Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Soundings, a public affairs presentation of iHeartMedia. Each
week we have an ecumenical discussion and reflection on the
scriptures and how they apply to life and the world.
Good morning. My name is Shannon Jamal Hollomans, and I
am the pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ
in Lowell, Michigan, about twenty five miles east of Grand Rapids.
(00:23):
Two of our regulars are here with me this morning,
and I will invite them to introduce themselves, starting with
Father Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hi, my name is Father Mike. I'm a Polish father
Roman Catholic priest serving at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew
in the Hardside neighborhood of Grand Rapids.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good morning.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I am Reverend Ruth Belle Olson, and I serve as
the senior minister at Mayflower Congregational Church on the southeast
side of Grand Rapids.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Good morning to you both. Good morning, Good morning. So
we are in the midst of summer, and today is
the beginning of August. What are we? What are we
thinking as we as we journey through this summer as
people of faith? What are we thinking? You know, it's
(01:14):
it's a good time. For vacation, to hit the reset
button to refresh. And I feel like it's in those
moments that God sort of speaks to us and gives
us some encouragements, uh maybe a charge going forward in
the ministry year ahead. And I'm just curious, you know,
what you're hearing in this season, what you're thinking about,
(01:37):
what you're asking God to give you clarity on in
this season. I think all of us have have different
things going on. I know for me, you know, just
looking at how as our church community starts a ministry
year without our youth director who passed away last year,
(01:57):
We're thinking about, you know, how do we go forward?
How do we honor her well? But but how is
God really calling us to focus our hearts and our
minds on how we serve as a community together in
the year ahead. We're really community minded group and Lowell
And for me, that's that's really where my heart has
(02:19):
been lately in my mind, you know, asking God, how
do we as a community sort of connect and work
together to seek God and God's purposes in this season?
But I'm wondering about all of you, what are you
what are you thinking about?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
No? I love that, I love I love your community
theme and having been at your church, Shannon, I can
picture that because you have so many other organizations that
meet in your building and it is such a hub
for Lowell.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
So that's beautiful picture.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Well, we have a brand new associate minister at our church,
so there's a kind of energy around growth and learning.
He comes with tremendous experience, a tremendous wealth of experience
in teaching and teaching and leading, and so we've been.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Putting together our fall. It's like back to school.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
You know, I really don't like going to the store,
and it's practically June now, it's ratterally in June, he
start seeing the back to school school supplies and the
kreans and the pencils and stuff. But there is some
excitement around that planning that has to be done in
the summer for the fall, and so we've been kind
of dreaming and scheming about sort of what are some
(03:38):
of the learning opportunities and you know, kind of different
different classes and different kind of teaching opportunities. So so
that's kind of been the growth mode.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
We're in sort of growth mode.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
That's a general I'm being very general, but you know,
bouncing around ideas, lots and lots of ideas, but now
landing the plane with some of them has been really fun.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, for me, the the last couple of summers were
fairly busy, but for whatever reason, this summer is quieter,
and so it's giving me the opportunity to look at
the bigger picture of things. As you said, Pastor Shannon,
(04:22):
that this is this can be a time to sort
of reflect and renew, and I think, yeah, it gives
me rather than go from like event to event or
project a project, it's been a time to step back
and see where God is working like amongst all of it,
(04:42):
and it's been good. And so part of that is
also kind of changing around some leadership. And in my
case it's not like on the staff, but it's it's
it's parishioners who are are leaders among their their peers
and and trying to always be sort of refreshing.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Another in a phrase in Spanish is renovaire las angres,
which is basically to uh, to bring in new blood
or to renew renew the blood, I guess, and uh,
And that's you know, it's an important thing for all
of us to do to kind of like you know,
(05:29):
I think summer allows us to try out new things,
to go explore, to go on vacation, and just like
to refresh ourselves. And we're in we're uh this coming
weekend where we're doing a youth camping trip, and I
was talking to some parents about it recently and they said,
(05:49):
you know that's for the youth, like high schoolers, this
is a time, these are these kinds of things are
very memorable for them. That like when they get away,
when they go away for a weekkend with the church,
that like looking back on these years, that's something that
like sticks out. And so I think, you know, it's
important to give them a kind of a spiritual experience
(06:14):
that that sticks out well in their minds that it
wasn't just about going and having fun, you know, as
as good and important that is, but seeing where God
is moving in their lives, which sometimes we need to
get away from the church, like the church building. We
think God kind of moves within the church and around
(06:35):
the church and not necessarily like in other places. So
I think it takes to like getting somewhere else and
seeing that God is working in our lives there as well,
