Luke 12.13-21
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Beware of all covetousness.”
In today’s Gospel lesson a man comes to the Savior out of the crowds with a seemingly benign request. In fact, its not only a perfectly REASONABLE request, but the man is asking for justice and equity. He’s asking for GOOD THINGS. “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.”
These kinds of family squabbles can be unbelievably nasty. Its not unusual for them to ruin relationships between siblings or even between parents and children.
What could be more reasonable? “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” This fellow only wants what is rightfully his. His brother is the villain in this situation. His brother has taken everything for himself, and so this poor man comes to the Lord, thinking Jesus to be a man of justice and equity and fairness, and he appeals to him for a just judgment about what rightfully belongs to him. He’s not asking the Lord for a new car, or a million dollars, or even to be cured of a disease. He’s been cheated out of something and he wants it restored.
The Lord’s reply is therefore a little surprising. “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness.” Hold on a minute. What covetousness? How can you COVET something that is YOURS to begin with? Surely the Lord means something else. Surely the man was harboring some malignant attitude to which the Lord, in his omniscience, was privy. But no. What the poor man doesn’t undertand, and what WE often misunderstand is that the Lord is NOT a man of justice and equity – at least not the way we think of justice and equity. The Lord is a man of LOVE. He IS actually saying you can covet what is yours according to the world’s standards of justice and equity, and he tells a parable to drive the point home.
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. You may now retire. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.
So what’s the problem? This guy is perfectly within his rights. The problem lies in what the man in the parable says to his own soul: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.” To which God answers: “You fool! This night you soul is required of you.” The problem is that you cannot ascend to heaven if your soul is attached to earth and to the things of the earth. And it doesn’t matter in the end whether you’re attached to what is rightfully yours or rightfully someone else’s.
“Take heed and beware of ALL covetousness.”
Beware of ANY attachment to this world. Be ready to leave it all behind, because some day you will HAVE TO. This is why so many men and women down through the ages in the Church have given everything to the poor and fled to the desert. This too is why it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. This is why we must DIE TO THE WORLD – why we must live as though we could die at any moment. We must be ready to drop EVERYTHING and GO.
Beware of all covetousness.
In his book about heaven and hell, The Great Divorce, CS Lewis writes about a man who is allowed to visit heaven from hell. On arriving, he’s offended to see someone he knew in life who had been a murderer and is now among the Blessed. The man from hell is free to stay in heaven if he wishes, but he is too offended by the presence of a murderer, and too obsessed about what he believes are his own rights. Lewis writes:
'Look at me, now,' said the Ghost, slapping its chest (but the slap made no noise). 'I gone straight all my life. I don't say I was a religious man and I don't say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life, see? I done my best by everyone, that's the sort of chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn't mine by rights. If I wanted a drink I paid for it and if I took my wages I done my job, see? That's the sort I was and I don't care who knows it.'
[The murderer who had been saved says:] 'It would be much better not to go on about that now.'
'Who's going on? I'm not arguing. I'm just telling you the sort of chap I was, see? I'm asking for nothing but my rights. You may think that you can put me down because you're dressed up like that (which you weren't when you worked under me) and I'm only a poor man. But I got to have my rights same as you, see?'
'Oh no. It's not so bad as that. I havne't got my rights, or I [wouldn’t] be here. You [won’t] get yours either. You'll get something FAR better. Never fear.'
'That's just what I say. I haven't got my rights. I always done my best and I never done anything wrong. And what I don't see is why I should be put below a bloody murderer like you.'
'Who knows whether you will be? Only be happy and come with me.'
'What do you keep on arguing for? I'm only telling you the sort of chap I am. I only want my rights. I'm not asking for anybody's bleeding charity.'
'Then do. At once. Ask for the Bleeding Charity. Everything is here for the asking and nothing can be bought.'
The indignant man is never able to ask for the charity. He can only demand his rights. He refuses to ask for the “bleeding charity” which is all it would take to enter heaven, and instead he marches indignantly back to hell, protesting that he only wants his rights.
