“And the rich man said: `I will build
bigger barns and bins.’” (Lk. 12:18)
“And then to whom will all
these
piled-up Hummels go?”
18th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 4, 2013
Ecclesiastes
1:2; 2:21 -23
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 Luke 12:13-21
2nd
reading from Colossians 3:5
You must put to death, then,
the earthly desires at work in you, such as immorality, indecency, lust, evil
passions, and
greed, for greediness is a form of idol worship.
The word of
the Lord
Thanks
be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory
to you, Lord.
A greedy rich man
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then He said to the crowd, "Beware of greed in all its forms. Life that is real and meaningful doesn't depend on a person's possessions."Then He told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘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 bins, and I shall build bigger barns and bins. There I shall
store all my grain and all my other possessions. Then I
shall say to myself, `Now good man, you have possessions stored up for
you for many years to come. Relax, eat, drink and make merry!’ But God said to
him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and then
to whom will all your piled up wealth go?’ This is what happens to the man who is
greedy and hoards things for himself, and is not rich
in the eyes of God.[1]”
The
Gospel of the Lord.
Praise
to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
Barns and bins, and senior
citizens
`Barns
and bins’ resonates greatly with senior citizens who remember the days when
food did not come from supermarkets but from barns and bins. For senior
citizens barns and bins are filled with the images and emotions of an abundant fall
harvest. They carry the good smell of apples, onions and grain. Barns and bins
burst at the seams with cobs of corn for cattle, and with potatoes and pumpkins
for people. For senior citizens barns and bins are filled with sugar loafs of
grains, to be ground into flour and baked into the staff of life. They suggest
the crispness of fall drying up the sweat of summer toil and toning life down
to winter’s pace. Barns and bins speak of autumn’s bounty snuggly stored away
against the long and sparse winter night ahead. For senior citizens barns and bins
bear a stark but also a snug feeling. For a younger generation, however, who
has no idea of barns and bins loaded with a hard-earned harvest, there are only
supermarkets filled with an easy abundance.
The
Pilgrim Fathers, grateful for the harvest, declared a day to be set aside for Thanksgiving.
Their barns and bins were full not only of God’s blessings, but filled also
with their thanks. In today’s parable a greedy rich farmer desecrates the
sacred image of barns and bins, as he plans to store not God’s blessings in
them but his greed!
On second reading
A quick
reading of today’s parable seems to frown on those who “relax, eat, drink and
make merry.” On second reading, however, the parable does not frown on those who “relax, eat, drink and make merry.” Rather,
it frowns on those who spend so much time and effort in building bigger barns
and bins that they don’t have time to “relax, eat, drink and make merry.” It
frowns on those who spend so much time at making a living that they don’t have
time to live. It frowns on a poor rich farmer who died before he lived.
An `unremarkable’ reading of the parable
Parables
are literary instruments which give a reader a lot of freedom. One can give today’s parable `a hammed-up’
reading: the rich farmer is a miserly old Scrooge - “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous
old sinner.[2]”
When `hammed-up’, the parable doesn’t bear much of a message for us, for most
of us aren’t miserly old Scrooges. Or one can give the parable an `unremarkable’ reading, presupposing nothing gross at all, and then
it can become a
parable about all of us.
An `unremarkable’
and not `hammed-up’ reading of today’s parable reminds me of an old spinster
named Anna whom I knew many years ago. A hairdresser by trade, she was a true
German who put her nose to the grind, worked hard and was very thrifty. She
didn't grossly deprive herself, but neither did she live it up. With religious
regularity she deposited all her bucks in bins called banks. All the while, she
had in mind the day when she would be able to say to herself: "Now good Anna,
you have possessions stored up for you for many years to come. Relax,
eat, drink and make merry!"
But
alas, one day the circulation in her foot stopped, gangrene set in, her leg was
amputated, and she was carried off to a nursing home where eventually she died.
To whom did all her piled up wealth go?
It went to the nursing home industry, which ate up her life-long savings
in a very short time. That’s an `unremarkable’ reading of the parable which
hits home more powerfully than a `hammed-up’ one.
Conclusion
A collection of 400 Hummels!
Here is a story about a couple who died and
left behind barns and bins bursting with stuff.[3]
In the rural upper Midwest, it seems every
other person has a barn full of old tires, old brakes, a trailer, dozens of
tools gathering rust, coffee cans loaded with lug nuts and screws. Ed and
Edna’s place is pretty typical. Edna’s cupboards, bureaus, cabinets, garage,
attic and spare bedroom have been crammed full of things that define her.
("Oh, you know Edna Furbelow," says her neighbor, "she collected
Hummels.") Every once in a while, Edna took some of the clutter out to the
front yard and sold it, although no one stepping inside her house ever knew the
difference.
Edna has
died, and it’s too bad she’s not here, because there’s something very sobering about
the estate sale. Absent the owners, the items lose their meaning, so that even
Ed and Edna’s kids and closest friends think: “My God, there’s a lot of stuff here! What a lot of junk!” The
agent, who doesn’t want to haul it away, has priced everything low: books go
for 50 cents, a big set of plates for a few bucks. Here is an old rusty bicycle
from the Eisenhower era and a once-prized lamp that now seems hideous. Set out
on the green grass outside the barn, Ed’s band saw and drill press (his pride
and joy) appear headed for retirement.
Now the
auctioneer calls out Lot 152 - a collection of 400 Hummels! 400 Hummels! Eyes
roll and knowing smiles break out, but no one bids. The auctioneer looks at the
estate agent, the agent looks at Edna’s oldest daughter: a lifetime’s hobby and
a person’s identity have come to this! One can almost hear Jesus asking, “And then to whom will all these
piled-up Hummels go?”
[1]The
rich man in today’s parable is stuck on himself, as he says “I” or “my” 12
times.
[2]
From `A Christmas Carol’ by
Charles Dickens
[3] The following story
is taken basically from a chapter entitled A Lot of Junk in his book One Hundred Tons of Ice by United
Methodist pastor Rev. Lawrence Wood.
