Proper C 13 - Ordinary 15 - 9th Sunday after Trinity
Readings:
Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14; 2:18-23
Psalm 49:1-12 "Those who have honour, but lack understanding are lik the beasts that perish" Colossians 3:1-11 Set your heart on things above. The reading ends with the words: Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircmcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in in all The here referred to by Paul is "in Chist". The work of Christ is to break down the barriers which divide people - in Christ there aren't the divisions which plague and divide our life, but thre is holiness and wholeness.
The photo of Christ the King from Coventry Cathedral Luke 12:13-21 warnings about greed Jesus points out the foolishness of those who store up things for their own selfish gain and then become complacent. According to Jesus "life does not consist in the abundance of possessions"
Psalm 14 begins with the words "The fool says in his own heart, there is no God", possibly relly thinking "there is no God here - to take notice ..." When Jesus says of the rich man "You fool" he was probably bearing in mind the sort of meaning conveyed by he Psalm.
| It's interesting that we call what we store in barns or banks "SAVINGS". Saving is considered a wise move - especially when you can be like the man in the gospel story who is able "to take life easy; eat drink and be merry" According to Jesus, "saving" is foolish. God says to him: "You FOOL. This very night your life will be demanded from you."
It's interesting that when the rainy day came, only Noah was prepared. Raiiny days are full of surprises and no-thing can protect us from them.
Jesus also SAVES - but he is the very oppsite of the rich self-made man of the parable. | Money will buy: A bed but not sleep. Books but not brains. Food but not appetite. Finery but not beauty. A house but not a home. Medicine but not health. Luxuries but not culture. Amusement but not happiness. A crucifix but not a Savior. A church-pew but not heaven. As a child, John D. Rockefeller Sr. was strong and husky. He made up his mind early to make money and drove himself to the limit. At the age of thirty-three, he had made his first million. At forty-three, he managed the largest company in the world. At fifty-three, he was the wealthiest man on earth and the world's only billionaire. Then suddenly he was stricken with an illness called "alopecia." All the hair on his body fell out. He became thin and drawn, shrunken like a mummy. His weekly income was well over a million dollars, but he could eat only milk and crackers. He was so hated in Pennsylvania that he had to have bodyguards day and night. He could not sleep, was no longer happy, and enjoyed nothing in life. The doctors predicted he would not live longer than a year. The newspaper had gleefully written his obituary in advance-for convenience of sudden need. Those sleepless nights set him thinking. He realized with a new light that he could not take one dime into the next world. Money was not everything. The next morning found him a new man. He began to help churches with his amassed wealth; the poor and needy were not overlooked. He established the Rockefeller Foundation whose funding of medical researches led to the discovery of penicillin and other useful drugs. He was soon able to sleep, eat, and enjoy life again. The doctors had predicted he would not live past fifty-four, but he lived to the ripe old age of ninety-eight. Bass Mitchell The Sheldons were a large family in severe financial distress after a series of misfortunes. One fall day I visited the Sheldons in the ramshackle rented house they lived in at the edge of the woods. Despite a painful physical handicap, Mr. Sheldon had shot and butchered a bear which strayed into their yard once too often. The meat had been processed into all the big canning jars they could find or swap for. Mr. Sheldon offered me a jar of bear meat. I hesitated to accept it, but the giver met my unspoken resistance firmly. "Now you just have to take this. We want you to have it. We don't have much, that's a fact; but we ain't poor!" I couldn't resist asking, "What's the difference?" His answer proved unforgettable. "When you can give something away, even when you don't have much, then you ain't poor. When you don't feel easy giving something away even if you got more'n you need, then you're poor, whether you know it or not." |