Beware ALL covetousness. For the Lord is not a man of justice and equity, as we have come to think of those words. He is a man of BLEEDING CHARITY – a man of LOVE.
The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote about the difference between seeking justice and equity, on the one hand, and on the other hand seeking and exemplifying LOVE – the attitude of charity, of real LOVE. Kierkegaard wrote:
“The one who truly loves does not seek [what is] his own. With regard to his “own,” he knows nothing about the claims of strict law or of justice, not even the claims of equity; neither does he know anything about [the] exchange that erotic love makes, which also knows how to watch out lest it be tricked ([and] therefore knows how to watch out for [what is] its own)…. No, the one who TRULY loves knows how to do only one thing: how to be tricked, [how] to be deceived, [how] to give everything away without getting the least in return – see, this is what it is not to seek one’s own. Ah, the poor fool, what a laughingstock he is – in the eyes of the world! The truly loving person becomes the unconditionally INJURED one…. No ingratitude, no misjudgment, no unappreciated sacrifice, no mockery as thanks, NOTHING, neither things present nor things to come, is able to bring him sooner or later to understand that he has any MINE [whatsoever], or [to] make it appear that he had only FOR A MOMENT forgotten the distinction MINE and YOURS, because he has ETERNALLY forgotten this distinction and has ETERNALLY been conscious of loving sacrificially… of being sacrificed.”
Beware ALL covetousness. The Lord is not a man of justice and equity as we have come to think of those words. He is a man of BLEEDING CHARITY. A man of LOVE.
Let us pray.
Lord teach us to love you as you loved us. Teach us not to count the cost. Teach us to seek you for nothing but your sake. Teach us to pour out our lives to you and for you. Fill our hearts with your own loving sacrifice. Offer yourself on the altar of our hearts, and so give your love to us. Draw us ever closer to you in the bond of your love that seeks only to give itself. Free our hearts from being attached to anything that hinders us from your embrace. And deliver us from ALL covetousness.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Beware of all covetousness.”
In today’s Gospel lesson a man comes to the Savior out of the crowds with a seemingly benign request. In fact, its not only a perfectly REASONABLE request, but the man is asking for justice and equity. He’s asking for GOOD THINGS. “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.”
These kinds of family squabbles can be unbelievably nasty. Its not unusual for them to ruin relationships between siblings or even between parents and children.
What could be more reasonable? “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” This fellow only wants what is rightfully his. His brother is the villain in this situation. His brother has taken everything for himself, and so this poor man comes to the Lord, thinking Jesus to be a man of justice and equity and fairness, and he appeals to him for a just judgment about what rightfully belongs to him. He’s not asking the Lord for a new car, or a million dollars, or even to be cured of a disease. He’s been cheated out of something and he wants it restored.
The Lord’s reply is therefore a little surprising. “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness.” Hold on a minute. What covetousness? How can you COVET something that is YOURS to begin with? Surely the Lord means something else. Surely the man was harboring some malignant attitude to which the Lord, in his omniscience, was privy. But no. What the poor man doesn’t undertand, and what WE often misunderstand is that the Lord is NOT a man of justice and equity – at least not the way we think of justice and equity. The Lord is a man of LOVE. He IS actually saying you can covet what is yours according to the world’s standards of justice and equity, and he tells a parable to drive the point home.
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. You may now retire. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.
So what’s the problem? This guy is perfectly within his rights. The problem lies in what the man in the parable says to his own soul: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.” To which God answers: “You fool! This night you soul is required of you.” The problem is that you cannot ascend to heaven if your soul is attached to earth and to the things of the earth. And it doesn’t matter in the end whether you’re attached to what is rightfully yours or rightfully someone else’s.
“Take heed and beware of ALL covetousness.”
Beware of ANY attachment to this world. Be ready to leave it all behind, because some day you will HAVE TO. This is why so many men and women down through the ages in the Church have given everything to the poor and fled to the desert. This too is why it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. This is why we must DIE TO THE WORLD – why we must live as though we could die at any moment. We must be ready to drop EVERYTHING and GO.
