A Different View of Prosperity
Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
August 1, 2010
Luke 12:13-21
A while back I received my quarterly pension report from the United Church of Christ pension fund, and it indicated that in the quarter just completed, I had sustained a significant loss in value once again. Betty, hold off on retirement, we’re going to be working a few more years. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, the stock market suddenly went up a couple hundred points. In one week I gained back much of what I had lost the previous quarter. At this time in my life, that just seems to be what I spend a fair amount of time doing—planning and thinking ahead. Not a bad thing – it’s a responsible thing – to plan for the future, to try to set aside money every month or every quarter – so that my family will have what we need financially in the future. One would have to be totally irresponsible not to do that.
And so today, in our parable, we meet a man who has been greatly blessed. His land has produced abundantly, he now has more than he can currently use. What does he do? He builds bigger and better barns so he can store all his abundance. He wants to guarantee that, in his words, he will have “ample goods laid up for many years.” And I suppose that’s kind of what I am doing with my pension fund…laying up ample resources—I hope—for many years. It’s not hard to imagine the talking heads of CNBC praising the man in our parable for his careful financial planning. This is what we have learned, what we are taught, what we are told to do. Except…that in the parable, the man, this prudent planner, this builder of barns for the future, is called a “fool.” In the eyes of God, this hero of the market economy is a fool. Why?
Christian Century magazine recently had an article on the phenomenon of the mega-churches. These huge, large, full-service churches continue to be the leading trend in American Protestantism and are shaping much of what the rest of us do. With their advanced media resources, their fast-paced worship services, their seamless Sunday productions, and charismatic preachers, they are most definitely consumer-friendly. And they are growing. People are flocking to these churches. In our church we’re in the midst of, as you can tell, the installation of a new sound system here. We hope to be done by September. Can video screens be far behind? I mean, there is no denying the powerful impact of the mega-church. And many of these churches also preach the same version of what is being called “the prosperity gospel.” It goes something like this: Jesus is our upbeat good friend who wants us to succeed, to be wealthy and happy and purpose-driven. In other words, Jesus wants us to be successful as our culture defines success. Jesus and the market economy basically want the same thing for us—to be healthy and wealthy. William Willimon, that old curmudgeon from the United Methodist church, says “In this preaching, Jesus becomes a sort of sanctified form of Prozac.” He wants us all to feel good and not worry about anything. Popular gospel; thousands hear it every Sunday.
And yet, as I read through the Gospels and as I consider this parable, I have to wonder if Jesus is really all that consumer-friendly. I mean, you generally aren’t sent to a cross for saying what people want to hear, for affirming their lifestyles and values. In fact, one author, Robert Wilken, comes close to a modern day blasphemy when he dares to suggest that when a person comes into a Christian church for the very first time, that person should feel, not comfortable, but actually rather out of place, indeed rather uncomfortable. Because that person should find that his or her values and beliefs, learned in the world out there, are being sternly challenged in here. The church, not affirming the practices of an old world, but in fact ushering in a bold and challenging new world.
James Clelland, an old Scotch Congregationalist, loved to tell the story that when he was a young preacher, without much income, he was once paid the astounding sum of three hundred dollars for preaching a sermon. On a visit to his dour Calvinist mother in Scotland he proudly told her of his good fortune. Three hundred dollars for preaching! She replied, “Oh son, there used to be a time when to betray our Lord they only had to pay Judas thirty pieces of silver.” Thanks, Mom. But she made her point.
Does Jesus promise to help us get what we want and desire in life, or does he in fact challenge our wants and desires? Recall how this scripture begins…. with a family dispute, a dispute about money. Comforting how some things never seem to change over the centuries, right? A man comes to Jesus and insists that his brother is not treating him fairly when it comes to dividing up the family inheritance. And this is a huge issue. For in that culture and time, even more than today, the inheritance passing from father to son – sorry, ladies, wives and daughters were not a part of this – inheritance passing from father to son was the primary means of security. According to the law, the older brother would receive two-thirds of the estate, the younger brother one-third. So it is probably the younger brother – the one with less power – who comes to Jesus concerned he’s not being treated fairly. And he doesn’t want arbitration. He wants Jesus to support his claim. “Help me get my share!” But, rather than supporting the man’s claim, Jesus suggests that this man – and all of us – need a new perspective, a new understanding of ourselves and wealth. He’s more concerned about the motives of the man’s heart than his pocketbook. So he tells a little story.
