Readings for today: Luke 12, 13:1-30
I love this line from the Message version this morning…“That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.” (Luke 12:21 MSG) It comes at the end of a story Jesus tells in response to a question he’s asked about dividing up an inheritance. A person in the crowd he’s addressing asks Jesus to become an arbitrator between himself and his brother. Rather than step into that role, Jesus responds by challenging the crowd to protect themselves against the sin of greed. Life is simply not defined by what you have even if you are a person of great wealth. Then he goes on to tell the story of a rich man who experienced a banner harvest. The yield was so great, his barns were not big enough to hold all the excess. So he makes the choice to build bigger barns to store all his grain so he can retire and take it easy. But what the man doesn’t realize is that his time had come and he would die that very night so what good then is all the wealth he’s stored up? This is what happens, Jesus says, when we fill our barns with Self rather than God. When we focus on serving Self rather than God.
What’s the problem in the story? Go back and read it again. It’s not that the man built bigger barns. No, what would have immediately been obvious to everyone listening that day was that the man said to himself, “I know what I shall do…” He didn’t consult the village elders. He didn’t think of the community around him. He didn’t consider giving anything to the poor. Instead, he focused entirely on himself. And though he was rich and had plenty, he didn’t try to share his blessings. In the first century, when a person experienced an unexpected windfall like this man, they would have headed down to the village gate to talk to the elders of the community. They would have asked for advice on what to do with all the extra grain. The elders might suggest giving to the priests, giving to the poor, or throwing a party for the whole community. If the man had done these things and still had some left over, then the whole village would probably come help him build his bigger barns. Sadly, the man let his greed override his responsibility to his community.
We face a similar dilemma today. Only our community is now global. For the first time in human history, we are able to hop on a plane and get anywhere in the world in less than a day. We are able to marshal resources and deliver them to those in need. We have the technological expertise to make sure every human being on the planet has access to clean water and basic food security. We have the ability to provide life-saving medication and treatment to eliminate some of the world’s nastiest diseases like malaria and polio. What stops us? Our greed. We all want more than we actually need. When we receive a windfall like an unexpected bonus or a big salary increase, do we think of how we can give back to God and to those around us? Or do we, as I suspect, start planning our next vacation or home improvement project?
I know I’m as guilty as the next person though my wife and I are committed to giving more and more away and are now giving well above 10% each year. Still, I know down deep it’s not enough. We have plenty if I’m honest. So we keep praying and we keep asking God how we can protect ourselves from greed. The same is true for the church I lead. We keep asking God to show us how we can give more and more away into our community and around the world and God keeps showing us. Last year, we gave over 26% of our church budget to local and global missions and I hope and pray for the day when we hit 50%. ;-) Wouldn’t that be glorious?
Readings for tomorrow: Luke 14-15