{"id":96,"date":"2013-07-21T18:34:26","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T18:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=96"},"modified":"2013-09-12T03:13:23","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T03:13:23","slug":"preaching-on-the-parable-of-the-rich-fool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=96","title":{"rendered":"Preaching on the Parable of the Rich Fool …"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 … One week after the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Because the congregation where I\u2019m providing extended pulpit supply this summer is using a Narrative Lectionary Format, we\u2019re two weeks ahead of the Revised Common Lectionary right now.\u00a0 Those of you who will be working with this passage in the next few weeks are welcome to anything you find of use.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0348\"<\/a>\u00a0Luke 12:13-21 \u2013 The Parable of the Rich Fool<\/p>\n

Jesus told them a parable, a story \u2026 The province of a wealthy man produced an overwhelming abundance.\u00a0 The man looked at his harvest and his storehouses and asked himself, \u201cWhat shall I do?\u00a0 I don\u2019t have enough room in my storehouses to store all of this.\u201d \u00a0Then he answered himself, \u201cI know!\u00a0 I\u2019ll tear down these storehouses and build bigger ones.\u00a0 Then I will say to myself, \u2018My soul, my life, you have plenty of goods stored up for many years.\u00a0 Relax!\u00a0 Eat, drink, and be merry.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 But that very night God came to him and said, \u201cYou Fool.\u00a0 Your soul, your life will be taken from you this very night.\u00a0 Then all of these things you have saved up, whose will they be?\u201d\u00a0 So it is, Jesus said, with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich according to God.<\/i><\/p>\n

Decades ago, preaching on this very parable, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior remarked: \u201cThere are a lot of fools around.\u00a0 Because they fail to realize their dependence on others.\u00a0 Do you know that man talked like he regulated the seasons?\u00a0 That man talked like he gave the rain to grapple with the fertility of the soil.\u00a0 That man talked like he provided the dew.\u00a0 He was a fool because he ended up acting like he was the Creator instead of a creature.\u00a0 And this man-centered foolishness is still alive today.\u201d\u00a0 Decades later, all that needs updating in this observation is a bit of the language: This human-centered foolishness is still alive today.<\/p>\n

Some schools of spiritual direction hold that there are three universal energy centers that ever threaten to (and often do) become our gods: security, pleasure, and power.\u00a0 As the original Martin Luther wrote in his Large Catechism regarding the First Commandment, you shall have no other gods: \u201cWhatever you give your heart to and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your God.\u201d\u00a0 Luther characterizes God as saying \u201cLook to Me for any good thing you lack \u2026 whenever you suffer misfortune and distress, reach out to Me.\u201d\u00a0 What we look to for help, comfort, security, and any good thing, that is our god.\u00a0 The question is not so much do we have a god? as it is what sort of god (or gods) do we have for ourselves?\u00a0 These three universal energy centers of security, pleasure, and power often do become our de facto gods, what we look to for all good and entrust ourselves to.<\/p>\n

Where do we look for security, if we\u2019re being really honest?\u00a0 The rich man in the parable looked to his accumulation of crops for his security \u2013 what he\u2019d produced, stored up, accumulated.\u00a0 Are we that much that different?\u00a0 Our sense of security is deeply rooted in our material resources, primarily money.\u00a0 Security is the regular paycheck or benefit check, the money we\u2019ve saved in the bank, the house that\u2019s bought and paid for.\u00a0 Our homes are the place of safety and security because we have made them so with locks and lighting and maybe alarms.\u00a0 We rely on our own efforts and abilities to provide for ourselves and secure our provisions \u2013 hence our current cultural obsession with personal protection and self-defense and being ready at all times to protect ourselves (and others we might care about) because we cannot trust most others around us; we can\u2019t even count on our designated protector, police officers, to be there to help us (or so we are told by the marketers of fear).<\/p>\n