Now, it is so very tempting for the preacher, for this preacher, to take this parable and beat you all over the head with it. The old ‘Shame on you, bad dog! sermon.’ “You’re no different than that rich fool, thinking only of yourselves, acquiring more and more, hoarding more and more, living as if true life is the product of more consumption. And when that day comes when you take your final breath—and it will come—what good will all your stuff do you then? You spend your life worshipping at the altar of worldly and material success, you knock yourself out getting more and more and more, and in the end what does it all mean?” Ah yes, what a great attack sermon can be preached from this text, a frontal assault on self-indulgent over-consumption, a sermon that takes no prisoners. ‘Course, none of you would come back next week, but it’d still be a fun sermon to preach. Except for the fact that I would have to include myself in the sermon, and that might not be so much fun.
And yet as I read it, I have the strong feeling that Jesus really isn’t telling this parable in order to attack or put down anyone. I’ve always found it interesting that the rich fool in the parable is completely alone. It is always, “I will do this; I will do that.” Seemingly he has no one with whom to share his good fortune. He trusts no one, has no friends with whom he can exchange ideas. The man is so totally self-absorbed that he does not take anyone or anything into account, and that would include God, it would include his own mortality. And it is this way of life that Jesus calls foolish.
He doesn’t attack. I think he’s concerned. I think he tells this story out of love. I think he looks at people—people like us, people who may not consider themselves to be particularly wealthy—I think he looks to us as living on dangerous ground, subject to any number of temptations, so easily forgetting what matters most in life and kneeling to worship at the altars of any number of false gods. He actually seems to think that our definition of the good life may in fact be in conflict with a godly life. Remember what I said about Jesus making us a little uncomfortable, making us feel a little out of place?
The rich man says to himself, “Take it easy, you’ve accumulated enough stuff to protect and preserve you forever.” But then he dies. And God addresses him, not as “Oh, you very successful and prosperous person,” but as, “You fool!” Because that stuff he accumulated, what good is it to him now? End of story. Pretty abrupt ending. But between the lines I hear Jesus saying, “And what will be your story, people? Upon what foundation are you going to secure your life? Are you willing to listen, to risk the truth, to change the priorities of your life? I can show you a life worth living.”
A Fred Craddock story: “Never been to the greyhound races, but I’ve seen them on TV. They have these big, beautiful, big old dogs – I say beautiful, actually they’re ugly – big old dogs, and run that mechanical rabbit around the ring, and those dogs just run, exhausting themselves chasing it. When the dogs get to the point where they can’t race anymore, the owners put a little ad in the paper, and if anybody wants one for a pet, they can have it. Otherwise they are going to be destroyed. I have a niece in Arizona who can’t stand that. So she goes and gets them – these big old dogs in her house. She loves them.
“I was in a home not long ago where they had adopted one of these dogs. Big greyhound, lying there in the den. One of the kids, just a toddler, was pulling on its tail. The other, older kid had his head on the dog’s stomach, using it for a pillow.
That old dog seemed so happy. I had to ask it, ‘You racing anymore?’
“ ‘No, no, don’t race anymore.’
“ ‘Do you miss the glitter and excitement of the track?’
“’Naw, not really.’
“ ‘Well, what’s the matter? You get too old?’
“ ‘Oh no, I still had some race left in me.’
“ ‘Well, did you not win?’
“ ‘No, I won my owner thousands and thousands of dollars.’
“ ‘They not treat you well?’
“ ‘No, no, when we were racing they treated us royally.’
“ ‘Then what? Must’ve gotten injured?’
“ ‘No, no, I’m fine. I just quit.’
“ ‘ You quit?’
“ ’Yeah, I quit.’
“ ’Why?’
“He said, ‘I discovered that what I was chasing was not really a rabbit. So I quit. All that running and running and running, and what I was chasing was not even real.’”
Says Jesus, “Get real. Pay attention to what really matters. Dare to live by a different story than the one told by conventional wisdom. Look around, people, look out upon God’s good earth, upon the precious people we love and who love us, upon the incredible gift of life we’re privileged to share each and every day.” To know that God has provided for us and through that we can provide for others, that is true prosperity. You know, when you think about it, just may be that our barns are quite big enough already.