For those not familiar with and Anglican Service; There are four Scripture readings directly before the Message: Today's assigned readings are : Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107: 1-9,43; Colossians 3:1-11 and Luke 12:13-21
God created the physical world ... the material world ... and called it ... "good" ... and into which ... he placed ... human beings.
This combination of the spiritual and the physical ... ... and its relationship to God .... is at the heart of the teachings ... of Jesus.
"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" .... wrote the Psalmist. (Psalm 24:1)
Does this mean ... that the right to private property ... is denied?
In biblical thought ... we are stewards .... of all our possessions ... and we are responsible to God ... for what we do ... with them.
At the same time ... the New Testament affirms ... the legitimacy ... of private property.
Peter confronted Ananias and Sapphira in Acts .... because they falsely claimed ... to have dedicated their property to God ... when they had not done so. (Acts 5:1-11).
Their sin ... was there false claim, ... not their possession ... of the property.
As Christians we are called to be stewards of our private possessions ... and of ... the whole earth.
Our text from the Gospel of Luke ... is one of our Lord's primary teachings ... on the subject.
The man in the crowd ... assumed he was addressing ... a Rabbi... a teacher ... a legal expert... of the Law.
However, ... he does not say to Jesus, .... "Rabbi Jesus, ... my brother and I are quarreling.
Would you listen to me and to him and reconcile us?"
Instead he, ... in effect, says, ... "Jesus tell my brother that he is wrong .... And that he should give me my rights."
The assumptions behind such a request ... are clear.
The father had died ... without an oral ... or written will.
There was an estate ... that was now held by the two brothers.
And ... According to the law of the times ... the inheritance could not be divided ... until the older brother agreed.
The petitioner before Jesus ... therefore .... must be the younger brother, ... who is ordering Jesus ... to press his older brother ... into making the division.
Beloved this is not a trivial issue.
The is an important issue.
The Younger brother was seeking Justice.
And Justice is a critical part of life.
The petitioner in the text cries out for justice .... in the division of the land, ... an extremely sensitive .... and divisive issue ... even in our own country.
The fights over estates... with or without a will ... have split many a family.
Yet ... It is clear throughout the Scriptures ... that Jesus seeks to be a reconciler of people.
His heart yearns ... to bring people together, ... to bring about healing of the broken... not in finalizing separations.
This passage ... does not indicate .... that Jesus is indifferent ... to the cries for justice.
In many parables and dramatic actions, ... He demonstrates compassion for the downtrodden, .... the oppressed ... and the outcast.
This parable ... reflects on the relationships between material possessions, ... God and Justice.
Justice means giving to each his due.
Often ... Our problem, ... as seen in the light of the gospel, ... is that each of us ... over estimates ...what is due each of us ... compared to that ... which is due ... our neighbor.
In the Middle East ... especially since World War I, many communities ... have struggled ... for numerous forms of justice.
Often these communities ... express a consuming sense of self-righteousness.
They insist that what they are fighting for ... is justice.
And the person who fights for a just cause ... normally believes .... that he or she ... is thereby ... a just person.
Everything such a person does ... in fighting for that cause ... usually becomes right ... in her or his own eyes.
Yet The Scriptures Are Clear ... Woe to those ... who fall under the sway of this kind of self-created ... self-centered justice.
Beloved ... This parable presents a new perspective ... on the cry ... for justice.
In the story set before us .... the younger brother has already decided ... what justice requires ... and wants the visiting Rabbi ... to enforce his view.
How will Jesus respond?
First century rabbis ... were experts in the law of Moses ... and spent much of their time ... giving legal rulings.
We know from historical writings ... that the famous Rabbi ... Johana Ben Zakki, ... a contemporary of Jesus, ... moved from Galilee to Jerusalem ... because he wasn't hearing enough cases ... in the North.
Not enough people were coming to him .... With precisely the kinds of concerns ... that this petitioner expressed... to Jesus.
The petitioner ... the younger brother ... hoped Rabbi Jesus ... would take his case.
Exodus tells the story of Moses, ... who saw two of his fellow Hebrews fighting each other ... and tried to adjudicate the quarrel. (Exodus 2:11-15)
They rejected his intervention saying, "who made you a judge over us?" (Exodus 2:14).
In our text, ... Jesus is asked to make a judgment, ... but refuses.
For ... He has a different agenda.
Jesus responds with the question, ... "who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" (Luke 12:14)
Jesus is concerned about healing relationships between people, ... and out of that healing ... they could deal with the issues ... that divide them.
Jesus continues ... with a call for a ... new vision ... ... a new vision when facing a problem.
The true problem is this ...Possessions are bonded to a deep, ... often irrational fear ... the fear of one day ... not having enough.
Regardless of how much wealth is stored for the future, ...this gnawing fear ...presses us frail humans... to acquire more.
There is never quite enough ... because the insecurity within ... never dies.
This is the problem with insatiable desires, ... about which ... Jesus warns his listeners.
Life ... True life is not available in the material realm.
These insatiable desires ... for more will never be fully satisfied ... by things.
In good Middle Eastern fashion ... Jesus follows this discourse with the younger brother... with a parable ... about surpluses.
Beloved ... If God is owner of all things material.... and people are only his stewards, ...what rights do they have to the surpluses ...that their desires ... often create?
Well-known responses to surpluses include:
Hide them .... Flaunt them ... Hoard them.
Pretend you don't have them.
Jesus shared these words of wisdom ... with those in the crowd and us today.