that we can see, oh he really is. He really
is with us no matter where we are, whether it's
in the church or not. And you know, I think
going away for all of us, going on vacation and
(06:56):
going to different places and seeing God in those things
also helps us give us a bigger picture. It isn't
just you know, the hour on Sunday were at church,
but we can see Him in so many places.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Our youth group recently returned from a week long trip
in the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, and it's a
trip they've been doing for thirty years. Every other year
we alternate between you know, a more service and learning
focus trip and then the other year we go to
the Boundary Waters. And I was talking with someone at
(07:35):
church yesterday about it, and he was one of the
leaders who went on the trip, and just said how
powerful it is that we've been doing this experience as
a community together. There are now leaders going who went
when they were high school students, and the ways that
the things they learned when they first started going that
(07:56):
they're still doing now the same way, because that's really
the best way to do it.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
To me, it was just a powerful testimony to as
a community when we seek to follow God. Together, we
can see God at work all around us, right in
nature and in all kinds of surprising places that we
don't often think about or are cognizant of the way
God is at work there. But God's really inviting us
(08:23):
to see again and again the ways that God is working,
especially in our communities and in the beautiful world that
is around us. Well, let's get into our passage for today.
We are in the book of Luke. We are reading
today from chapter twelve, verses thirteen through twenty one. Starting
(08:44):
at verse thirteen, someone in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher,
tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.
That Jesus said to him, friend, who set me to
be a judge or an 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
(09:07):
in the abundance of possessions. Then Jesus 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 all my goods. And I will say
(09:30):
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
(09:51):
store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.
This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks
speed to good So what do we think of the story.
It's such a hammer, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
It's just like here we go, not really nuanced or no.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
My my immediate thought is it reminds me the here
at our parish, the well the pastor has said like, oh,
we don't have enough storage space. We have different like
different things. We're acquiring things that are good, but like
we don't have in place to store them. And it's like, oh,
we need to find we need to like build a
(10:35):
shed or something like. I say like, like, no, we
just need to like clean out our storage space, like
stuff that we don't use, that we don't need. And
I think, uh, Yeah, I don't know if that gets
really to the heart of this a parable, but you know,
(10:56):
I think there's some, uh, there's some truth to the
like the more that we the more that we store,
the less I mean, in a very practical sense, like
the more that we store, the less likely I'm going
to actually.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Find what I need.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
When I when I want it, and I'll forget that
it's even there. So the greater and greater the barns
that we store doesn't necessarily mean greater treasures. It could
really just mean greater a greater amount of junk that
that only distracts us from as as the Terrible says,
(11:35):
what's actually important to God? And so I mean, I
think we all we can all do that in some ways.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I'm kind of curious, you know, sort of going going
back a little bit in the chapter. You know, we
start at verse thirteen, someone in the crowd said to him,
So I'm like, okay, where where where's the crowd gathering?
Like what's happening is out of the blue way of
someone in the crowd yelling. So I when you go
back to the very beginning of the chapter, it says, meanwhile,
(12:05):
when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so thousands of people,
so that they trampled on one another.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
And then Jesus starts speaking to the disciples. There's this
whole you know. Then all the way through to chapter
verse twelve, it's Jesus talking directly to the disciples about instructions,
very specific instructions.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
But it's in this.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Mail you of thousands of people trampling on each other.
And I'm picturing, like, you know, the the Hindu festival
recently where people were dying of trampling.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
You're thinking of like the.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Soccer stadiums where like people literally out trampled to death.
Maybe I'm being hyperbolic, but right, thousands of people and
it says trampling and I don't know what the other
translation and save for that word, but translate that word.
But and then one guy shouts out, tell my brother
(13:08):
to divine the inheritance.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
What idiot?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
You have one question, Rabbi Jesus, And that's the one
you yell out of thousands of people. Yeah. Right, So
when I said, like, this is kind of a hammer, like,
Jesus says, like, seriously, I kind of see him.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
It sounds like.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
He's just what be on your guard against greed, like
he kind of does come at a hammer because you're.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Sort of like, this is the stupidest question ever.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Really, this is what you want Jesus to address.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Like why?