Fear undermines our sense of security, so we seek more power \u2013 the power to push back against the things that frighten us, the power to make things work out right for ourselves, to direct our own destiny.\u00a0 In our parable, the rich man took counsel with himself to chart the course of his future.\u00a0 As Reverend King observed, he talked like he regulated the seasons, like he had all power and control over the course of events \u2026 until, of course, God showed up and suggested otherwise.\u00a0 We just don\u2019t like it when things don\u2019t go the way we want them to, when we find ourselves powerless to control our situations and direct our lives.\u00a0 Many nights at work, a number of callers will become angry and hostile because I\u2019m telling them that what they want is just not possible at this time.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about me; it\u2019s that they are realizing how truly powerless they are in their situations \u2013 and they hate it, just like any of us would hate to be so powerless.<\/p>\n

Powerlessness is unpleasant and so it has a way of driving us to seek pleasure as a distraction from unpleasant realities (not that pleasure and pleasant experiences aren\u2019t attractive enough in and of themselves).\u00a0 When we are pleased, we are happy and satisfied. Pleasure has a way of protecting us from unpleasant realities, insulating us from difficult situations we don\u2019t want to be in, distracting us from real problems we\u2019d rather not face.\u00a0 So long as we are pleased and satisfied ourselves, the rest doesn\u2019t matter so much.\u00a0 We see this in the Rich Fool.\u00a0 He\u2019s pleased and satisfied with himself and gives no thought to anyone else.\u00a0 But did he really bring in that overwhelmingly abundant harvest all by himself?\u00a0 Had he worked his province, cultivating those crops, all by himself?\u00a0 Was he about to pull down his existing storehouses and build bigger with just his own two hands?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 There must have been others involved, but you wouldn\u2019t know it by listening to his self-talk.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the trouble of those universal energy centers of security, pleasure, and power.\u00a0 They seek their own ends without regard for the effects on others.\u00a0 As theologian Walter Brueggemann observes: \u201cWe must confess that the central problem in our lives is that we are torn apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God\u2019s abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity \u2013 a belief that makes us greedy, mean, and unneighborly.\u00a0 We spend our lives trying to sort out that ambiguity.\u201d\u00a0 We are called to God\u2019s vision of abundance, where there is welcome and plenty for all, where there is no need to fear there won\u2019t be enough because the future is sure, where there is no reason to horde things now against some fear-filled future.\u00a0 But we also live in this world where we are reminded in so many ways there might not be enough to go around, there\u2019s no way to know what tomorrow might bring so it\u2019s best to be prepared.<\/p>\n

So long as we have enough for ourselves and our own, we are content enough to let others have theirs, provided it doesn\u2019t diminish what we have.\u00a0 This is what drives the man whose request opens our gospel reading: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.\u00a0 This man wants his fair share, same as we all do.\u00a0 And the same could be said of the Rich Fool.\u00a0 It\u2019s his land, his crops, his harvest.\u00a0 It\u2019s his and he wants to keep it.\u00a0 Is there any law against that?\u00a0 He\u2019s looking to his future needs.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that right to do?\u00a0 Maybe \u2026 but as Brueggemann observes, this concern about potential scarcity in the future can, and does, make us greedy, mean, and downright unneighborly.<\/p>\n

That unneighborliness has been on display quite a bit these past few weeks as the trial of George Zimmerman and the subsequent verdict of a week ago and then the discussion of and reaction to that verdict have directed our attention to events in a gated community in a suburb of Orlando, Florida way back in February 2012.\u00a0Those three universal energy centers \u2013 security, power, and the pleasures of wealth and prestige \u2013 are all tightly interwoven in this situation. Much of what happened that night can never be known for certain.\u00a0\u00a0However, any attempts to explore why George Zimmerman was instantly suspicious of Trayvon Martin and unable to consider any other reasons for the teenager\u2019s presence in his neighborhood are diverted or squelched when attention turns to the color of Martin\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, a number of prominent men of color have shared their experiences of moving through daily life with the sense that a cloud of suspicion is always hanging over them.\u00a0 Their ranks include the host of the children\u2019s TV program The Reading Rainbow<\/i>, the Attorney General of the United States, and even President Obama.\u00a0 To a man, they have described their experiences of frightened reactions from people around them throughout the day on the street, on buses, in elevators \u2026 how they are followed by security personnel in stores, stopped by police for no clear reason \u2026 how they teach their sons the precautions they have found vital to keep the police officers calm during these random stops.\u00a0 But when they speak about these things, they are told \u201cThis has nothing to do with the Zimmerman-Martin case.\u00a0 You clearly don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u00a0 This is only stirring up racial tensions; you\u2019re just making things worse \u2013 not better.\u00a0 Don\u2019t talk about this.\u201d\u00a0 Why is it so hard to simply hear them on this subject?<\/p>\n

