Where to Put the Crops – Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 12: 13-21)

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke begins with a young man coming to Jesus with a problem. A problem he hopes Jesus can solve, or at least weigh in on. This man came to Jesus with a complaint that his brother was not sharing an appropriate amount of the family inheritance. He does not mention how much exactly he expects to receive, but he obviously wants more. At this time there were guidelines in Torah about how family inheritance should be divided. The eldest brother would receive the larger portion but would make sure that the rest was divided fairly to provide for the whole family. It was also common that disputes over this sort of thing would be taken to a leader in the community to resolve. So, this young man brings his grievance to Jesus. And why wouldn’t he? Jesus was proving himself to be wise and capable of great counsel.

However, after presenting his issue to Jesus, the response he receives is probably not what he was expecting. Jesus lets the man know that he does not view himself as the judge or arbiter of this dispute. The specifics of the matter do not concern Jesus. What does seem to concern Jesus is the young man’s greed, his preoccupation with how much money he should get. So, Jesus takes this opportunity to tell a story. Which, frankly, the young man should have seen coming. If you follow Jesus at all you know that when someone asks him a question he will often not respond with an answer or a judgement, but instead, he’ll tell a story. Within that story maybe there will be an answer, maybe not. Maybe just a topic to think about and wrestle with.

The story Jesus tells is about a rich farmer (the Gospel of Luke loves to make an example out of the rich). This farmer has harvested his crop and finds that this harvest has yielded more crops than he had expected. There is an excess, a surplus, an abundance. Now the question he faces is what to with all this grain. The decision he makes is not an unreasonable one. He decides to remodel his barns, make them bigger so he can keep all the grain. His plan then is to essentially retire. Live off of the grain and take it easy. Eat, drink, and rest for many years. Again, not an unreasonable thought. Wouldn’t any, and maybe all, of us make a similar decision is we came into such abundance. Just seems like sound financial planning, doesn’t it?

But that is not what this story is about. Remember, Jesus was not interests in giving the young man guidance on his financial problem. The parable is about the futility of greed and the harm it can cause, not about financial planning. Still, that leaves us with some questions to ask. Such as; Is putting aside the excess grain a form of greed? Wasn’t this farmer simply being prudent? You could say that he was just being smart with his resources, but then it is also important to think about the context of this story, and the context of the community that was hearing the story. The people Jesus is talking to have traditions and practices around the sharing of wealth that had been passed down to them from the Torah and the time of Moses. These teaching taught that excess wealth life the farmer produced was to be shared with the community. It was to be used to make life better for all the people. The man in the parable does not even consider using he grain this way. This is how the greed is expressed in the story.

This parable can be a reminder to us that how we manage our life -including our possessions and our resources- might have something to say about our relationship with God. It also says something about how we believe God is at work in the world. For instance, the rich man in the story could imagine no other possibility for his wealth than using it for his own purposes and pleasures. He does not give any thought to it beyond how he can keep it for himself.

The grain, and the wealth it brought with it, also demanded something of the man’s life. For instance, having to tear down his barns and build larger ones. Yet, Jesus warns that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Our possessions are not meant to define our life. Some people might prefer the words wealth, assets, or resources instead of possessions. By those names, it’s all something that can help us to build stable, secure lives. That is not the point, however. It is still a problem when we let the things we can acquire and accumulate become the center of our lives. That is what this man was doing, building his life around his wealth and his possessions. Greed is the preoccupation with our wealth or our possessions, and the rich man is forced to confront this reality when God speaks to him. God tells him he has been a fool. God tells the man that death will come for him, like it does for everyone. Then what will happen to all this wealth?

The man is a fool, in God’s eyes, because of how he handled his abundance of grain. He set it aside for selfish ends. Furthermore, his decision making shut God out. By shutting God out, it also shut out consideration for the community. Again, the parable is about greed. A reminder that greed is not good, and there is more to life than wealth. The man was wealthy but not “rich toward God.” Life is not about the accumulation of things; true wealth can be found in our relationship with God.

That is why, unlike some others, this parable does not tell us what to do with our resources or possessions. It is less concerned with that and more concerned with greed and how that effects our relationship with God. In both parts of this Gospel reading today, we are left with the impression that neither Jesus or God are concerned with wealth. God has different priorities, and we are called to seek in what God provides. Greed does not help us live better lives. An obsession with wealth, or the hoarding of our resources cannot bring us to the new life God promises. “Who made me the judge and arbitrator?” Jesus asks. Jesus does not come to serve this function. Jesus did not come to be concerned with the Earthly wealth of people, and God is not concerned with it either. So why should we be?

Well, because we live in this world and this time in history and money helps us do stuff. Things have a cost. However, there is often more to it than that. People don’t necessarily want stuff, or wealth, simply for its own sake. Different translations of this parable describe the purpose of wealth differently. This reflects the different needs we try to meet with our wealth, and the different purposes it can serve for us. In some translations Jesus says, “Greed will make you stumble.” Which is to say that some might consider wealth to be important because it makes our way in the world easier, and that is true to an extent. Money can make our day-to-day existence easier; it opens doors and makes things possible. Greed, however, will trip us up as we try to follow the way of Jesus. Other translations say, “your life is not made more secure by you own.” This implies that wealth brings security, and this can motivate greed. However, no amount of acquisition can bring the absolute certainty and security we seek. Being aware of why we want abundance and what we want to do with our resources can help us find the line where taking care of our needs and being good stewards of our gifts crosses over into selfishness and greed. This awareness can help us to realize that maybe we are going to far when we find ourselves tearing down a perfectly good barn simply to accommodate our desire for more and more and more.

So, the purpose of whatever abundance we find or are blessed with in life, can’t be just to enrich us and to make it possible for us to live a life of leisure. We can be smart with it. We can make sure our needs are met, and even the needs of those who are important to us. It is when it becomes a preoccupation, or even an obsession, that we must be careful. If we are blessed with abundance, but like the farmer in Jesus’ story we find ourselves going to great lengths to keep that abundance to ourselves, then we may be straying into greed. When we find ourselves blessed with unexpected gifts, but our first thought is to stash it away for ourselves, we might be straying into greed. When we receive such gifts perhaps, we should first thank God for that gift. We thank God and realize such a gift requires some responsibility on our part. A responsibility that looks beyond the wants and needs of our own life. We must give thought to where else it might go, and what else it might do. Who else can be helped by this abundance?

So, where will we put our crops? When we are blessed with an abundant harvest, what will we do with that crop? The decision is important, and the decision-making process might best be started by thinking about why we are putting it there in the first place. Are we motivated by greed? If so, do we desire to hoard our resources because we are afraid? What are we afraid of? What problem might we be trying to solve with our wealth and our resources? If that is the case, then where can we put those crops to solve that problem?

Well, one option, is to do as the rich farmer in the parable did. Keep it for yourself. Build bigger and better barns to hold your possessions. But, as they say, you can’t take it with you, and one day your life will be demanded of you. Our lives are demanded of us. Not our wealth, not our possessions, not our resources. Those are left behind. Where will those crops go then?

The other option is to invest those resources in other people. That is how we become rich toward God. Not by enriching ourselves, but by providing for the community. That is the resource Jesus cares about. That is the resource that can grow, that can continue to bless us and our community, even after it is no longer in our possession. So, put your crops where they will provide for God’s people. Do this to make yourself rich toward God, and when the time comes, you will not be called a fool, but a good and faithful servant.

Amen.