Speaker 4 (13:39):
But I think again cultural lens that the rabbis really
did kind of do some legal work, right, they really
did sort of settle disputes. Yeah, this era, so it
wouldn't have been necessarily uncommon for a rabbi to get
(14:00):
into the weeds with people and things like inheritance. But
you know, here Jesus is pouring to the disciples, you know,
all these specific instructions, and then one guy in the crowd,
I don't know, I just picture people looking at him
like really, so I kind of I just right out
of the gate. I'm like, what would be my one
(14:20):
question for Jesus if I'm in a crowd of thousands
and somehow I get the microphone.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, would it be.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Why came my brothers?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
But I want my fair share?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know kind of?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Is that the preoccupation? I don't know, that'special response to this.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, And I imagine it. I imagine his brother standing
right there, like I imagine his mother was probably following
Jesus as well, and his brother looks over at him
and goes, what seriously you again?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
That that again?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah? But jesus response is interesting, right, he says, man
who appoint to me a judge or an arbitr between you?
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Jesus is like, what why are you asking me this?
And then he gets right to the point again of greed, right,
Like the fact that you're even asking me this in
front of all these people shows what your real motivation is.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And Jesus is.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Clear, yeah, which which I always find funny when people
say the Bible is very clear, and I always say, no, Actually,
the Bible isn't clear on a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
We know that God is love, that's clear, and other things.
But this one, Jesus, I think, is really vocal and
consistent about when it comes to greed and to acquiring
possessions and wealth, that Jesus was was quite clear on.
I have no reservations about saying that.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
But I don't think I don't think. I don't think
Jesus was critical of people who are good, shrewd business
owners or I don't think eat, drink and be merry.
I mean, people thought Jesus was quite the partier. You know,
I don't think I don't think there's judgment against like
being a good farmer or building barns. I mean, I
(16:12):
don't think the judgment is that you.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Can't have stuff, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Or you can't relax, you can't enjoy the fruits of
your labor.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I think you can.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
You can go too far to say that that there's
judgment of or being rich. But it's I think that
you see in this the rich man. It's all the
personal pronouns. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
It says he.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Thought to himself, what should I do? I will do this,
I will put right. And he has all this abundance,
and it never occurred to him to share. It never
occurred to him to consult the people in his community.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It never occur, Right, I.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods
laid up for many years. There wasn't any conversation with family, friends, community.
Who knows could have been people hungry in his community.
Likely probably highly likely in this parable, I'm going to
store up all these things for myself. There's such a
(17:18):
lack of community and relationship in this parable.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, that's kind of that's kind of.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Glaring to me when I see this. Yeah, that's not
being rich toward setting up treasure for yourself and not
being rich toward God the things that God values, which
would be others relationship.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, I don't know. Did that stand out to you
guys too? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
And I think money and possessions, you know, they're not
inherently bad, like you said, right, but but they do
have a way of quickly becoming priorities, becoming idols in
our lives, ahead of God and ahead of community and
ahead of the things that God is doing. And I
think that's really what Jesus is warning against, right, not
(18:09):
that those things and themselves are bad, but that the
way we put them ahead of God is dangerous.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
How about you, father Mike, what do you think?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I like what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I think that, yeah, money and possessions are not bad things.
But I think the one key thing to remember is
that they're actually not really are things. They're gods, and
He allows us to use them for a period of time,
and he asks that we use them well and prudently.
(18:45):
And so I think we all have this temptation, I think,
to think that we've earned it, that this is our
thing and this belongs to us and not to others.
But I mean, all of greation is God's creation. All
of it belongs to him, and he just asks to
be good stewards of it. And I think in this
(19:06):
particular parable, he says, well, you're you're you're tearing down
barns and making bigger barns to sort up your treasures.
And like you both said, you're not like it. At
least there's no indication that you've considered somebody else, that
you've considered that the the success that you've had or
(19:31):
the fruits of of what you've done have any relation
to anybody else. That that again is this thought that
this is mine because I've earned it, But really that
he's he or she has just is producing through the
gifts that God has given him or her for the
(19:53):
good of for the good of all. And I think
you know and and he says that you know you're
not You're not, in my translation, you're not rich in
what matters to God. And I think that's in relationship.
