Luke 12:13-21
Proper 13 (18) - Year C
When we are out of power we look for shortcuts to get what we consider we are entitled to. We will appeal to an authority figure. We will attempt to fix the matter structurally by shaping the political decision-making process to be on our side.
This is an ancient story that Jesus or you or I could bet will be coming our way. Attempts will be made to triangle us into another person’s dramatic moment. I expect Jesus has anticipated this moment and so was ready for it. We may not be as ready to say to another, “This is between the two of you and so I wish the two of you a wise and compassionate way to resolve the matter. I love you both, so let me know how it turns out.”
This process of appealing to authorities and structures to do our work for us is never a helpful thing. Eventually the very processes we use to get our way will be turned against us. If you live by another’s authority, you will die by another’s authority. If you live by a structural advantage, you will die by that same structure shifted against you.
There seems to be no way to take advantage without being taken advantage of in another context. About all that is available is to be generous with life. This value will guide the rest of one’s attention.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/07/luke-1213-21.html
For United Methodists it cannot be stressed often enough or strongly enough -- the purpose of gaining is giving. John Wesley was clear that when this principle ceased to obtain among his followers, the Methodist movement would come to a sorry end.
In light of the amount of "poor-think" present in capitalist economies and the felt need to provide tax welfare to the wealthiest, it may help to look at this from another angle. John Wesley's Sermon 126 -- On the Danger of Increasing Riches says:
"... many have found out a way never to be rich, though their substance increase ever so much. It is this: As fast as ever money comes in, they lay it out, either in land, or enlarging their business. By this means, each of these, keeping himself bare of money, can still say, 'I am not rich;' yea, though he has ten, twenty, a hundred times more substance than he had some years ago.... It is possible for a man to cheat himself by this ingenious device.... This shift, therefore, will not avail. It will not be any protection, either against the wrath of God, or the malice and power of the devil.... By whatsoever means thy riches increase, whether with or without labour; whether by trade, legacies, or any other way; unless thy charities increase in the same proportion; unless thou givest a full tenth of thy substance, of thy fixed and occasional income; thou dost undoubtedly set thy heart upon thy gold, and it will 'eat thy flesh as fire!'"
Whether we claim to be rich or not, if our possessions increase more rapidly than our charity we have lost track of the giving aspect of life and we are liable for the parable Jesus told to come true in our so-called life.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/august2004.html
There is enough.
The issue is not that of dividing, but giving.
The dividing language gets into limited amounts. In everyday life we aren't able to divide by zero (our smallest usual number - if a number it be).
When we are out to have things divided, and we feel like we don't have anything, any dividing that gets done sets up a limitless regression from one unfairness to another.
When I set out to divide my goodies with you I operate out of some sense of an appropriate division. Every time, that gets tested until it is broken.
To live-by-giving changes everything. We see we have been given to. We see we are able to give in accord with what we have been given. Barns beyond what is needed for the next season cease to be in the picture. No more endowment funds for no matter the good that can come from being divided from the fund is offset by the desire to keep the principle steady and/or growing.
The question before us is whether or not we can live from a sense of abundance in a context that does a wonderful job of hiding that from us so we see only our lack.
Each and every night Jesus prayed and found that his soul was demanded. And so he found himself without barns and dens and nests. Those who claim to follow him need to also find that their soul is demanded on a daily basis.
When we are able to come through and know ourselves as folks who have been given to and not those who demand a dividing, this is good news. It encourages us to do it again and again.
So, on a scale from dividing to giving, where is your soul resting this night?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/august2004.html
Jesus tells a story intended to revive our thoughtfulness regarding life beyond simply our life. It reminds me of a phoenix rebirth. Having died from greed while still living we need a bit of mercy to revive our cold, cold heart.
This focus can be found in a song by Bill Staines (wish you could hear him sing it on his CD The First Million Miles or in person), entitled Phoenix (cursor down after getting to the link).
With this rebirthing mercy we find the epitaph "Fool" erased from our life marker, regardless of the form greed takes in our life - and it has, oh, so many faces.
- - -
["Nothing follows but the day
And all the memories
Of better times for giving.Oh, Lord, have mercy on this poor, poor heart;
Keep it from the ashes,
And teach it how to fly again;
Oh, Lord, have mercy on this poor, poor heart."
- Bill Staines]greed
like hell
has an open door
we can exit
any time
at all
like
nowremember
better times
for giving
and
forgiving
such memories
see this better time
for givingin the memory
find the mercy
available then
available now
available always
to rise again
from greedy ashes
to sing again
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html
Remember last week - moving from prayer about testing to some stories about testing? Well, this could be a sermon every week - making "faith" real. Again this week we hear about the testing process.
Don't we all search around for an authority that will back us up? The very source of rules we complain about constraining us, unfairly we think, we turn around and use to defend ourselves. Can't you hear the explosion in the heads of a stereotypic biblical literalist if they heard Jesus say to them, rather than to a monetary greedist, "Friend, who set my reported words as a judge or arbitrator over you? - get a life!" A key here is the word "friend". Both the literalist and greedist are looking to get their way - their interpretation verified, their wealth justified, their independence affirmed. A key way out of the self-imposed bind the questioner raises is a return to community rather than see oneself as deserving of more than enough. "Friend" is an excellent starting spot for bringing a difficult word and leaving open an opportunity for more. Here's an irreverent blog posting that you might find reflective of the tone of Jesus here.
Rules and regulations, like other little consistencies, are also hobgoblins of "little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do" [a little RWEmerson quote and visual definition] and aren't both the brother and rich man looking for "nothing to do" but walk around a self-serving "heaven" all day.
Since it is so difficult to see oneself as "rich/deserving", I look forward to a literalist or greedist responding about my unconscious appeal to authority [well, I look forward to this, a little]. This will help in my waking up to what it might really mean to take my focus off having all rules benefit me so I don't have to consider "being rich toward others", or, from last week, "keep us forgiving others and safe from ourselves" [Message variation].
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/07/luke-1213-21.html
