August 4, 2013
Stephens City UMC
Scriptures: Luke 12:13-21
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14
We
don’t know exactly how old the rich man in our Luke text was. But it is clear that he seems to rely on
riches as the controlling factor in his life.
We know what the rich man didn’t know – the words of Jesus in verse
15: “Beware and be on your guard against
every form of greed, for not even when one has abundance does his life consist
of his possessions.” He also didn’t know
that he was near the end of his life, but in verse 20, God says to him, “You
fool! This very night, your soul is
required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?”
Oscar
Wilde once said that there are only two tragedies in life: not getting what you want, and getting what
you want. Sometimes we do get what we
want, only to realize that we are still empty.
We might ask the same question Peggy Lee asks in the song of some years
ago, “Is That All There Is?” We realize
that we have a need for something more.
Tradition
states that Solomon wrote the Song of Songs in his youth, Proverbs in middle
age and Ecclesiastes in old age, as he looked back and reflected on his
life. Solomon had everything a person
could possibly want – he was the king, he had unlimited power, lands, riches,
wives and concubines. He was reputed to
be the wisest man in the world. He
seemingly had it all, but at the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes, the
Preacher (Solomon) says, “Vanitiy of vanities; all is vanity.”
If
you are a teenager or a young adult, you may have a little trouble identifying
with Solomon in this passage. But as we
get older, we may look back on our lives and realize that we’ve been caught up
in making money or rising to the top of our professions, only to ask if it’s
all been worth it. We may ask, “Is that
all there is?” Like Solomon reflecting
on his life, there comes a time when we want more, when we may realize there is
a void in our life which cannot be filled by possessions, but only by God.
In
Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon recounts the things he has done with his
life, and finally in verse 11 says, “Thus I considered all my activities which
my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold, all was vanity
and striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.”
This
is not to say that we shouldn’t plan for the future, or work to take care of
our families – of course we should. But
the question is, Will our quest for material security get in the way of our
relationship with God?
In
the 10th chapter of Mark, Jesus tells the story of the rich young
ruler. The young man comes to Jesus and
asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He reminds Jesus that he is familiar with all
the religious rules and texts and he has kept all the commandments. Jesus responds by saying, “One thing you lack
– go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have
eternal life, and come follow me.” Mark
says that on hearing these words, the young man’s face fell, and he went away
grieved, because he owned much property.
Jesus concludes by saying , “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to
enter the kingdom of God.”
The
rich young ruler’s problem was not that he was rich, but that he refused to put
God above his possessions. He wanted
more out of life, but he was not willing to give up anything to get it.
In
the June 25 Metro section of The
Washington Post, there was an article entitled, “Praying to an Imaginary
God.” The story was about a man named
Sigfried Gold, who got down on his knees every night in his bedroom, lowered
his head and prayed . Not unusual,
except that Sigfried Gold is an atheist.
Four years ago, he found himself unhappy, drifting from his family and battling
a food addiction. He needed to change
his life. So he joined a 12-step
program, and like many 12-step programs, he had to acknowledge a higher power
in his life. So he invented an imaginary
‘god’ to pray to. Today he is healthy
again, happier in his relationships and free from a life of listlessness and
dissatisfaction.
The
need for a higher power in our lives is so strong that we will invent one if we
have to, or we may give that place of honor to something else – money, power or
prestige.
Rabbi
Harold Kushner, who wrote a book called When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t
Enough, says that the existence of
God is not the issue; the issue is whether or not God makes any difference in
our lives. We can believe that God
exists, but if God does not make a difference in our lives, we live as
functional atheists.
If
we stopped reading Ecclesiastes here, we might go away pretty depressed. But keep on reading. Solomon finally discovers the secret to life
and he states it in the final chapter, chapter 12, verse 13: “The conclusion,
when all has been heard, is this – fear God and keep his commandments, because
this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment,
everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes
calls us to reject the popular materialistic understanding of life and live our
lives on a deeper level . This world, our bodies and our possessions, are
transitory. What do you have that won’t
pass away?
St. Augustine, in his Confessions, put it this way: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”