Last week we had the parable of the rich fool who, after an unexpected windfall of abundance, decided to build new barns for himself to store all the excess. Today we have Jesus telling us to sell our possessions, give alms, focus on heavenly treasures, and do the work of the kingdom.
In his discussion and parables about money, Jesus isn’t necessarily trying to abolish financial systems or force people to give up all possessions and live in poverty. I mean . . . if you think God is calling you to that kind of life that’s one thing. But what Jesus is really doing here is challenging us to examine our lives and priorities.
I think we can all agree that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. And while those are easily agreed on and easily said, they are both difficult to follow. We tend to be selfish people – all the way from Adam and Eve who wanted to be like God, down through today to people who think only of themselves in both big and small ways. This selfishness not only takes us away from God, but it isolates us from our neighbor. If we really loved our neighbors as ourselves we would work to ensure all people had living wages, clean and safe water, access to medical care that wouldn’t lead to bankruptcy, good educations, and the list goes on.
In all of this Jesus is asking us to change our priorities. He’s asking us to actually find ways to put God first and to love our neighbors in thought, word, and deed. We can certainly think on these things – ways to draw closer to God and ways to actively love our neighbor. But simply thinking about things won’t make them happen.
The Koinonia Community, a Christian lay organization in Africa that promotes human development and community life, has a saying: You do not think your way into a new way of living – you live your way into a new way of thinking. We can see this in any number of ways: AA gives people a new way of living that gives them a new way of thinking about alcohol and addiction. In the Church, we say, “lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi,” which can be translated to, “the way we worship shapes what we believe and how we live.”
So again, in these passages Jesus is asking us to evaluate our lives, our relationship with God and money, and our priorities. If we believe that God is good, that God cares for those on the margins, that God loves his creation and all those who live therein, if that’s what we say and what we think about God, then Jesus is asking us to live that way. And if selling possessions and giving that money to help those in need is what it takes, then so be it. In a sense, Jesus is pleading with us to not be controlled by possessions and selfish desires, but by working for the kingdom of God.
We also hear some of this pleading in our reading from Isaiah. In this first section from Isaiah the prophet speaks of judgment and restoration for the people of Jerusalem. In short, if they live as God wants them to live, then Israel will live under God’s protection. If not, then they will be punished through, among other things, their defeat and exile at the hands of the Babylonians and Assyrians.
We see in this opening chapter that the people are charged with wrongdoing and insincere worship. The prophet proclaims that worshiping the Lord is more than going through the motions – it is allowing God to change your heart. The plea of God, therefore, is to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, and defend the orphan and widow.
What we see from Isaiah is that our offerings, our prayers, and our liturgy have no effect if they do not change us. If we make offerings, say prayers, and worship the God who loves justice, the alien, and those on the margins without incorporating those things into our own lives, then are we really allowing God to change our hearts and lives?
This is what Jesus is getting at when he tells his followers, “Do not be afraid – sell your possessions and give alms.”
Do we own possessions, or do they own us? Do we focus more on material things than on God? Do we spend more on things than we do on giving for the ministry and mission of the Church and God? And yes, I know we probably do what with mortgages, car payments, and other monthly bills. But are we giving God priority of place? Is our pledge based on our first fruits, or is it dug up from what’s left over?
This not only applies to individuals, but to our wider society as well.
Do we, as a society and as a nation, advocate for justice? Do our policies help or hurt children, women, aliens, and those on the margins? Do we have policies that work for the health and safety of our people . . . of all people . . . of God’s people, or do our policies aid only a select few?
God, through Isaiah, and Jesus as Son of God and Second Person of the Trinity, is asking us to evaluate our priorities. We are being challenged to live up to and into God’s justice.
Are we paying attention? Are we really willing to live into a new way of thinking? Or are we, like the people Isaiah was addressing and Jesus was speaking to, simply going through the motions?
May we have the courage to do the work of God and the Church, and in doing so, may how we live change the way we think.
Amen.
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