Sermon Archive

Get Rich Quick -- for God!

Fr. Mead | Choral Eucharist
Sunday, August 11, 2013 @ 11:00 am
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The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Almighty God, who hast given thy only Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly life: Give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily endeavor ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 15)


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Choral Eucharist
11:00 am
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Scripture citation(s): Luke 12:32-40

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In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Before we get to today’s Gospel, let’s see what comes before it. It is all in Saint Luke’s 12th chapter. Jesus is on his way up to Jerusalem to face what he knows will be his Passion and Death, but he is importuned by a man who wants Jesus to bid the man’s brother to divide the inheritance with him. Jesus refuses and warns about the danger of covetousness, “For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”[1] Jesus then tells a parable about a rich fool who thinks he can take his ease, when suddenly his soul is required by God. The man has been rich in things and poor towards God. This episode, which was last week’s Gospel, ends with Jesus admonishing his hearers therefore to be “rich towards God.”[2]

Following this episode is the well-known teaching of Jesus against anxiety over wherewithal: i.e., “what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear?” The birds of the air, the lilies of the field, and the grass are taken care of in due season by God, who knows we have need of wherewithal ourselves. We are of more value, and God will take care of us. In any case, we cannot add an inch to our stature or an hour to our life. Do not be anxious, says the Lord, but seek first God’s kingdom and all these things will be supplied.[3]

Today Jesus amplifies this teaching and puts it into the context of the shortness and uncertainty of life. He begins with “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Immediately he speaks of being “rich towards God,” selling our possessions and giving alms. Let’s stop here for a minute. Selling our possessions and giving alms has a specific meaning. I sell something and give the proceeds of the sale to the poor. But there is also a more general meaning that means letting go of my material goods, being free of bondage to them, so that I can seek and serve and give to others as the needs present themselves. This general principle of life brings its followers freedom from worldly anxiety and readiness to love their neighbor. This is what Jesus means when he then says “provide yourselves bags (purses) which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens which faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”

Hear the words of a great preacher on this text 1,500 years ago. “This is what that treasure brings about. Either through alms-giving it raises the heart of a man into heaven, or through greed it buries it in the earth. That is why Jesus said, ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ O man, send your treasure on, send it ahead into heaven, or else your God-given soul will be buried in the earth. Gold comes from the depth of the earth – the soul, from the highest heaven. Clearly it is better to carry the gold to where the soul resides than to bury the soul in the mine of the gold.”[4]

In Saint Luke’s Book of Acts, a certain Joseph, kinsman of Saint Mark and a rich man, sold land, laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet, and gained his nickname, “Son of Encouragement.” The Church honors him as Saint Barnabas.[5] This rich man became rich towards God.

As mentioned, this matter of being rich towards God by having purses that do not wear out and treasure in the heavens that never fails is a pressing matter. Watch, says Jesus, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. This refers not only to the coming of Jesus at the end of time to raise the dead and to judge the world. It refers also to each of us and the end of our time and our personal meeting with Christ – as in the parable of the Rich Fool: “Fool! Your soul is required of you this night! And the things you have gathered, whose will they be?” The man is a fool because while taking his ease and security with worldly stuff, he has done nothing to be rich towards God. Last week, as we were singing Isaac Watts’ hymn before the Gospel, his words leaped off the page at me, “See how we trifle here below, fond of these earthly toys: our souls, how heavily they go, to reach eternal joys.”[6]

Priests find themselves at hospital beds and death-beds, where striking revelations occur. I have seen bankruptcy of spirit, as one day many years ago I witnessed a family bickering over money and stuff as their matriarch lay dying. I’ve also seen wealth of soul, as when words and gestures of love, reconciliation, peace and gratitude are expressed in a context of prayer. These revelations manifest, at the end, a life’s work, either way. Which is it to be? What do our lives consist of: possession of stuff or possession of soul; of greed and insecurity, or of thanksgiving and generosity?

We do not know the hour when our Lord will come. But if we have been about the business of being rich towards God, his coming, and the hour of our death, will be a pleasant surprise. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.


[1] Lk 12:13-15

[2] Lk 12:16-21

[3] Lk 12:22-31

[4] St. Peter Chrysologus in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT III, Luke, p. 211

[5] Acts 4:33-37. Barnabas means Son of Encouragement or Consolation.

[6] The Hymnal 1982, 510, “Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, stanza 2.