2231AFC072922 – That’s enough of that!
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Luke 12:18-20 – 18 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. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 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?’
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord, ʻŌmea! We are back in business, sort of, with a nearly flat learning curve. I’m using a program called Libre Office now instead of MS Word. When my hard disc died so did all my Bible and my B.I.B.L.E. shortcuts. Now instead of 6-8 hours to create a post it’s going to take double that until I get everything back to “normal” again. When my computer died, there was another, more-expected death in the family; my iPhone died and had to be replaced. And my Timex Ironman watch needs a new battery, too. When the alarm goes off for my meds, the LCD goes blank with each beep. I told Crucita I’d best be careful because I might be next (although I’m entirely ready for that!). Good thing we’ve done our Estate Planning – including “burial insurance” (although I haven’t purchased my YOLO-F grave marker yet). It will take probably a month to “train” this software to catch up with my deceased 2007 MS Word. Like they say, “When you number is up …” And of course there’s also “You can’t take it with you. Nonetheless, we seem to be so fixated on getting more “stuff” and filling our space with it – all our space inside and outside the house, at work, at church, at the grocery; it seems endless this Spirit of Acquisition. It’s like the Borg say, “Resistance is futile. You will be Assimilated.”
At some point we usually come to the realization that we’re drowning is stuff. We burden ourselves with things we don’t really need, but want those things enough that it’s hard to get rid of them. It’s always, “Someday this will be useful,” like when it’s 127 degrees outside and we still wear our winter coat (↔ Click Link). All the stuff we stack up may give use the feeling of security. After all, it might be useful someday, but today it’s reassuring to know we’re ready for that someday. And then we read this parable from which we get of Key Verse for today.
This poor guy didn’t know his number was up, so he didn’t find a way to provide for himself Treasure in Heaven. He seems to have been a decent sort of business man, successful in his acquisitions. Perhaps he had a large farm for growing grains like barley and wheat, and he also had durable possessions – perhaps furniture and service ware. He’d just had a great year which included a bumper-crop and increased wealth. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps this is the same fellow in another parable (← Check it out!). A poor man named Lazarus sat outside this man’s gate and begged. He was covered with sore, and the dogs used to come and lick those sores. The rich man and the poor man both died. The rich man went to Hades (Sheol) and the poor man went to “The bosom of Abraham.” use the link above to review how that all turned out. We see that the rich man could have used at least some of his wealth to help orphans and widows, the sick, and those trapped in poverty. Instead, he kept it all for himself and elected to “relax, eat, drink, be merry.” A friend of mine used to say this fellow was a devout hedonist, but not a devout Jew.
I wonder how often we might behave like a pleasure-seeking pagan rather than a devout Christian. A Christian is called upon to carry out the commands of Jesus which include being kind to orphans and widows, the sick, and those trapped in poverty. “It’s not a Law,” some say, “to ensure we provide for our future as well as our daily needs.” Hmm, what about “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s not as simple as it sounds, is it? The Law of Moses and the Law Of Love taught be Jesus are identical and immutable. We must ask, then, how many times we walk past Lazarus – who is sitting there with Jesus – and ignore them, but still acknowledge and kowtow to the rich man? I know a man who is exceptionally kind and just and is generous with his time and money (when he has money), and yet he is constantly scrambling to make a living. He does not count the cost of his generosity, nor does he complain about the fact that he has to work so hard to supply that need. “Society” looks down on this fellow because he can’t seem to line up steady work, and they discount his generosity as foolishness. Let’s just pause a moment and think about how God views this man’s life.
Let’s go back to my account of “The Terrible Week.”
Do I really need a computer with a high-end word-processor, an iPhone, and an Iron Man watch? Without the computer and word-processor, this ministry would not exist. The Iron Man Watch has alarms set as backup alarms to take my medications on time. The iPhone has the same alarm times set – plus a few other things, like the calendar so I don’t miss any of my medical appointments. Do I really need all of these things? One could say yes and make a good defense for that answer. Bottom line, though, is that there are less expensive and less efficient ways of doing all these things – except maybe the word-processor. If I had to bang out all of this on my old Royal typewriter and then send it out snail-mail, that would put the kibosh on this project and I’d hate to lose contact with any of you. How do we decide if what we want is what we need? Well, as St. Augustine reputedly quipped, “Love God and do what you will.”
That’s a clever way to say “leave it in God’s hands.” We all know – or certainly should know – God will take care of you. (↔ Music Link) Another approach often mentioned is “Do what you know is right then ask God to bless it.” if we are unsure if we know what is right, then we can carefully weigh all the pros and cons and see which of them pull us closer to God or which others pull us closer to the World. In all of these decision-making approaches the central premise is that we base our actions on God’s Love for us and our love for God and each other. If a proposed act does not bring us closer to or maintain our closeness to God, then that act is not wise or fruitful. Our goal should be to learn and exercise the Power of Prayer. We can summon the faith, the discernment, the patience and perseverance, and the humility to exercise THE POWER OF PRAYER. I have come to believe that God only gives four answers to prayer:
1. “Yes!”
2. “Not yet.”
3. “I have something better in mind.”
4. “You’ve got to be kidding!
If, then, we want to know what is enough and what is too much, we must be in day-to-day communication with God. Remember we talked about “pray without ceasing?” (↔ Click Link) If God is our Father and Jesus is our Brother, we can and should talk to them in terms of those relationships. If that turns out to be difficult or uncomfortable, we can turn to the Holy Spirit as The Apostle Paul told us in Romans 8:26-27 – 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. I am reminded of an old wheezer seen on bumper-stickers: “If Jesus is your copilot, SWITCH SEATS!” As we read in the letter of James at James 4:3 – 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. If we are praying in the Holy Spirit and in communication with God at all times, if we pray constantly, if we speak with and to God as Father and Brother, the knowing when that’s enough of anything in our lives is so much easier!
As we heard recently in the Sunday readings, God’s Word is never far from us as in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 – 11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. The Word is always near to us, and all we need to do is ask, seek or knock. (See Luke 11:9-10) However, Belovéd, if we are not near our Lord when we ask we might net be able to discern his answer. Every prayer we make is heard, and every prayer heard is answered! If the answer we get is not the answer we desire, then our Good God is telling us, “That’s enough of that!”
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