And we know from from Matthew twenty five that that
(20:14):
Jesus says that he is in a very particular special
way he is with those who are most needy. And
so I think when he says like you're not, you're
not paying attention to things that are important to me.
That is like the people that I identify with in
a very special way. You're thinking about yourself, thinking that
(20:36):
these possessions are yours, not that their mind, and I'm
asking you to care for others with it. And yeah,
I think that's what I take away. And and yes,
it is pretty black as a child. Challenge to me,
challenge to all us, I think, to recognize the things
that I that I have, even this even this laptop
(20:59):
that using for this zoom call, is not really mine.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I'm just I'm just.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Asked to be a good steward of it, to use
it to do my ministry well, and to connect with
others well. And that's hard to remember sometimes, but it's
it's it's freeing in a way to remember that and
to utilize what we have for the good of good
of others.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, and really the foiled the opposite of greed
is generosity. Right. I think it's so fascinating that you know,
God says you fool this, excuse me, this very night.
Your life is being demanded of you, and the things
that you have prepared.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Who's will they be.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
To think that this horde of grain or whatever, this
horde in the barn that was kept perhaps from the
community or from the extended family. The man or the
farmer dies, the rich man dies, and it goes right
to the very people he had ordered it from, right
(22:05):
the distribution of wealth, or right the great or.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Good of all people.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
God's like, you know, You're gonna die, and it's gonna
go right to the people you withheld it from. And
if you've been generous the joy right. We all know
that when we're generous and hold our things lucy and
we share the joy, the joy that comes with that.
Like this man, this rich man had been robbed of that. Yeah,
so you know he was robbed of that joy.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
M Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Any other closing thoughts on this passage good challenge, Well,
as we continue to refresh and renew and be restored
this summer. I love that image, Father Mike, of New
Blood that you talked about. I hope that each of
us will take some time to focus on on what
(22:55):
God's calling us to do in the year ahead and
also right now the ways that we can be rich
toward God and how we steward the gifts that we've
been given, those things that God shares with us for
a time, but as you both have mentioned, are ultimately
Gods and God's alone and on behalf of Father. Mike
(23:15):
and Pastor Ruth. Thank you for joining us today, and
we pray that you have a blessed Sabbath day.
Welcome to Soundings, a public affairs presentation of iHeartMedia. Each
week we have an ecumenical discussion and reflection on the
scriptures and how they apply to life and the world.
Good morning. My name is Shannon Jamal Hollomans, and I
am the pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ
in Lowell, Michigan, about twenty five miles east of Grand Rapids.
(00:23):
Two of our regulars are here with me this morning,
and I will invite them to introduce themselves, starting with
Father Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hi, my name is Father Mike. I'm a Polish father
Roman Catholic priest serving at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew
in the Hardside neighborhood of Grand Rapids.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good morning.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I am Reverend Ruth Belle Olson, and I serve as
the senior minister at Mayflower Congregational Church on the southeast
side of Grand Rapids.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Good morning to you both. Good morning, Good morning. So
we are in the midst of summer, and today is
the beginning of August. What are we? What are we
thinking as we as we journey through this summer as
people of faith? What are we thinking? You know, it's
(01:14):
it's a good time. For vacation, to hit the reset
button to refresh. And I feel like it's in those
moments that God sort of speaks to us and gives
us some encouragements, uh maybe a charge going forward in
the ministry year ahead. And I'm just curious, you know,
what you're hearing in this season, what you're thinking about,
(01:37):
what you're asking God to give you clarity on in
this season. I think all of us have have different
things going on. I know for me, you know, just
looking at how as our church community starts a ministry
year without our youth director who passed away last year,
(01:57):
We're thinking about, you know, how do we go forward?
How do we honor her well? But but how is
God really calling us to focus our hearts and our
minds on how we serve as a community together in
the year ahead. We're really community minded group and Lowell
And for me, that's that's really where my heart has
(02:19):
been lately in my mind, you know, asking God, how
do we as a community sort of connect and work
together to seek God and God's purposes in this season?
But I'm wondering about all of you, what are you
what are you thinking about?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
No? I love that, I love I love your community
theme and having been at your church, Shannon, I can
picture that because you have so many other organizations that
meet in your building and it is such a hub
for Lowell.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
So that's beautiful picture.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Well, we have a brand new associate minister at our church,
so there's a kind of energy around growth and learning.
