Seventh Sunday after Trinity
“it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.””
Summary
Everyone is rich in this morning’s readings: the teacher in Ecclesiastes, the brother speaking to Jesus, the landowner in the parable; they are all wealthy and they are all unhappy.
Despite their hard work and good fortune they cannot enjoy life, instead they are preoccupied with how to protect their wealth from others. None of them want to share their good fortune: the words “I” and “me” and “myself” are littered throughout the texts. The young man at least is talking to Jesus in Luke 12:13-21, the teacher and the landowner, on the other hand, are talking exclusively to themselves. Wealth has become a trap which isolates them from others.
They end up, not only resenting the others who may enjoy their success but their own lives too: The teacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14 -2:18-2, resents his labour: “I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun.” The landowner works harder and harder but never gets to enjoy the fruits of his labour, to “relax, eat, drink and be merry”.
This is not so much about money and what to do with it as life and how we live it. How do we flourish and thrive? We expect too much of wealth if we expect it to provide us with a sense of purpose and meaning. What seems to be missing from the lives of these unhappy rich people is other people, community, an acknowledgement that they are interdependent, a sense of being a part of and contributing to something meaningful that transcends their own life and labours.
We are more than the sum of our labours, more than the size of our bank accounts, we are made in the image of a God. A God who teaches us that life is not transactional, life is relational. A God who gives us everything that we might enjoy it together.
FIRST READING
Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14-2:18-23
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to humans to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to my successor, and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
GOSPEL
Luke 12.13-21
“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then 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. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
