Loading...This poor guy! He has so much that he has to go out and get another storage unit (a.k.a. “barn”) in order to store his stuff!
Now, we cannot fault him for what he has:
“The land of a rich man produced abundantly.” And I’m sure his work was part of that bumper crop. So, he has to tear down the barns that he has and build bigger ones. OK.
But the reason he gives for the barn build up! The TALK he has with himself...! It goes like this:
What should I do?
I have no place to store my crops?
I will pull down barns and build bigger ones.
I will store all my grain and my goods there.
I will say to my soul, “Relax! Eat! Drink! Be merry!”
Do you notice a theme there? A pattern? A focal point?
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At times I think, “Oh, if only I could be as rich as this rich man....”
And then I realize what this guy has just said:
“I have lots of stuff, but I don’t care about anyone but myself: me, myself and I.”
Does he not have any family? Any neighbors or friends? Is he not in a community? Is God not part of his life?
Then I keep reading Jesus’ story:
“You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
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This guy is actually quite sick. First of all, he is ego driven and only cares about and makes reference to himself.
Secondly, he has no connections. There is no connective tissue between himself and others. He has no one to celebrate with, to share with, or to be generous towards (either as noblesse oblige or as an act of justice). He is not connected to God; where is his gratitude?
Finally, he seems to be afflicted with “affluenza”, a term coined in the 80s that means “a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” This guy doesn’t have the debt part, but all of the rest....
He is filled with anxiety and it is a sickness.
He has anxiety and the fear of scarcity – that there is “not enough”.
He builds bigger barns to hold his stuff. Putting aside more and more for the future.
Granted he lives in an area of the world where drought (and resultant famine) happened with regularity.
But, this man’s scarcity mentality –
and maybe even our own scarcity mentality –
was not so much about setting aside enough to prepare for drought or family, as it was selfish.
It was both unjust and unfaithful.
He is a fool, Jesus says. And, that was because he lived only for himself.
And that is not life.
So when God says, “your life is demanded of you this very night,” the problem is not the man’s wealth and his plethora of barns. The problem is that he thinks that he doesn’t need anyone. The problem is he thinks he can do it – life and all that – by himself. The problem is he has done it – life and all that – by himself!
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In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he doesn’t actually use the word “baptism”, but that is what he’s talking about. He is teaching the Christians in Colossae and us what it means to live as baptized people who have died to the old way of being and have risen with new life in Christ.
This means we put aside our self-centered, self-referential, self-aggrandizing, self-selfing, egotistical ways of thinking: my crops, my grain, my goods, my house, my savings account, my hard work, my stuff—
--and rise to new life in Christ.
New life in Christ where we pay attention to and care about others.
New life in Christ where we make decisions with full awareness and consideration of not only the effects of our choices but the reality of others’ reality and situation.
We rise to new life in Christ which means we are part of a larger whole – a community – where justice, empathy, and compassion are valued and practiced.
We rise to new life n Christ, recognizing that we are One Body, even with those who are not baptized or believers, but who are part of creation and life together.
We rise to new life in Christ not just once on the day of our baptism, as an infant, a child, or an adult, but everyday, every day, which doesn’t always fit comfortably. Or, at all.
Some days, many days, maybe even most days,
we are more like the guy with crops and barns – even if we don’t have that much stuff.
We are like him because we are driven by the power of stuff,
because we think we have done it ourselves,
because we forget we are in community or need it,
because we forget that we need God, or that it is all possible because of God.
Like the rich man with the barns, we have a sickness:
we don’t trust God
we forget about others
we turn inward upon ourselves –
and we need healing.
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Today you’re invited to come for healing:
maybe you are stick in body,
or sick in mind,
or part of a sick and unhealthy society,
or sick in soul.
Come. Come and receive healing. Come and be made whole.
Come rise to new life and be part of the body of Christ.
A little later in today’s service, you will be invited to come for healing.
You may come forward to one of the kneeling stations for prayer and to be anointed with oil.
You may pray for healing as you are seated, or by kneeling, in your pew.
You may pray in silence, or sing the song, or listen to the music.
But, come for healing from the one who is our Healer, in whom you have new life.
Let us pray.
Benevolent God, you are the source, the guide, and the goal of our lives. Teach us to love what is worth loving, to reject what is offensive to you and to treasure what is precious in your sight, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen (from Evangelical Lutheran Worship)
