Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

August 5, 2007 - Proper 13 (Year C)

The Rev. Vicki L. Smith

Luke 12:13-21

"Treasure with God"       

There are some weeks that the lectionary pitches us preachers a softball – this week for example.  Jesus says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed – for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  In our consumer-driven society, any preacher can hit this one out of the park – simply rail about conspicuous consumption and too many possessions and you’re good to go.

Except that that would be too easy, not to mention somewhat inaccurate and probably not very helpful as well.  Jesus’ message in today’s gospel lesson is much more than “faith is good, possessions are bad.” 

That is not to minimize Jesus’ sharp criticism of consumption for consumption’s sake.  The devastating irony of the man who dies at the very time when he thinks he finally possesses enough cannot help but wound us.  And it should.  We’re always saying, “You can’t take it with you.”  But we live like you can; we live like possessions are the most important things in our lives.  We place inordinate value on and trust in the things we have: our cars, our toys (grownups and kids), our houses, our clothes, our books, our wine collections, and on and on and on.  Offering storage units for rent is one of the fastest growing businesses in our country because we always need new barns for all our possessions.  Too many of us, too often, invest too much time, energy and capital in our possession to the detriment of the other important things in our lives.  Jesus, especially with the story of the man and his barns, wants us to learn that lesson. 

But there is more to it than simply faith is good, possessions are bad.

Look at how this conversation with Jesus begins.  Someone comes to Jesus and says to him: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.  It reminds me of the story of Martha and Mary that we heard a couple of weeks ago: Teacher, tell her to get up and help me.  We so often ask Jesus to make someone else do something that we think they should or ought to do.  And how does Jesus respond?

In both of these cases, he says, “Look to yourself, to your own heart and change yourself, not them.  Learn the deeper lesson that is here for you.”

The deeper lesson, for the man who feels cheated out of his inheritance, is that while he is definitely paying way too much attention to possessions, it is not the possessions that are the problem, it is his attitude toward them.  Be on your guard against greed, says Jesus.   It is not what we possess; it is not how little or how much we have that concerns Jesus; what Jesus is concerned about is what we do with all those possessions. 

The poor deluded man in Jesus’ story thought that his possessions would bring him security, so he put all his energy and skill into accumulating, giving pride of place in his life not to faith in God but to the idol of possessions.  This man’s earthly wealth came at the expense of treasure in heaven – he had no time or energy left, his possessions had taken it all.

It doesn’t have to be that way: treasure on earth and treasure in heaven are not mutually exclusive – or at least they don’t have to be.  In fact, we can use our earthly treasure to gain treasure in heaven, if we use and share it in the service of Christ.  What matters is how we use what we have, not whether we have it or not.

Earlier this week, we celebrated the feast day of William Wilberforce, member of the British parliament who died in 1833.  Wilberforce was born to privilege: he never wanted for anything – he went to the best schools, traveled freely, moved in the most prominent social circles; and he was best friends with the prime minister.  He was also a committed and devout Christian, which changed and defined his life. 

After he came to the Christian faith, Wilberforce considered if perhaps he should give away most or all of his wealth; if he should serve Jesus by embracing poverty.  But that was not his call.  What Wilberforce did, in the service of Jesus, was use his treasure – his money, his prestige, his power, his position, his connections, his faith and his intellect, to eliminate slavery in the British Empire.  William Wilberforce was a man who heard and truly understood Jesus’ story about the man with his ever bigger barns.  He chose to use what he had in the service of Christ and, primarily by his leadership, Britain outlawed first the slave trade in 1807, and then slavery itself in 1833, three days before Wilberforce died. 

Treasure in heaven indeed.

There are Christians who are called to embrace voluntary poverty in the service of the Gospel and I admire them deeply – but that’s not most of us.  Most of us live in the world of possessions and desires and greed.  Today’s gospel lesson is for us – to remind us that our real treasure is not in the ever bigger barns, the ever fancier cars, the ever bigger houses that we acquire but in how we use what we have in the service of Christ.  Of him to whom much is given, much is expected.  Let us not build bigger barns, but rather, like William Wilberforce, strive to build God’s kingdom.     

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