I've gotten a bit behind, but this is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, July 31. The text is Luke 12:13-21.
Affluenza even rears its ugly head throughout scripture; in both testaments. In today’s gospel, we see a pointed parable concerning Affluenza. A disagreement over the division of an inheritance introduces the parable. This issue is all too familiar to many of us. We have seen families violently, irreparably divided over inheritance issues. Jesus tells a parable to address it and how we hear the parable is influenced by this introductory issue.
A farmer was blessed with a bumper crop. It doesn’t say the man has done anything wrong toward his employees or anything else. The farmer wasn’t evil. He had a lot and it seems he was being wise about his future, not wasting the abundance. The farmer seemed to carefully plan ahead. But wait a minute. He’s rich! It’s like he’d won the lottery. After building more barns, he figured he should kick back and relax! We can all identify with that, can’t we?
So…what’s the problem? Is it the bumper crop? Crops are neutral. Listen to these words of the farmer and see if you can diagnose the problem. A hint is the pronouns he uses:
17And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18Then 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. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry’
Two words are repeated over and over. What are they? I and my appear more frequently than any other words in these few verses.
The farmer suffered from Affluenza, exhibiting itself as an act of total disregard for the needs of others. Despite his great wealth, he is poor in every other way, eating alone, even dying alone. He was not unjust, but was a fool per the parable. He lives completely for himself, talks to himself, plans for himself and congratulates himself. Sudden death proves him to have lived as a fool. The final verse of the parable as commentary states, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
When our hands are closed, trying to hold on to all we can, is our focus on ourselves or on God and our neighbors? The farmer would have no need of building more barns if he gave from his abundance instead of hoarding it. There were many poor in Palestine in Jesus’ day.
Open hands realize money and possessions are not ours, but God’s gifts to us.Our approach can either be grasping, holding on to things for dear life or…We can hold them loosely—because of nails in our hands since we belong to Christ.
Both rich and poor suffer from the disease of Affluenza. Affluence isn’t the disease, but our closed, grasping hands are symptomatic of Affluenza.
The reading from Colossians speaks as well to this issue, identifying Affluenza with greed, which Paul calls idolatry. We think of idols as statues people bow down to, but we can have idols in our hearts; be it possessions or family or friends. Anything that takes the place of God in our lives is an idol, a god.
It all boils down to relationship—how we relate to our possessions and finances. We can be rich toward God through our relationships with others.
It’s easy to be critical of those who spend their money on luxury cars and mansions, but what if the surplus product we make more space for is toilet paper? Do you remember at the beginning of the pandemic, the shortage of toilet paper? We couldn’t find it on the shelves of the stores and so when we did see it somewhere, we wanted to stock up, but were limited in how much we could buy. The shortage was likely created by those who stockpiled ridiculous amounts of toilet paper, fearing they would run out. They wanted to relax and not worry about it. This may not be the same relaxation the rich man seeks, but it gives us a chance to wrestle with the impact of some having an excess that leaves others struggling for the necessities of life.
A practical tool to identify and understand our relationship with money and possessions is a financial autobiography. This may sound strange, but it helps to think about where and how we got our ideas and attitudes toward money and all it buys. Going back to childhood, I discovered I had developed a theology of scarcity rather than one of abundance. As a child, whenever I wanted to do something, like become a Girl Scout, the answer was always, “We can’t afford it.” However, Ray and I have been able to develop a theology of abundance, allowing us to give joyfully. Rather than possessions owning us, we own our possessions. I challenge you to try this exercise and see where it takes you.
Christ heals and delivers us from Affluenza. Through him our focus moves from ourselves to others. When healed from Affluenza, all our relationships improve—relationship with God, relationship with each other and relationship with our neighbors. Amen!
Resources
Fred B. Craddock, Interpretation: Luke
Sundaysandseasons.com
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