Sermons

"What We Have Vs. Whose We Are"

Sermon by the Reverend Greg Cole
Emmanuel Church
August 1, 2004 – Proper 13C

Ecclesiastes 2:1-7,11 and Luke 12:13-21

They have been all over the headlines in the last couple of years. Since the bursting of the stock market bubble, the names have read like a who’s who of business wrongdoing. Virtually all of us can point to recent examples of financial and corporate malfeasance. People we trusted to lead companies in which millions of Americans invested ended up betraying the public trust and undermining our confidence in corporate America. Dennis Kozlowski from Tyco is known as much for the $2 million party that he threw for his wife on the corporate tab as he is for building a business colossus. Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling became household names after the spectacular collapse of Enron. And of course, we all know about Martha, so familiar that only a first name is required. These are people who make the news because they are rich and famous, and because their misdeeds captivate our attention.

But what of the well-to-do farmer of whom Jesus speaks in today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke. He is so successful that his barns simply are not big enough. He is too successful - a dilemma that any business person would love to have. This farmer says to himself, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll tear down these barns and build bigger ones. That way, I can accumulate so much that I’ll never have to work again.” Now, this is a situation in which many of us would be happy to find ourselves. We hear stories of people accumulating enough to retire early with nothing to do but to eat, drink and be merry. It sounds enticing. But, as is often the case, there is the little matter of the end of the story. Jesus does not praise the man for his success. He does not commend him for the wisdom of his retirement planning. Nor does Jesus seem to care that the man is merely demonstrating good financial sense. Instead, Jesus calls him a fool. I can just imagine that feeling of self-satisfaction quickly slipping away as the farmer receives rebuke rather than accolades.

Unlike the business leaders of current fame, the farmer was not a crook. He did not betray the public trust. He did not squander shareholder money on pyramid schemes or shower curtains costing thousands of dollars. He was frugal, hard-working, and sought merely to enjoy the fruits of his labor. So, what’s the big deal? Why does Jesus call this farmer a fool? We need to be careful here because the answer may not be one that we want to hear. While each of us meets with different levels of financial success, we all must wrestle with the same questions that confront this successful farmer. Our relationship to money is a vital issue that has the power to enhance or to diminish the quality of our spiritual lives.

Jesus calls the farmer a fool not because he has been successful, frugal and careful with his resources. To Jesus, the farmer is a fool because he stakes his claim to security on what he has rather than who he is. He thinks that if he just accumulates enough, everything will be fine. He can relax. He can derive his security, his identity, his sense of well-being from the material resources that he has accumulated.

The writer of Ecclesiastes, from whom we heard this morning, has something to say about this. In the verses leading up to today’s reading, the writer says: “Utter futility! Utter futility! All is futile. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” In our culture, what we value often ends up being futile. We live to accumulate, only to find that our days are numbered and that material possessions don’t bring the joy and peace that we seek. Near the end of his life, the very wealthy Andrew Carnegie is quoted as saying: “I would gladly sell anything to have my life over again.”

The question for the farmer and for us as well is simple: “What brings value to our lives?” Yesterday, I had the incredible privilege of participating in three significant life-events. In the morning, I conducted the funeral of a fifty-one year old man who died of a heart attack. In the afternoon, I blessed a healthy newborn baby. Later, I celebrated at the wedding of two young people who were full of love and hope. All of these are life changing events. The emotions and value of each of them has nothing to do with money, material success, or even achievement. Rather, each ultimately has to do with the quality of relationship. For the family of the man who died, value will come from the memories of laughter, of joy, of simply living together. For the parents of the newborn, value will come from the wonder of discovery, of nurturing a new life, of teaching him how to live in this world. For the newly married couple, value will come not from their financial success but from their ability to love each other, to care for each other, to share the mysteries of life together.

What brings value to your life? Is it the quantity of your possessions or the quality of your relationships? Is it the hunger to succeed or the passion for living? Is it the thirst for more, or the experience of the love that quenches even the deepest spiritual thirst? Ultimately, our security comes not in what we possess but in whose we are. As we place our trust in God, as we open our hearts to God’s overwhelming love, we find that life has more meaning and more value than we could have ever imagined. May all of us experience that value this day and always. Amen.