Eighth Sunday after Pentecost: Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21
“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions”, Jesus proclaims in today’s gospel. The Gospel gives us a Jesus who is very counter-cultural, both for the first century and the 21st. Certainly modern American capitalism wants our lives to be focused on possessions: consumer spending is a major driver of the economy. The messages that surround us value our income and our spending. One year my Lenten discipline was to not look at any of the catalogs that clog my mailbox; it became really very clear how need was manufactured. Absent catalogs, I did not want new clothes, or a new kitchen gadget, or garden furniture. I had enough.
Jesus in the Gospel is not necessarily telling us to get rid of things, but not to fixate on them. They are not what matters. We should not “store up treasures” for ourselves on earth. When we die, they don’t come with us. The Psalmist tells us that God “satisfied the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things”. Jesus refers to those who are “rich toward God”. What is the value we put on our relationship with God?
One clue comes in the letter of Paul to the Colossians, where he asserts that in Christ our superficial differences are gone: “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free”. If Paul were writing today, he would undoubtedly talk about rich and poor, white and Black, immigrants and farmers. One way to think about being rich toward God is ensuring that we are breaking down barriers, not building them up.
Being rich toward God is not just about the barriers in the world we do or do not put up. It is about our minds and hearts. Paul tells us to “put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly”. It is as much about what’s in our heads as what we do. One of the things I learned during my Lenten fast from catalogs was that it wasn’t just that I bought things-I usually didn’t-but I thought about them. I fantasized about life with this chair, or desk, or briefcase, which would magically make me a new person.
We live on earth, so the odds of fully ridding ourselves of things that are earthly, in our lives or our hearts and minds, is remote. But the process is important. These readings make us ask questions. Do I have enough? What is enough? If I am to break down barriers, what do I need to do? What does it mean to be rich toward God? What do I need to do to be rich toward God?