One of the ways to read the word greed<\/i> in our gospel, when Jesus says \u201cBe on your guard against all kinds of greed,\u201d is \u201cBeware from every advantage one possesses over another.\u201d\u00a0 When men of color speak about their experiences of automatic suspicion and rejection, they confront us with the truth that most of us do not share these experiences.\u00a0 We, of the ethnic majority, have advantages and privileges that they do not.\u00a0 We may not like hearing this; it makes us extremely uncomfortable.\u00a0 But Jesus tells his followers: Be on your guard against these privileges; don\u2019t take those advantages, such as you have them.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be over-reaching, trying to grab as much for yourself as you can \u2013 especially to the exclusion of others.<\/p>\n

Jesus warns us against seeking our advantages, gaining power over others and events, securing ourselves and our possessions against others, chasing after pleasure.\u00a0 Life does not consist of these kinds of things, he cautions.\u00a0 Like the Rich Fool, you can accumulate everything you possibly can \u2013 but to what end?\u00a0 It won\u2019t always be yours.\u00a0 The end comes sooner or later, and then what?\u00a0 What will you have?\u00a0 Instead, Jesus advises, become rich in accordance to God.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that supposed to mean?\u00a0 Well, it isn\u2019t exactly clear.\u00a0 It definitely does not mean building bigger storehouses and filling them with an abundance of stuff.\u00a0 It certainly does not involve collecting wealth or treasure solely for one\u2019s self.\u00a0 The opposite of these impulses would be to look outward, rather than inward \u2026 to share instead of horde \u2026 to invest in the greater community instead of our own household.\u00a0 Surely the Rich Fool of the parable had a community around him \u2013 a community of people who worked his land, harvested his abundance of crops, and would (presumably) tear down his too-small storehouses and build the bigger ones he was imagining for himself.\u00a0 If the problem is that he was all about himself, then the solution likely involves looking around us, looking at others.<\/p>\n

To be rich towards God is to be invested in the work of God, in living out that good news of abundance with the simple trust that there is enough for all.\u00a0 We need not grasp for all we can take for ourselves; we don\u2019t need to build stockpiles of stuff against hard times.\u00a0 We are called to share so that there is enough for all, trusting there will be enough in the future.\u00a0 We are called to act with fairness and work for justice.\u00a0 This does mean recognizing when we possess advantages over others, being wary of those advantages, and trying, as best we can, to forego them and undo them in our interactions with others.\u00a0 We are called to, first, actually see others \u2013 not just ourselves, and second, to see the other as like and equal to our own selves.<\/p>\n

To be rich towards God is to be invested in community, in the people around us.\u00a0 It is to trust God for all we need \u2013 for safety and security, comfort and sustenance, every good thing.\u00a0 It is to accept our proper place as creations of this loving Creator, who loves us and has placed us together will many other equally beloved creatures to be community, to show the face of God to one another, to invest in one another, to live into a vision of a world in which a George Zimmerman says to a Trayvon Martin, \u201cExcuse me, son; I\u2019m with the Neighborhood Watch.\u00a0 Can I help you with something?\u201d \u2026 and then gives the young man a ride home to get him out of the rain.\u00a0 That would be beautiful and wise and rich indeed.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

Quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s sermon \u201cWhy Jesus Called a Man a Fool\u201d from <\/i>Sundays & Seasons, Year C -2013, p. 234<\/i><\/p>\n

Quote from Walter Brueggemann from <\/i>Hunger for the Word: Lectionary Reflections on Food and Justice \u2013 Year C, p.153<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 … One week after the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial Because the congregation where I\u2019m providing extended pulpit supply this summer is using a Narrative Lectionary Format, we\u2019re two weeks ahead of the Revised Common Lectionary right now.\u00a0 Those of you who will be working with this passage …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}