CHOICEFULNESS

Medora Gordon,
Assistant for Pastoral Care

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Luke 12:13-21

Have you ever made a bad decision? Of course, I myself never have, but I have heard that there are people who do! That is exactly what the rich man in this morning’s gospel did. He made a bad decision. On the face of it, building larger barns to store his bumper crop, so he can take it easy and enjoy himself, looks like a good decision. But, in the eyes of God, it misses the mark!

This morning’s gospel tells us the story of a remarkably fortunate man who, on the very day that he is savoring his prospects for a long and luxurious life, comes instead to his life’s end. This lesson is one of Luke’s example stories. The writer of Luke used stories like this throughout the gospel as an example of a warning to the reader. Indeed, the verse that comes just before this parable is: "Watch out! Guard against greed in all its forms; after all, possessions, even in abundance, don’t guarantee someone life."Well, there we are! All set up for a sermon on not hoarding our stuff right? Wrong!

Most of the Jesus scholars believe that this parable is certainly in Jesus’ style, is likely something that Jesus would have actually said, and was widely circulated independently in the Book of Thomas before Luke subsumed it into his gospel writing. But, instead of being a story about the dangers of collecting possessions, this story is really an example of an inappropriate response to the workings of God in the world.

The parable of the farmer building new barns is, in fact, one of a set of five example stories that show how people make inappropriate decisions:

The first story is the parable of the money held in trust – Luke 19. In this story a rich landowner, going on an extended trip, entrusts his fortune to some of his slaves to invest. When the land owner gets back, one slave says "See master, I have invested your fortune and it has made money 10 times over." The second slave says "I have invested your money and your investment has multiplied by five times." The third slave comes in and says "Master, here is your money. I kept it tucked away safe in a handkerchief. You see, I was afraid, so I did not invest your money." The master rewards the first two slaves, and takes the money away from the third. Showing us, by example, that fearing to live and work in God’s kingdom is not an appropriate response to God’s call.

The second parable is about the unforgiving slave. Now this slave has a huge debt that is forgiven him by his compassionate master. But this same man, for whom much has been forgiven, refuses to forgive a fellow slave who is beholden to him. Another example of a bad decision. The master summons the unforgiving servant and "Hands him over to those in charge of punishment until he pays back everything he owes." Matthew says that this is an example of what God will do unless we find it in our hearts to forgive every one of our brothers and sisters.

The third parable is the story of the Pharisee and the Toll Collector. This is the story of two men who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood up and prayed, "I thank you God that I am not like everybody else, thieving, unjust, adulterous, and I am especially glad that I am not like that toll collector over there!" But, the toll collector stood off by himself and didn’t even dare to look us. He struck his chest and muttered, "God have mercy on me, sinner that I am." Another poor choice on the Pharisee’s part. The moral of this story is that the toll collector went back to his house acquitted of his sins, but the Pharisee did not. "For those who promote themselves will be demoted, and those who demote themselves will be promoted in the kingdom of God."

And the final example of a bad decision is the response of the elder brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son. You remember, the younger son goes off and squanders his inheritance in a far away land, while the elder brother stays home and helps the father. When the younger brother comes back the father is so glad to see his youngest son that he throws a party. The older brother gets mad and stomps off. The appropriate response is joy not anger. Joy in God’s kingdom when the lost are found.

So you see, the farmer, like both the useless and unforgiving servants, the earnest Pharisee, and the elder brother fails to respond appropriately to the situation. Don’t we often do the same? We don’t forgive the person standing next to us, even though we ourselves are forgiven. We are often afraid to go forward into God’s kingdom. We think that if we store up enough money our lives will not be required of us. These parables are not about people from 2000 years ago, these are parables about us.

My personal favorite is the Pharisee in the temple saying, "Boy, I am sure glad that I am not like that guy. I don’t steal, or ever act unjustly. Actually, thank you God for making me – just about perfect! But we all know that God’s world doesn’t work like that. Obsession with our possessions, lack of forgiveness, or blowing our own horn, gets us exactly no place with God. But we do it all the same. We make these crazy, awful decisions, and then sometimes go back and say "Oh God, what could I have been thinking?"

The Rev. Becca Barnett, who is presiding here this morning, in addition to being a priest is a combination Psychotherapist and Spiritual Director. She calls what she does "Spiritual Integration," which is a wonderful way of figuring out why we do what we do! Becca has this word that she uses. The word is "Choicefulness." For, you see, our decisions are all about our choices, and often those choices are driven by our emotions. Maybe, the rich farmer stored all his grain in big new barns because he was afraid to live without it. The useless slave says he was afraid to invest in God’s kingdom. The unforgiving slave harbored so much anger that he could not forgive his fellow slave. The Pharisee, in his heart was probably massively insecure, mostly out of fear I suspect, but his decisions come off as smug and superior. Finally the elder brother was angry with his younger brother, so anger was driving his decisions.

Most of us experience three powerful emotions. Anxiety (or fear), Guilt, and Anger. We often make the very worst decision when one or more of these emotions are in play. Anger is usually the easiest emotion to spot. Consider road rage, or the choice of violence, screaming at someone we love, or choosing to ignore another because we are angry over some imagined slight or difference.

Fear is a little harder to see, but it drives a lot of us. Fear of going out into the world. Or fear of making our feelings known. We are afraid that we will somehow not measure up, or fear of speaking the truth in love because we are afraid that someone might abuse us in return. We forgo loving one another, or intimacy, because we are afraid of being abandoned or of that love not being returned.

And then there is guilt. Often the most difficult to assess, because guilt is so sneaky. We throw money at someone or something because secretly we feel that we have failed somehow. Or we try to buy love because we didn’t give love when it was most needed. We can go on and on, but, as Becca says, it is ok to make the decision one way or another, but be aware of what is driving the decision. Maybe we do need to build a new barn, but if it fear of dying that is driving us to store away goods on earth, then it is probably not a good decision. Perhaps we choose not to have communication with someone who has hurt us. We are not required after all to be in relationship with one who abuses us, but if it is anger that is driving that decision, then it is probably not an appropriate response to God’s call. Our lives with God are all about our "choicefulness;" our ability to make appropriate responses to God’s calling.

There are three things that we have to do to be Christians, and these parables give us examples of all three. First we are called to love and serve God before all else. The farmer put his own well being first and that is not an appropriate decision. Second, we are called to love and forgive one another. The unforgiving slave does not forgive his brother and is punished in response. Finally, we are to love God, and one another. But here is the trick; we are called to love God and one another in community. The parables of the useless slave, the Pharisee, and the toll collector, and the elder brother in the prodigal son show us examples of what not to do. We are to step out and not be afraid. We are not to puff ourselves up, and we are not to respond in anger.

I wish that I could leave you this morning with the thought that we have all the time in the world to be "choiceful." But the bible tells us that this very night our lives could be demanded of us. There is urgency to Christianity, an urgency that keeps us always turning outward. Not only are we called to make appropriate decisions, we are called to make them on the run, in all areas of our lives. God is with us always, and we are called to choose God’s ways right now, this very day.

Amen.