Proper 13 C
No Worries in God’s Economy
St. Luke 12:13-21
4 August 2013 – Redeemer
The economy. Two words that dominate the news and your life. If you’re nearing retirement you pay close attention to the markets and your investments. If you’re driving your children all over creation you worry when gas jumps from $3.29 a gallon to $3.79. If you have any illness or medical needs you worry about the cost and coverage of health insurance.
Let’s be honest about the economy. You don’t worry about economy when it hurts your neighbor; you worry about the economy when it robs you. That’s why the man came to Jesus in the text. His economy was being negatively impacted and it wasn’t fair. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!” This was not the first born son of the family. This was the neglected middle child, the second born and those of you who are the middle child know how unfair that position is. The eldest blazes the way and the youngest gets spoiled and there’s barely a picture of you in the photo album. In the days of Jesus the oldest son inherited the greater share of the property. 2/3 of the family farm became his. The second son received 1/3, but evidently in this case big brother kept the whole inheritance for himself and that led the younger brother to appeal to Jesus.
And why not appeal to Jesus? Jesus is compassionate and gracious. He’s been teaching people to be neighborly. He’s healing the sick and giving sight to the blind. Surely he will relieve this poor man of the oppression of poverty. Surely Jesus would want you to have your fair share. But before you think Jesus is a socialist or that He wants you to have all that your heart desires you should listen to His answer because most people who ask Jesus questions don’t like the answer.
“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!” Jesus replied, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” At this point the man wishes he never asked the question. Jesus is chastising him just as he chastised his mother at the wedding of Cana, “Woman, what is that to me?” I didn’t come to fix wine shortages and my job isn’t wealth redistribution. It is as if Jesus were saying, “Listen man, I’m here in the flesh because I am the Maker of all flesh. Everything in the world is good because I created it, but because of your sin it’s all passing away. I’m standing here to save your skin, your body, your heart, so don’t worry about your 401 K, your split level home or getting your fair share. That’s not important, I am.
And then he tells another of those parables with an unexpected ending. The land of a rich man grew a big crop. His name was Steve Jobs and he grew a big crop of Apples – Macintoshes I believe. And then he said to himself, “Self, what shall I do? I know what I will do. I will tear down my barns. I will build bigger barns. I will store all my apples and I will make lots and lots of money and then I will say to my soul, “Soul, you are the Apple King, your apples will last for years, relax, eat, drink, and be merry.”
And the whole while the story is being told everyone of you is saying, “Oh, I wish I were Steve Jobs. I wish I had invented the Apple computer, the iPad, the iPhone. Image how great life would be if I had all that money. I could take it easy. I could do whatever I wanted. I could do nothing at all. And Jesus reels you in with His story because you want to be Steve Jobs, you want to have money, you want to have enough so you can do what you want to do. Jesus reels you sinners in and then He sets the hook and you get pulled in to the unexpected ending.
The unexpected ending is that Someone unexpected enters the story – the very last person the rich man expected in his life. “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’”
Riches are not evil. To be wealthy is not indicator of sin or righteousness. Abraham and Solomon were wealthy men. The wise men who visited the toddler Jesus were rich. Joseph of Arimathea who buried Jesus was so rich he had his own grave hand carved out of stone. There is nothing wrong with seeking wealth and working hard. The sin comes when we live with our eyes fixed on our riches or our lack of riches but we do not live expecting God to show up.
That’s how this text begins. God has shown up. God was in the midst of the crowd. God was fully dwelling in the person of Jesus Christ. That neglected middle child requested his inheritance from Jesus, was in reality was asking God and God is not concerned about you getting your fair share of earthly treasures. God is not worried about your material happiness. God is not in the least bit bothered if your stomach isn’t as full, or your thirst isn’t as quenched, or your bank account is not as full as you want it to be so you can declare yourself happy.
This story ends with a warning – the rich man was wise in the way of the world, but foolish in the way of heaven. He had a good business plan and made a great profit and knew how to save, but the rich man lostl. His soul was demanded of him. He had wasted the good gifts of God and lived only for himself and the payback was the loss of his soul – eternal death, hell. That’s what happens to the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
Now at this point the neglected middle child should have asked another question. How does one become rich towards God? You might remember that a few weeks ago in St. Luke’s Gospel a rich young man asked that very question of Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Notice that both of these questions use the word “inheritance” and both questions are centered around “me.” Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
The first response to those questions is a little common sense – you don’t do anything for an inheritance. Inheritances are not earned or worked, they are given and bestowed. Usually you are born into an inheritance and your blood connection is what gets you into the good graces of your wealthy benefactor.
The second response is Jesus. Jesus is not the divider of earthly inheritances. He is not a socialist nor is He a fiscal conservative. He is the gracious Savior of the world who came to earth not to divide an inheritance, but to bestow the whole inheritance of your heavenly Father upon you. He does the work of His Father so that the inheritance can be yours. The truth of God’s Word is that you’re out of the will because of your sins. You use and abuse and waste the possessions of the Father by thinking they are rightfully yours. You mock your Father when you think the gifts He gives you are more important than the Son He sent for you. You write your Father off when you believe life is found in the possessions your Father gives you instead of the forgiveness Jesus won for you. And thus because of your sin you are written off and out of the will.
But God says to you, “Fool, I love you, because I’m the most foolish Father of all.” The unexpected ending the Biblical record is that God so loved the world He sent His Son, His perfect Son, who kept the Father’s will, who obeyed every commandment, who kept every promise, who then offered His perfect life for all of us sinful rebels and outcasts. Jesus wrote you into the will by His blood shed on the cross. His perfect final offering is the undoing of your sins. Your work is erased and the work of Christ wins you not a portion of the inheritance, but the full inheritance – complete forgiveness for all your sins, life without end, the resurrection and restoration of your body on the last day.
That’s God’s economy. That’s the work of the Father in His Son Jesus Christ in securing your body and soul for all eternity. That’s the work of the Spirit delivering into your ears and into your mouths the treasures of Christ, the treasure of forgiveness and life wrapped up in Word and Sacrament. God’s economy leaves you with no fear, no worries, because God’s economy is a full and eternal inheritance purchased and delivered to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
3 August 2013 anno Domini