As I sit in my office on a cool, autumn day in the Midwest, the numbers continue to grow in my head.
Lottery numbers, that is. Thanks to several non-winning draws, the jackpots for a few of America’s major gambles are reaching astronomical (heavenly?) heights.
Mega-Millions Lottery could get us at least $1.6 BILLION dollars by Tuesday night; the Powerball Lottery could add on another $620 MILLION by Wednesday night – if only we draw the right numbers.
Just imagine …
And we do … we are probably all guilty of day-dreaming our way to wondering what life could be like with all that money. Diamonds, furs, trips … a life of eating, drinking and being merry! Would it even be possible to spend that much money on ourselves?
How interesting that God has given us today’s Gospel in the midst of a national hysteria of riches.
From Luke 12, the parable of the “rich fool” seems curiously timed on a day when many people are trying to decide how many lottery tickets to buy at the local gas station.
The story is all about the folly of “storing up riches” and making long-term plans on how to enjoy those riches – despite the fact that none of us knows when our lives will end.
Isn’t it interesting how many times our “rich fool” uses the words “I” and “my” in his remarks to our Lord? Let’s count them together …
‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”
I counted at least 10 variations.
As one theologian put it: “His egotistical concerns eliminate God and neighbor from sight.” All he cared about was himself.
Jesus ends the parable with this message from God to the man:
You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?
This reading always calls to mind that often-quoted phrase … “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die” which traces its roots back to the Old Testament, most prominently in the Book of Ecclesiastes (Chapter 9, verses 7-12).
It’s worth the time to find your Bible and read those chapters as the author takes us on a journey of philosophy about life and skepticism about some of the ways in which others chose to live out their faith. Many of the messages gleaned from this book are still valid today.
Ecclesiastes, for example, is a good reminder that religion needs to be kept honest and in touch with the reality of life as we experience it here on Earth. Yes, we must always keep our minds and hearts directed toward our heavenly reward – something which the author of Ecclesiastes did not believe existed – but we should also enjoy the modest pleasures of life which God has given us.
I find a call for balance in our lives when I read this book. While we cannot and should not constantly focus on the greedy acquisition of material things, we also cannot spend all our days cloaked in prayer and isolation from our friends, family and neighbors.
But back to the message of this day. In the first reading, Paul writes about the way we spent our lives before Christ – the “follies of the flesh” you might say.
Here is how he put it in his letter to the Ephesians:
You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.
All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
So, we cannot live like the “rich fool” who was so focused on his wealth that he wanted to build bigger barns to store more and more of his possessions.
But as we sit and dream about those lottery winnings, there is an even deeper and more beautiful message to those who would only continue reading a few more paragraphs from Luke in our Gospel today.
From this parable, Luke gives us one of my favorite passages that cuts straight to the heart of our tendency to worry about things … our coveting of the things we see our neighbors enjoy … our fears of the future.
Take a moment and read the passage from Luke 12: 22-34 …
Dependence on God.
He said to [his] disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear.
For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.
Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!
Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your life-span?
If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest?
Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore.
All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides.
Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
Words to truly live by.
So, good luck on those lotteries.
But if you wake up the next day and learn that you did not strike it rich … relax. God has given you another day to enjoy the gifts he has already given.
Or to put it another way: You fool, you have already won the lottery!
