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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
Whether or not you think the economy is in a “recession”, and whether or not you think the slowdown of the Gross Domestic Product is “intentional”, you can hardly deny that in this country and elsewhere around the world there is record-setting inflation. Jobs may have been added, and wages may be up, but many families nevertheless are struggling to get by now, and other families may be concerned about the future. For example, they may be concerned whether or not their investments will allow them either to continue or to begin retirement, and the relaxation that retirement brings. There may be issues of an inheritance, either coming in or going out, as in today’s Gospel Reading, but, as we heard Jesus say in the Gospel Reading, one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions. Considering primarily the Gospel Reading, this morning we realize that, “Your life is not in possessions but in Christ”.
The Divinely-inspired St. Luke reports really nothing about the inheritance issue of the man in the crowd, but, St. Luke does report that instead of, as the man had asked, Jesus’s telling the man’s brother to divide the inheritance with him, Jesus told the crowd to take care and be on guard against all covetousness. In terms of the Commandments against coveting, the Small Catechism has us think, for example, of our not scheming to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house or getting it in a way that only appears right and of our not enticing or forcing away our neighbor’s wife, workers, or animals or turning them against him (Small Catechism I:18, 20). But, in view of the “parable” that Jesus told next, Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading seems to be warning against covetousness as actively striving to increase possessions as a means of security, and Jesus seems to be attacking acquiring money as the meaning of life (Delling, TDNT 7:271). Indeed, the Divinely-inspired St. Paul in today’s Epistle Reading (Colossians 3:1-11; confer Ephesians 5:5) regards covetousness to be idolatry, perhaps precisely because money and possessions can become those things to which our heart clings and entrusts itself, rather than our clinging to and trusting in God Himself (Large Catechism, I:3). To be sure, money and possessions generally are in and of themselves morally neutral, but, St. Paul says elsewhere, the love of such things is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10; confer Hebrews 13:5).
Are money and possessions neutral for us, or have they become things that cause us to sin or even to fall from faith? Do we try to store up the plenteous blessings that God gives us with little to no regard either for the work of His Kingdom or for the benefit of our neighbors? Do we place our hopes or find our future security in what we have laid up (confer 1 Timothy 6:17)? Have we laid up treasure for ourselves but are not rich toward God? Do we egotistically think that the welfare of a loved one completely depends on us? Are we otherwise so-fixated on this life that we do not want to begin the next life? Do we fear the loss of our earthly possessions or the loss of our earthly lives, either from the coronavirus or from something else?
As the man in the Parable reasoned falsely within himself, so do we reason falsely within ourselves. As we heard in the Old Testament Reading (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26), the wisdom of this world fails and is a vanity; true wisdom must come from outside of us, from God as He reveals Himself to us (Forke, CPR 29:3, p.33). In the Gospel Reading, the man in the crowd recognized Jesus as a judge or arbitrator but failed to recognize the magnitude of His judgeship. And, Jesus in the Parable showed Divine judgment with the requiring of the soul, as it were, on the Day of Judgment. God shows us our sinful nature and all of our actual sin, and so He shows us both the temporal death and the eternal damnation that we deserve, apart from the repentance and faith to which He calls us and which He thereby brings about in us. When we repent and believe, then God forgives us, for Jesus’s sake.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus says that one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions, and, in the Epistle Reading, St. Paul says that Christ is our life. Truly, “Your life is not in possessions but in Christ”. Trusting in wealth and boasting in the abundance of riches is misplaced, for, as the psalmist says, truly no one can ransom another, or give to God the price of one’s life, for the ransom of one’s life is costly and can never suffice, that one should live on forever and never see the pit (Psalm 49:6-9). But, Jesus Christ can and did, at least objectively, redeem all people. Jesus is God in human flesh, so He could die, and His death had sufficient worth to redeem all people. Out of God’s great love and mercy, Jesus took upon Himself our sins and the sins of the whole world. On the cross, Jesus died for us, in our place, the death that we otherwise would have deserved. And, Jesus’s resurrection from the dead showed that God the Father accepted Jesus sacrifice on our behalf. As the proverb says, riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death (Proverbs 11:4). When we repent and believe, then we are made righteous in Christ.
In the Gospel Reading, the man in the crowd sought from Jesus earthly goods, but we seek from Jesus heavenly goods, and Jesus gives them to us through His Word and Sacraments. For example, in Holy Baptism God makes us inheritors of His Kingdom. There at the Baptismal Font, as St. Paul said in the Epistle Reading, we have died and are raised with Christ; we have put off the old self and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. When we know and feel sins in our hearts, we privately confess them to our pastors for the sake of individual Holy Absolution, forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. And, so absolved, we are admitted to the Sacrament of the Altar, where bread is the Body of Christ given for us and wine is the Blood of Christ shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. At this Rail, we eat and drink and are merry, not because we have ample earthly goods laid up for many years, but we eat and drink and are merry because, in the words of today’s Collect, there are treasures in heaven that God has stored up for us for eternity.
As we with repentance and faith receive these heavenly goods from Jesus through His Word and Sacraments, God transforms us. As we prayed in the Collect, we rejoice and are thankful for the riches of His grace. In the words of today’s Psalm (Psalm 1100; antiphon v.3), we know that the Lord is God, that He made us and that we are His. As today’s Epistle Reading describes, our minds are set not on things that are on earth but on things that are above, and we put to death whatever is earthly in us. Regarding the abundance of the possessions that God has given to us, we give thought both to the work of God’s Kingdom here and elsewhere and to the needs of our neighbors, and we are mindful that God knows both our resources and our own needs, the costs of which are going up for us, even as the costs are going up for our congregation and the Church at large. And, as both today’s Old Testament and Gospel Readings spoke about leaving our earthly goods to others, St. Paul wrote to his apostolic coworker St. Timothy that we brought nothing into the world and cannot take anything out of it, but, if we have food and clothing, with those things we will be content (1 Timothy 6:7-8). We are rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, St. Paul continues, thus storing up treasure for ourselves so that we can take hold of that which is truly life (1 Timothy 6:18-19).
“Your life is not in possessions but in Christ”. No matter what the economy does or what happens to our income, retirement investments, or anything else, God provides for us. If the Lord wills, we may or may not relax as we have planned here and now (James 4:15). But, we certainly will rest, eat and drink, and rejoice in God’s presence in heaven for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +