Readings for Sunday, August 5

Readings for Sunday, August 5

Hosea 11:1-11
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-12
Luke 12:13-21

Life has a language.
And Scripture has a word for us.
Each week these two thoughts frame LCL’s Lectionary Lens.

We start with Jesus’ parable of the rich fool.

“Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable.
“The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘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. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’”

Blessing is one of the five Leading Causes of Life. Like life the notion of blessing requires some unpacking. We learn in seminary that once blessings are given they cannot be taken away. And, in story after story, we are reminded of their extraordinary power. They derive this power from a configuration that checkmates their indiscriminate use. We can receive blessings. And we can give blessings. But we cannot bless ourselves. At their very core blessings require a community, a relationship, an intrinsic understanding that life is not our own creation.

I wonder in a musing sort of moment, what Jesus would have said had the person in the crowd simply asked for a blessing. What if he had asked, “How am I to use what I hope to receive?” We will never know because his mind was set on things. The rich fool also set his mind on things rather than blessings. Jesus points out that things will ultimately prove empty if they are self-serving. The selfish use of things is akin to trying to bless one’s self. It is an inherent contradiction of life.

The message is important. This is the only parable in which God speaks directly. Jesus talks; the story tells its tale, as stories always do; and God talks. One can’t get much stronger than that. The message requires a weighing of priorities, and a working recognition that the way things are used can be a blessing or a curse.

It is sometimes tempting to make things the enemy. Such an inflection makes for a predictable sermon. But the truth runs deeper than that. Jesus always speaks to our motivations. Will we use the things and the power we have to bless other people? Or will we become self-serving and thereby render both things and our lives impotent?

I write in the aftermath of working with people whose lives have been turned upside down by cancer. So very much of their lives had been taken away. The things they had were not able to forestall the diagnosis and the ensuing avalanche of bills. To say that they have survived by turning their attention to life would be an understatement. The world of things matters, ask anyone who is unable to pay their medical bills. But its power is empty. One family had statements in the neighborhood of two million dollars, all to save the life of their child. What does one do in such a circumstance? One becomes rich in God. And one begins to wonder how other can be blessed. One woman with expensive cancer medications that were for her now departed husband how they might be shared with others. Is there a way? It is a discussion of blessing.

Qoheleth sees vanity on all sides. In our day and age, as perhaps in every day and age, it is tempting to say, “He’s right.”

But today’s readings are not about vanity. They are about blessing. They are about choosing to become rich in God. In our church, and perhaps in yours, we sing every Sunday, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Let us receive the blessings that cannot be taken away; and let us bless others knowing these blessings will last forever.

Amen.

Larry