BIBLE "for one's life does not consist ... in the abundance ... of possessions." END (Luke 12:15)
Christians are obliged, on the basis of this wisdom saying ... and the parable that follows:
To consider both ... insatiable desires ... and the material surpluses ... often produced because of these desires.
Hear God's Word: BIBLE "Then he told a parable The land of a rich man produced abundantly." END (Luke 12:16)
We know ... The man in the parable is already rich.
And that his land produced an abundant crop.
So ...What will he do with the surplus?
The text continues
BIBLE "And he discussed with himself saying what should I do for I have no place to store my crops?" END (Luke 12:17-18)
Literally translated from the Greek, ... the text says, ... he dialogued with himself.
Beloved in Eastern Culture ... this would be perceived ... as a very sad scene.
In the Middle East, ...Village people ... make decisions about important topics ...after long discussions ...with their friends.
Families... communities and villages ... Are tightly knit together.
Everybody's business ... is everybody else's business.
Even trivial decisions ... are made after hours of discussion .... with family ... and with friends.
And this would not be lost ... to the hearers ... of the parable.
So this man appears ... to have ... no friends.
And with an important decision to make ... the only person with whom he can have a dialogue ... is himself.
Beloved ... it has become a theme throughout humanity ... the more wealth people acquire, ... the farther they generally withdraw ... from their neighbors.
The rich man asked himself, "what shall I do?"
He has no place to store the abundance ... and displays no awareness ... that his bumper crop ... is a gift from God.
And ...that he is responsible to use it ...In the way ... the true owner ... might direct.
No ... He sees it as ... his crop.
The rich man ... did not realize ... that the bellies of the poor ... were much safer storerooms ... than his own barns.
The climax lies in the middle of the parable: BIBLE "And 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." END (Luke 12:18)
There is no mention of God ... or even of his employees, ... who had done ... and will do ... the work.
Rather, ... he knows only ... my crop, ... my barn, ... my grain, ... my goods ... my soil.
Mine, Mine, Mine ... all Mine!
At the end of this self-centered litany he states,
BIBLE "And I will say to myself ... soul you have ample goods laid up for many years ... relax eat drink and be merry." END (Luke 12:19)
He has no friends with whom to share his thoughts and ideas, ... and from whom he can derive some wisdom.
Self he continues, BIBLE "you have ample goods laid up for many years. Take your ease eat drink and be merry." END (Luke 12:19)
He is convinced ... that ... "this is as good ... as it gets".
He imagines that a person created in the image of God ... can be fully satisfied ... with food and drink.
He imagines that ... the self ... is animal like ... that man's highest pleasure ... is the satisfaction of eating and drinking.
The Greek word here is psyche ... which is often translated soul.
But behind this Greek word ... is the Hebrew word "nepes".
Hear the Psalmist words:
BIBLE "As a heart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul...for God ... My "nepes" for God." END (Psalm 42:1-2)
Beloved our "nepes" thirsts ... for God.
The Division ...The separation of body and soul ... was familiar to most of the classical Greek world.
But this separation of body and soul ... was foreign to the beliefs .... of the Hebrews.
For to the Hebrews ... and to Jesus ... the "nepes" ... The self, ... ... was an inseparable composite ... of body and spirit.
The Spirit and the material body are one.
St. Augustine is famous for saying "my soul is restless ... until it rests ... in thee."
The soul ... The "nepes" of every human being ... will not be truly satisfied ... until it rests in God.
Suddenly the voice of God is heard on stage thundering.
BIBLE "But God said to him ... You fool this very night ...your soul is being demanded of you ...and the things you have prepared ... whose will they be?" END (Luke 12:20)
There is a subtle play on the words in the Greek.
The word translated "Be merry or Rejoice" is "euphraino".
The word for fool ... in our text ... is "aphron".
And The "phron" is related to ... diaphragm.
When you reach the point where you can relax with a great sigh of relief ... you expand your diaphragm ... (take a deep breath) .... you have arrived.
You have achieved the state of "euphraino".
To this man ... the good days have arrived ... where he could eat drink and "euphraino" ...expand the diaphragm ... and "make marry.
But God tells him ... that he is ... in reality... "a-phron" ... a fool.
Literally, .... God is saying .... he will become a person with .... no diaphragm ... left to expand.
Suddenly He discovers ... that his soul ... self ... life "nepes" was not his ... but was on loan from God.
In the Greek text .... the phrase "your soul is demanded of you," ... is the language of .... the demand ... for the return of a loan.
Something lent to you ... for a period of time.
And ... This is one of the major, .... truths of Scripture.
Life is not a right ... it is a gift ... a gift on loan.
We have no right, for 10 days or for 90 years.
Each day is a gift, ... a loan ... and we thank God ... we praise God .... for each and every day.
Hear our Lords words:
BIBLE ""Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." END (Matthew 6:19-21)
O' Beloved .... Be rich ... Be rich toward God. (Luke 12:21)
Our life should be filled with joy ... overflowing with grace ... thankful ... for each day ... that God has given us.
A life that is not half full ... or half empty ... but one overflowing.
A life bearing good fruit ... good fruit in all that we do .... and all that we say.
For A life bearing good fruit in every good work ... is truly ... living life ... to the fullest.
Beloved ... see others as Christ sees them.
See others and yourself ... through Christ eyes.
Allow his grace to flow ... from your very being.
And if you do ... you will be able to take a large breath .... exhale your diaphragm.
And know that all is well ... with your soul.
Amen & Amen
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This Message is based on a book by Kenneth E. Bailey Titled "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes" and I commend it to you.
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