He comes with tremendous experience, a tremendous wealth of experience
in teaching and teaching and leading, and so we've been.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Putting together our fall. It's like back to school.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
You know, I really don't like going to the store,
and it's practically June now, it's ratterally in June, he
start seeing the back to school school supplies and the
kreans and the pencils and stuff. But there is some
excitement around that planning that has to be done in
the summer for the fall, and so we've been kind
of dreaming and scheming about sort of what are some
(03:38):
of the learning opportunities and you know, kind of different
different classes and different kind of teaching opportunities. So so
that's kind of been the growth mode.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
We're in sort of growth mode.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
That's a general I'm being very general, but you know,
bouncing around ideas, lots and lots of ideas, but now
landing the plane with some of them has been really fun.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, for me, the the last couple of summers were
fairly busy, but for whatever reason, this summer is quieter,
and so it's giving me the opportunity to look at
the bigger picture of things. As you said, Pastor Shannon,
(04:22):
that this is this can be a time to sort
of reflect and renew, and I think, yeah, it gives
me rather than go from like event to event or
project a project, it's been a time to step back
and see where God is working like amongst all of it,
(04:42):
and it's been good. And so part of that is
also kind of changing around some leadership. And in my
case it's not like on the staff, but it's it's
it's parishioners who are are leaders among their their peers
and and trying to always be sort of refreshing.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I guess.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Another in a phrase in Spanish is renovaire las angres,
which is basically to uh, to bring in new blood
or to renew renew the blood, I guess, and uh,
And that's you know, it's an important thing for all
of us to do to kind of like you know,
(05:29):
I think summer allows us to try out new things,
to go explore, to go on vacation, and just like
to refresh ourselves. And we're in we're uh this coming
weekend where we're doing a youth camping trip, and I
was talking to some parents about it recently and they said,
(05:49):
you know that's for the youth, like high schoolers, this
is a time, these are these kinds of things are
very memorable for them. That like when they get away,
when they go away for a weekkend with the church,
that like looking back on these years, that's something that
like sticks out. And so I think, you know, it's
important to give them a kind of a spiritual experience
(06:14):
that that sticks out well in their minds that it
wasn't just about going and having fun, you know, as
as good and important that is, but seeing where God
is moving in their lives, which sometimes we need to
get away from the church, like the church building. We
think God kind of moves within the church and around
(06:35):
the church and not necessarily like in other places. So
I think it takes to like getting somewhere else and
seeing that God is working in our lives there as well,
that we can see, oh he really is. He really
is with us no matter where we are, whether it's
in the church or not. And you know, I think
going away for all of us, going on vacation and
(06:56):
going to different places and seeing God in those things
also helps us give us a bigger picture. It isn't
just you know, the hour on Sunday were at church,
but we can see Him in so many places.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Our youth group recently returned from a week long trip
in the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, and it's a
trip they've been doing for thirty years. Every other year
we alternate between you know, a more service and learning
focus trip and then the other year we go to
the Boundary Waters. And I was talking with someone at
(07:35):
church yesterday about it, and he was one of the
leaders who went on the trip, and just said how
powerful it is that we've been doing this experience as
a community together. There are now leaders going who went
when they were high school students, and the ways that
the things they learned when they first started going that
(07:56):
they're still doing now the same way, because that's really
the best way to do it.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
To me, it was just a powerful testimony to as
a community when we seek to follow God. Together, we
can see God at work all around us, right in
nature and in all kinds of surprising places that we
don't often think about or are cognizant of the way
God is at work there. But God's really inviting us
(08:23):
to see again and again the ways that God is working,
especially in our communities and in the beautiful world that
is around us. Well, let's get into our passage for today.
We are in the book of Luke. We are reading
today from chapter twelve, verses thirteen through twenty one. Starting
(08:44):
at verse thirteen, someone in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher,
tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.
That Jesus said to him, friend, who set me to
be a judge or an 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
(09:07):
in the abundance of possessions. Then Jesus 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 all my goods. And I will say
(09:30):
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
(09:51):
store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.
This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks
speed to good So what do we think of the story.
