8th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13
August 3, 2025
Luke 12:13-21
I have said many, many times, there is a song for everything. If you’ve been around me long enough, you’ve probably already discovered that I will burst into song in the middle of a conversation about any given topic. Today’s Gospel reading has had me singing Tracy Chapman’s “Mountains of Things” all week long. “I’ll be dreaming of a life of ease and mountains, oh mountains of things.” I’m ready for a new song!
“There are more mentions of the poor and poverty in Luke than in any of the other Gospels, and perhaps unsurprisingly far more about riches, too. Wealth and power and their opposites had been on the agenda from the beginning of the Gospel.”1 Luke’s style is clearly written for educated and wealthy readers. This Gospel talks about social justice issues, but does this in addressing those with some measure of wealth and privilege. Jesus has strong feelings about wealth, nevertheless he engages with the privileged and prosperous, often showing up at the homes of the rich to have a little chat.
Jesus had just finished speaking to a large crowd, “Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows,” encouraging them to not worry about what they will have for tomorrow. It was worry and distraction of not having enough that Jesus addressed. To live so free in Christ that when he tells another rich man to go sell all that he has and give to the poor, it wouldn’t make us turn away in sorrow or have an anxiety attack.
Now it was right after that speech to consider the sparrows, that a guy in the crowd raised his hand and said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Talk about a dissonant gong clanging. I mean, has he been listening or did this guy come with only one thing on his mind? I want my money. Jesus does not entertain any notion of being a property judge or helping him divide the riches.
Instead, in Jesuslike fashion, he redirects the conversation to the deeper issue. Concerns about wealth are distractions, and concerns about future gains are misplaced, because one’s security does not come from money. It comes from God.
Jesus makes his point by telling a parable. This farmer has reaped an abundant harvest. He is already a rich man. He already had barns to store up enough to have made him rich. Now, he’s a whole lot richer and now he is consumed with what to do with even more abundance.
And so he launches into a conversation with himself. And only about himself. Look at how many “I” statements he makes. What should I do? I have no place to store my crops. I will do this, I will build bigger barns. I will say to my soul, “Soul, relax! Eat, drink, and be merry!” He does not mention the workers that planted, tended, and harvested these crops. He does not mention anyone at all that may have contributed to his abundant harvest. There is also no thought of his connection to a wider community and the responsibility that comes with riches. He doesn’t even give thanks to God for the favorable conditions and plentiful harvest. In his mind it is his and his only.
We are not told he gains his wealth by unjust means. We are not told anything negative about him at all until God appears and declares him a fool. That’s part of the power of this parable. The man’s mistake isn’t how he made his money, it’s not a problem that he has money. It’s what he believed it could do for him. He put his trust in a false security and not in God. That’s what made him foolish to God. And now he’s facing the end of his life, a reality he didn’t factor in. His riches can’t do anything for him now.
If we were to continue reading in Chapter 12, we’d find that Jesus goes on to teach the disciples not to worry about storing up wealth, what they will eat and drink. “Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?” And picking up in verse 29, “And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.” And he concludes this teaching by saying, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give alms. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
From the budgets of a nation, to the budgets of a church, to your personal budgets, all reflect where one’s heart is. A budget is a document that is a reflection of one’s faith. If you live paycheck to paycheck, or don’t have a paycheck, then your heart is in tending to the needs of your family. But even then, rich or poor, we must always be mindful of where we put our trust. We can always build a greater capacity for trust in God.
The truth is there is more than enough for everyone in this world to eat and drink, and quite possibly to be merry, but it is not distributed equally. There is plenty to feed the starving in Gaza. There is excess to feed those fleeing parts of the earth because of hunger, war, and famine. We have enough. When we share our bread, it is multiplied.
Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” And tells them to put to death these things, such as greed (which is idolatry.) Throughout the history of humankind, we have witnessed how greed has always been destructive to God’s people and all of creation. Greed of money, greed of power, greed of knowledge, greed of anything, even if by itself a good thing, becomes what we idolize.
We may not even be able to notice our slow turning away from God to serve our possessions, our constant craving for more. Trusting in God, following the Way of Christ, begins to feel too risky yet we will put our trust in political parties, finances, possessions, and the powerful. We trust these things will protect and save us more than we trust Christ. But God does not operate by the world’s standards. When we walk in the way of Christ, we are to share the abundance we are given to lift up the lowly, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, visit the prisoner, and treat every human being with dignity. None of what we are doing here today matters if we don’t walk out that door and live it.
These temptations pull at us everywhere we turn. We are marketed and advertised to way more than we hear the Word of God, way more than we pray. We are told we must build bigger barns for ourselves. We are told that sharing our surplus with others is mismanagement, the goal is to constantly, always make more money, be more successful and therein is the secret to happiness. It’s a lie yet we believe those lies because we listen to them over and over and over again.
I cannot tell you the number of times the people I have visited around the world that lived in poverty would say to me, “We always pray for you Americans.” God has a way of having the poor teach us lessons in faith. It was humbling, to say the least. “You all have these houses with lots of rooms and no one in them. You have all these things you throw away.” I was shown how the poor watch the richer nations build bigger barns to store the things that were needed by the families who had no barns at all.
Today the words of Jesus call us to a deeper spirituality and trust in God. It is a practice of letting go and turning toward God. It is an invitation to a renewed relationship with God which comes only after Jesus exposes our human greed and anxiety about money and possessions. Jesus has employed a parable to singe away any illusion that the godly life is synonymous with the world’s ideals of prosperity and success.2
This text does not tell us what being rich toward God entails, but the entire Gospel of Luke provides clear insights. It is quite honestly the whole point Luke is trying to make regarding Jesus’ teaching and ministry. So, “What does it mean for St. Christopher’s to be a people who are “rich toward God”? Jesus has taught us that being rich toward God entails using one’s resources for the benefit of one’s neighbor in need, as the Samaritan did. Being rich toward God includes intentionally listening to Jesus’ word, as Mary did, and not being distracted like Martha. Being rich toward God consists of prayerfully trusting that God will provide for the needs of life. Being rich toward God involves selling possessions and giving alms as a means of establishing a lasting treasure in heaven.
Life is not had by the possessions one has. Life and possessions are a gift of God to be used to advance God’s agenda of care and compassion, precisely for those who lack resources to provide for themselves. The man in the parable was a fool for leading an isolated, self-absorbed life, because everything he had given himself ended with death. If we are going to live as fools, then let it be foolishly generous and fools for the love of Christ in each and every one.
Magdalena's Musings 