Homily Notes 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2019

          “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.”  We are familiar with this beatitude of Jesus but his words lead questions like these.  Can a follower of Jesus be wealthy we might ask?  Is it wealth that is a sin or is how we relate to our possessions that is problematic?  Jesus talked about wealth and poverty more than he talked about sexual morality, yet most Christians concentrate far more on the personal sexual morality than we do about how we handle what we own.  Preaching about how people handle their money is really dangerous.

            A Russian parable is told of a guardian angel who wept before God because the wealthy woman in her charge had ended up in hell.  God was moved with pity for the angel.  God asked, “Is there any act of charity that the woman did that would make her merit redemption.”  The angel replied, “Yes, one time she gave an old dress that she owned to a beggar that came to her door.”

            God asked the angel to go find the dress.  Once the angel found it the Lord said stand at the precipice of hell and drape the dress over the side into the hell.  Pull the woman out.  The angel did, as instructed. The woman caught hold of the dress the angel began to pull her out. But other poor souls in hell grabbed hold of her legs so that they could be pulled out.  The woman who had been wealthy in life kicked, she yelled, she tried to rid herself of the other suffering souls who held on to her. She kept screaming, “This is my dress, it is my way out of hell. Let go.”  Finally, the dress tore in two.  The woman fell back into hell for all eternity.

            What was the sin of the man in the Gospel parable today?  We would say that the man in question who build the larger barns to save his grain was a virtuous man.  He was smart.  We have all kinds of grain bins around the countryside in central Illinois. In a year like this year maybe the grain in those bins is going to be what keeps a farmer in business.  The farmer who has used up all their resources is probably going to be on the brink of bankruptcy. 

            What is the problem?  Maybe it is a very subtle issue that we do not pick up on.  Some once pointed out that no parable that Jesus told is so full of words like I, me, my and mine the parable of the rich fool.  The man in the parable was completely self-centered.  The problem is not having an abundance of wealth, but it is believing that we are more virtuous because of our wealth. The problem is believing that we are more deserving than others.  The difficulty is not seeing that possessions are blessings from God.  Greed is not having a lot, but it is an attitude about what we own.

            A story is told about a dying man who told his wife that he wanted to take all his money with him when he died.  His wife argued with him, but he made her promise that she would put all his wealth in a drawer in his casket when he died.  The man did die. 

            His wife told a good friend about her husbands wishes.  The friend was shocked.  She wondered what the man’s wife would do.  The day of the funeral day came.  Before the casket was closed there was a final viewing.  The women walked by together.  The man’s wife took an envelope out of her purse. She put it in the drawer in the coffin.  Her friend was dumbfounded.  At the funeral luncheon she asked the man’s wife.  “Did you really put all his money in the coffin with him.”  The widow said, “Well, I wrote him a check.  If he can cash it, he can have everything.”

            What do we want to do with the money we save?  For many people it is all about doing things that I enjoy.  For others there is a spirit of philanthropy.  What brings us more satisfaction?  When we spend our money on a new toy? We may have some passing pleasure, but like a child, big people can only have so many toys.  We tire of them, whether that is a new electronic devise or an extra vehicle.  Christian teaching would save when we give our wealth to charity so that others can benefit from it there is a lasting satisfaction.

            The man in the parable did not use is grain to feed the hungry.  He used it for his own security.  He died with all his wealth piled up around him. What if he would have used his grain to feed the hungry?  Certainly, Jesus would have not held him up for ridicule, but as an example of what Christian living is all about.