It's such a hammer, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
It's just like here we go, not really nuanced or no.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
My my immediate thought is it reminds me the here
at our parish, the well the pastor has said like, oh,
we don't have enough storage space. We have different like
different things. We're acquiring things that are good, but like
we don't have in place to store them. And it's like, oh,
we need to find we need to like build a
(10:35):
shed or something like. I say like, like, no, we
just need to like clean out our storage space, like
stuff that we don't use, that we don't need. And
I think, uh, Yeah, I don't know if that gets
really to the heart of this a parable, but you know,
(10:56):
I think there's some, uh, there's some truth to the
like the more that we the more that we store,
the less I mean, in a very practical sense, like
the more that we store, the less likely I'm going
to actually.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Find what I need.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
When I when I want it, and I'll forget that
it's even there. So the greater and greater the barns
that we store doesn't necessarily mean greater treasures. It could
really just mean greater a greater amount of junk that
that only distracts us from as as the Terrible says,
(11:35):
what's actually important to God? And so I mean, I
think we all we can all do that in some ways.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I'm kind of curious, you know, sort of going going
back a little bit in the chapter. You know, we
start at verse thirteen, someone in the crowd said to him,
So I'm like, okay, where where where's the crowd gathering?
Like what's happening is out of the blue way of
someone in the crowd yelling. So I when you go
back to the very beginning of the chapter, it says, meanwhile,
(12:05):
when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so thousands of people,
so that they trampled on one another.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
And then Jesus starts speaking to the disciples. There's this
whole you know. Then all the way through to chapter
verse twelve, it's Jesus talking directly to the disciples about instructions,
very specific instructions.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
But it's in this.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Mail you of thousands of people trampling on each other.
And I'm picturing, like, you know, the the Hindu festival
recently where people were dying of trampling.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
You're thinking of like the.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Soccer stadiums where like people literally out trampled to death.
Maybe I'm being hyperbolic, but right, thousands of people and
it says trampling and I don't know what the other
translation and save for that word, but translate that word.
But and then one guy shouts out, tell my brother
(13:08):
to divine the inheritance.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
What idiot?
Speaker 4 (13:11):
You have one question, Rabbi Jesus, And that's the one
you yell out of thousands of people. Yeah. Right, So
when I said, like, this is kind of a hammer, like,
Jesus says, like, seriously, I kind of see him.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
It sounds like.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
He's just what be on your guard against greed, like
he kind of does come at a hammer because you're.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Sort of like, this is the stupidest question ever.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Really, this is what you want Jesus to address.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Like why?
Speaker 4 (13:39):
But I think again cultural lens that the rabbis really
did kind of do some legal work, right, they really
did sort of settle disputes. Yeah, this era, so it
wouldn't have been necessarily uncommon for a rabbi to get
(14:00):
into the weeds with people and things like inheritance. But
you know, here Jesus is pouring to the disciples, you know,
all these specific instructions, and then one guy in the crowd,
I don't know, I just picture people looking at him
like really, so I kind of I just right out
of the gate. I'm like, what would be my one
(14:20):
question for Jesus if I'm in a crowd of thousands
and somehow I get the microphone.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, would it be.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Why came my brothers?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
But I want my fair share?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know kind of?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Is that the preoccupation? I don't know, that'special response to this.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, And I imagine it. I imagine his brother standing
right there, like I imagine his mother was probably following
Jesus as well, and his brother looks over at him
and goes, what seriously you again?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
That that again?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah? But jesus response is interesting, right, he says, man
who appoint to me a judge or an arbitr between you?
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Jesus is like, what why are you asking me this?
And then he gets right to the point again of greed, right,
Like the fact that you're even asking me this in
front of all these people shows what your real motivation is.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And Jesus is.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Clear, yeah, which which I always find funny when people
say the Bible is very clear, and I always say, no, Actually,
the Bible isn't clear on a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
We know that God is love, that's clear, and other things.
But this one, Jesus, I think, is really vocal and
consistent about when it comes to greed and to acquiring
possessions and wealth, that Jesus was was quite clear on.
I have no reservations about saying that.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
But I don't think I don't think. I don't think
Jesus was critical of people who are good, shrewd business
owners or I don't think eat, drink and be merry.
I mean, people thought Jesus was quite the partier. You know,
I don't think I don't think there's judgment against like
being a good farmer or building barns. I mean, I
(16:12):
don't think the judgment is that you.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Can't have stuff, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Or you can't relax, you can't enjoy the fruits of
your labor.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I think you can.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
You can go too far to say that that there's
judgment of or being rich. But it's I think that
you see in this the rich man. It's all the
personal pronouns. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
It says he.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Thought to himself, what should I do? I will do this,
I will put right. And he has all this abundance,
and it never occurred to him to share. It never
occurred to him to consult the people in his community.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It never occur, Right, I.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods
laid up for many years. There wasn't any conversation with family, friends, community.
