In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
How much of our lives, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is spent in worry over our future? “I need more,” seems to be our constant cry: more money, more time, more rest, more relaxation, more purpose, more direction. We are regularly seeking more from our lives, from our jobs, from our families. And it is never enough: we get that raise at work, or a labour-saving device, but it does not satisfy us, we want to consume more.
The Lord tells us, in today’s reading, that there was a man who not only wanted more but he had it. “What shall I do,” he asks himself rhetorically, “for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he answers his own question,
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; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’
And I consider myself in comparison with him. Whereas he has a plan of action, something to do with his wealth, I merely store up with no idea what I shall do. And the wealth I am receiving is great: I am receiving neither crops, nor money, nor jewels, nor belongings, rather I am receiving Life. I come before the Lord with our meagre offerings, bread and wine, and he offers back something which is beyond the means of even the rich and the powerful in our world: eternal Life, the Kingdom of Heaven, union with God. Yet now judgement is at hand and the Lord says to me, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The Foolish Rich Man must answer merely for the crops he has held back from the poor, the needy, the hungry—I must answer for the blessings which I have held onto, the Kingdom of God which I try to reserve only for myself, eternal Life which I keep as a secret for only me and those whom I consider worthy. My barns are full and I stand content, my treasury is rich and I think it is due to my own magnificence, I partake of Life and think nothing of those apart from God.
And so I must change, I must repent. And every treasury I have must be put to the service of my neighbour. The food I have, the drink I have, the money I have, the love I have, the compassion I have, the time I have, the energy I have, the talents I have, must all be given. The Foolish Rich Man, did not possess much but was himself possessed by much: I must be willing to give up my own possession so that I may be free. And the freedom I receive from Christ must also be given away, the blessings, the citizenship of Heaven, eternal Life—since I may only truly have that which I give away and thereby come to be a true heir and inheritor of the Kingdom.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us give away freely that which we have received, that we may truly have died with Christ and may rise with him. Let us give our time, talents, energy and money and, alongside these, let us give the blessings we have received that we may be worthy of the name Christian.
To our incarnate, crucified and risen Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, Christ is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
— Ephesians 2:14–22
The Lord said this parable: “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And 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; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” As he said these things, he cried out: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
— Luke 12:16–21