very important. . . But what an ambiguous fact – at least in our society. The economy’s major engine, only engine, is personal greed, or as we say the profit motive. Since coming to Carlton, it has been this economic dimension which has been added to my thinking about how the church mmust be engaged with its local community. Yes we need to be there advocating for human rights; we need to be helping people in emergencies. Yes we do not want people to be hungry, so we feed them. We are appalled that there are homeless people in our midst. And these are all areas of work we are engaged in. However, how do you move people from poverty into well- being; and being socially included within our society. Well – they need to be able to create wealth. Simply put – people need jobs; and that greed driven economy of ours needs to work well, and hopefully justly, to deliver for them. Jobs are needed to feel valued and worthwhile – and in turn these jobs can contribute to this thing called the economy. But also jobs will help people to be financially secure, to have some wealth – have some possessions. So here we are as Church of All Nations are intentionally seeking to find people work, and at the same time run a bank – so that people may have – well possessions. It is all a bit ambiguous isn’t it? Even Gerald and Mavis promised to love each other whether they were richer or poorer.
And so when do we trip over that line of having enough possessions? Seven new barns is obviously over the top. Would this story of Jesus still apply if we said our rich fool could have perhaps one or two new barns. Should we measure our possessions with those in the Kenyan or Ugandan refugee camps? Our Horn of African neighbours are stupendously wealthy on that analysis, or is the comparison with others in Carlton or in the broader Australia community?
At the end of the day it is not about money or wealth, or possessions in itself. It is all about orientation and attitude towards God . . . towards this kingdom of heaven, Jesus proclaimed for all. Possessions, personal possessions, are not necessarily evil and wicked. They have to be factored into some rather complex equation. So one’s sense of justice will force you to consider questions like – should a certain range of things be owned by all of us, or just by us as individuals. So what about private hospitals and schools, or roads – or are these so important, we should all own them? Are there limits to wealth – shall I call it a super profits tax? Or, how should we relate to possessions because of the environmental impact of owning those possessions – like cars, and power hungry consumer goods. Was this not the plot of the Copenhagen Conference last year – how dare we in the West require growing economies to tow the line on emissions, when we never did, and because of that, we got all our possessions. Of course if the world’s environment collapses, why worry about any possessions?
So I am saying there are significant questions we have to ask, and ask as Christians about possessions . . and limiting to wanting them. However, we do have them – and we should not naively say we don’t need them. . . and everything is spiritual anyway.
What we do need however, is to have clarity about our priorities in relation to the whole of our lives and our life together. Perhaps it’s a pity these issues are not being discussed in our current federal election – so see Building an Economy for Life.
However,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
