Luke 12.32-40
‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves
‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’
Last week you’ll remember the parable of a man who had a good harvest of food, and he thinks to himself ‘what should I do? I know, I will tear down my small barns and make bigger barns to store my produce, then I will retire, eat drink and be merry.’ But God calls that person a fool, for you can’t take any of it with you to the other side of the grave, nor can you rely on them, because ultimately that is not what life is about. The pursuit of possessions, whether physical, social or spiritual only leads to unfulfillment and despair. The old miser comes to mind who hordes their wealth, it’s profoundly sad to see. They’ve done it all, they’ve made it all and they’re miserable. When we see how unsatisfied with life people are who seem to have it all, it’s obvious that they have got life back to front, and they have spent their whole lives in the pursuit of the wrong thing.
In our gospel this week, we see the consequences that follow from the idea of storing up treasures in heaven, rather than building bigger and bigger barns. ‘Sell your possessions, and give alms.’ Jesus says, ‘Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.’
Now, this is a hard teaching, sell your possessions. Scholars don’t think Jesus means ‘sell everything’ here, but rather, the things we have but we don’t actually need should be used to help others, particularly those with who are struggling.
But what on earth does this mean in our day when, pretty much everybody is struggling? When many in our nation will be in poverty come the wintertime with no way to heat their homes? We don’t all have figurative barns to store our worldly wealth, many people are just getting by.
How can we read this, ‘sell your possessions and give your alms to the poor’ and not say ‘Jesus, we don’t have anything to give!’ But the circumstances in Jesus’ day were not easy either. Much like today, wealth was concentrated amongst the few, and most people were very poor. So perhaps he can speak into our situation. And what he tells us to do is immensely practical; sell your surplus things, and give what we have to the poor. But how? Are we not prisoners of our circumstances, even if we wanted to be generous, we can’t as we can’t afford to be, right?
Victor Frankl was a famous Jewish psychologist, during the second world war he was imprisoned by the Nazis in concentration camps, he knew what it means to suffer and go through bad times.
In his book, man’s search for meaning Frankl speaks about some of the inmates he was with, and about how they changed after they were treated badly for a long time. They became as bad and as vicious as the prison guards and lost virtually all their humanity.
But there were others who didn’t. He says this; it’s a very long quote, but it’s worth saying verbatim as it really gets to the heart of the spiritual matter at steak in our readings I believe:
“The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become moulded into the form of the typical inmate.
Seen from this point of view, the mental reactions of the inmates of a concentration camp must seem more to us than the mere expression of certain physical and sociological conditions. … in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. … any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.”
I think this is accessing that great spiritual and indeed psychological truth, that our thoughts and decisions, to a large extent, determine our reality. We can decide how we respond to our circumstances. We can decide how to respond to Jesus’ call to be generous and store up treasures in heaven, we can decide, despite difficulties, to retain our humanity, and our generosity.
But let’s be real; to be generous when you’re struggling yourself, that’s tough. And yet, To still find a way to do good to others, to spend time with others, to give our care to others. that’s a life that’s worth living. That’s the courageous life. That’s a life that’s been changed, transformed by God. That’s a decision that everybody can make, not to become bitter and downhearted when things are tough, but to stand up and still seek to serve.
It’s so hard to do this, because when we live this way we lose our security in all things but God alone. And yet, if we choose this way to be, a new way of living opens up, a way of faith, of hope and of love. Jesus wants us to put our trust in him, and in him alone.
I know some people who have a lot of wealth, but they are generous with it. And they shine! They shine like the sun like the sun! You can see the joy coming from their faces, they know what it means to have live in all of its fullness. They know how to appreciate what they have been given. They know that have been blessed in this life, and they know that the point of life, is to be a blessing to others.
And I’ve seen the generosity that those who have little as well, who still give, when it’s hard, who know that their security is in God. The call of the Christian, is to pour out their lives for others. Yes, it’s hard, yes it’s costly, but If we do that we have made purses for ourselves which don’t wear out, we have got those treasures in heaven.
There is a reason why we look at the lives of the saints and want to emulate them. There’s a reason why the books where the hero gives everything and sacrifices themselves for the good of others resonate so strongly, it’s because deep down, we know that this is the way we can be. Saint Francis came from a wealthy background, and he pursued poverty, because he know that that is where spiritual blessings come from.
I have two more quotes to finish on, both from Roman Catholics, one is Carinal George of Chicago. He says this, ‘The only thing you take with you in the life to come, is what you’ve given away on earth’. Robert Barron, a bishop says this. ‘What you will carry into the next world, is the quality of your love’. And he’s absolutely right. Let’s prepared, with our lamps lit as Jesus tells us, be ready to enter the next world, knowing that we have loved others and loved them deeply, be ready for the master to arrive who will say to each one of us. ‘well done good and faithful servant, you loved, even when it was hard to. You know what it means to have life in all its fullness. May we have the courage to do the same.
Amen.