From the Daily Lectionary for Friday in the Twentieth Week after Pentecost
Luke 12:13-31
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 towards God.”
He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
Just some good advice from Luke. Luke talks a lot about wealth, in particular he talks about how wealth, or the yearning for wealth, undermines not just our personal sense of well-being, but also our collective vitality as well. Luke is raising an important issue that affects the human psyche… and that is the idea of scarcity; that it seems to be in our nature to believe that there are just not enough resources to go around that would support a dignified and sustainable life for all of us. That is true for us on a personal level, and on the level of societies in general. And when such illusion permeates the institutions of power, then all manner of trouble is set loose.
René Girard, philosophical anthropologist, argues that since before recorded history, in particular, at the demise of Matrilineal culture, around 7000 B.C.E. warfare and violence have been the singular means of founding civilizations… and that the motivation of such violence is envy… wanting something that someone else has. You’ll remember in the myth of creation, envy is the culprit that ushers violence into the world.
And yet we know that there is enough. Our planet is one of abundance and renewability. It is corrupt power that would disproportion such abundance, creating the insidious ethos of scarcity. The result is violence, physical and psychic.
We should take Luke’s advice. God’s world, the planet in its intricate order, is hard-wired to nurture and sustain us, despite our obsessive need for control, our illusory belief in self-preservation. This teaching comes on the heels of the proclamation of the Great Commandment: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is a call to perspective. When our lives are spent serving our neighbor, attending to the greater good, then the things we need don’t seem so scarce. Julian of Norwich’s mystic words ring true: “All manner of thing will be well.”… no matter how much we “toil and spin.” Just some good advice, and perhaps, some relief.
A Prayer for Joy in God’s Creation (BCP p. 814)
O God, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