Who knows could have been people hungry in his community.
Likely probably highly likely in this parable, I'm going to
store up all these things for myself. There's such a
(17:18):
lack of community and relationship in this parable.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, that's kind of that's kind of.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Glaring to me when I see this. Yeah, that's not
being rich toward setting up treasure for yourself and not
being rich toward God the things that God values, which
would be others relationship.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, I don't know. Did that stand out to you
guys too? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
And I think money and possessions, you know, they're not
inherently bad, like you said, right, but but they do
have a way of quickly becoming priorities, becoming idols in
our lives, ahead of God and ahead of community and
ahead of the things that God is doing. And I
think that's really what Jesus is warning against, right, not
(18:09):
that those things and themselves are bad, but that the
way we put them ahead of God is dangerous.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
How about you, father Mike, what do you think?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I like what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I think that, yeah, money and possessions are not bad things.
But I think the one key thing to remember is
that they're actually not really are things. They're gods, and
He allows us to use them for a period of time,
and he asks that we use them well and prudently.
(18:45):
And so I think we all have this temptation, I think,
to think that we've earned it, that this is our
thing and this belongs to us and not to others.
But I mean, all of greation is God's creation. All
of it belongs to him, and he just asks to
be good stewards of it. And I think in this
(19:06):
particular parable, he says, well, you're you're you're tearing down
barns and making bigger barns to sort up your treasures.
And like you both said, you're not like it. At
least there's no indication that you've considered somebody else, that
you've considered that the the success that you've had or
(19:31):
the fruits of of what you've done have any relation
to anybody else. That that again is this thought that
this is mine because I've earned it, But really that
he's he or she has just is producing through the
gifts that God has given him or her for the
(19:53):
good of for the good of all. And I think
you know and and he says that you know you're
not You're not, in my translation, you're not rich in
what matters to God. And I think that's in relationship.
And we know from from Matthew twenty five that that
(20:14):
Jesus says that he is in a very particular special
way he is with those who are most needy. And
so I think when he says like you're not, you're
not paying attention to things that are important to me.
That is like the people that I identify with in
a very special way. You're thinking about yourself, thinking that
(20:36):
these possessions are yours, not that their mind, and I'm
asking you to care for others with it. And yeah,
I think that's what I take away. And and yes,
it is pretty black as a child. Challenge to me,
challenge to all us, I think, to recognize the things
that I that I have, even this even this laptop
(20:59):
that using for this zoom call, is not really mine.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I'm just I'm just.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Asked to be a good steward of it, to use
it to do my ministry well, and to connect with
others well. And that's hard to remember sometimes, but it's
it's it's freeing in a way to remember that and
to utilize what we have for the good of good
of others.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, and really the foiled the opposite of greed
is generosity. Right. I think it's so fascinating that you know,
God says you fool this, excuse me, this very night.
Your life is being demanded of you, and the things
that you have prepared.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Who's will they be.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
To think that this horde of grain or whatever, this
horde in the barn that was kept perhaps from the
community or from the extended family. The man or the
farmer dies, the rich man dies, and it goes right
to the very people he had ordered it from, right
(22:05):
the distribution of wealth, or right the great or.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Good of all people.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
God's like, you know, You're gonna die, and it's gonna
go right to the people you withheld it from. And
if you've been generous the joy right. We all know
that when we're generous and hold our things lucy and
we share the joy, the joy that comes with that.
Like this man, this rich man had been robbed of that. Yeah,
so you know he was robbed of that joy.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
M Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Any other closing thoughts on this passage good challenge, Well,
as we continue to refresh and renew and be restored
this summer. I love that image, Father Mike, of New
Blood that you talked about. I hope that each of
us will take some time to focus on on what
(22:55):
God's calling us to do in the year ahead and
also right now the ways that we can be rich
toward God and how we steward the gifts that we've
been given, those things that God shares with us for
a time, but as you both have mentioned, are ultimately
Gods and God's alone and on behalf of Father. Mike
(23:15):
and Pastor Ruth. Thank you for joining us today, and
we pray that you have a blessed Sabbath day.
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