Beware of all covetousness.
In his book about heaven and hell, The Great Divorce, CS Lewis writes about a man who is allowed to visit heaven from hell. On arriving, he’s offended to see someone he knew in life who had been a murderer and is now among the Blessed. The man from hell is free to stay in heaven if he wishes, but he is too offended by the presence of a murderer, and too obsessed about what he believes are his own rights. Lewis writes:
'Look at me, now,' said the Ghost, slapping its chest (but the slap made no noise). 'I gone straight all my life. I don't say I was a religious man and I don't say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life, see? I done my best by everyone, that's the sort of chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn't mine by rights. If I wanted a drink I paid for it and if I took my wages I done my job, see? That's the sort I was and I don't care who knows it.'
[The murderer who had been saved says:] 'It would be much better not to go on about that now.'
'Who's going on? I'm not arguing. I'm just telling you the sort of chap I was, see? I'm asking for nothing but my rights. You may think that you can put me down because you're dressed up like that (which you weren't when you worked under me) and I'm only a poor man. But I got to have my rights same as you, see?'
'Oh no. It's not so bad as that. I havne't got my rights, or I [wouldn’t] be here. You [won’t] get yours either. You'll get something FAR better. Never fear.'
'That's just what I say. I haven't got my rights. I always done my best and I never done anything wrong. And what I don't see is why I should be put below a bloody murderer like you.'
'Who knows whether you will be? Only be happy and come with me.'
'What do you keep on arguing for? I'm only telling you the sort of chap I am. I only want my rights. I'm not asking for anybody's bleeding charity.'
'Then do. At once. Ask for the Bleeding Charity. Everything is here for the asking and nothing can be bought.'
The indignant man is never able to ask for the charity. He can only demand his rights. He refuses to ask for the “bleeding charity” which is all it would take to enter heaven, and instead he marches indignantly back to hell, protesting that he only wants his rights.
Beware ALL covetousness. For the Lord is not a man of justice and equity, as we have come to think of those words. He is a man of BLEEDING CHARITY – a man of LOVE.
The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote about the difference between seeking justice and equity, on the one hand, and on the other hand seeking and exemplifying LOVE – the attitude of charity, of real LOVE. Kierkegaard wrote:
“The one who truly loves does not seek [what is] his own. With regard to his “own,” he knows nothing about the claims of strict law or of justice, not even the claims of equity; neither does he know anything about [the] exchange that erotic love makes, which also knows how to watch out lest it be tricked ([and] therefore knows how to watch out for [what is] its own)…. No, the one who TRULY loves knows how to do only one thing: how to be tricked, [how] to be deceived, [how] to give everything away without getting the least in return – see, this is what it is not to seek one’s own. Ah, the poor fool, what a laughingstock he is – in the eyes of the world! The truly loving person becomes the unconditionally INJURED one…. No ingratitude, no misjudgment, no unappreciated sacrifice, no mockery as thanks, NOTHING, neither things present nor things to come, is able to bring him sooner or later to understand that he has any MINE [whatsoever], or [to] make it appear that he had only FOR A MOMENT forgotten the distinction MINE and YOURS, because he has ETERNALLY forgotten this distinction and has ETERNALLY been conscious of loving sacrificially… of being sacrificed.”
Beware ALL covetousness. The Lord is not a man of justice and equity as we have come to think of those words. He is a man of BLEEDING CHARITY. A man of LOVE.
Let us pray.
Lord teach us to love you as you loved us. Teach us not to count the cost. Teach us to seek you for nothing but your sake. Teach us to pour out our lives to you and for you. Fill our hearts with your own loving sacrifice. Offer yourself on the altar of our hearts, and so give your love to us. Draw us ever closer to you in the bond of your love that seeks only to give itself. Free our hearts from being attached to anything that hinders us from your embrace. And deliver us from ALL covetousness.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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