THE “L” WORD
SCRIPTURE
There is a
montage of pictures of our family in my office.
Everyone in the family is represented in this collection of photos. Every time I look at them, and I can’t sit
down at my desk without looking at them, I ask the “L” question. I suppose I’d better tell you what that
is. It is a question of
accountability. What is the legacy I will
leave my family? What will I pass on to
my children and my grandchildren? How
will I be remembered?
These questions
come out of our gospel text this morning.
We have a real life situation in which a younger son comes to Jesus and
says, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Jesus brushes him aside by saying, “Friend,
who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” It seems a kind of curt dismissal of
something that was at the center of someone’s life. Perhaps Jesus anticipated Paul Tillich by
recognizing that we worship what is our ultimate concern. In this case the young man thought that the
custom of his day was unfair. That
custom dictated that the eldest son got double what the youngest son got. This man wanted his inheritance divided
evenly between his brother and himself.
Jesus wanted no part of that dispute over money, land and
livestock. Jesus then goes on to say,
“Take care! Be on your guard against all
kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
possessions.”
While Jesus
didn’t answer the man’s need for adjudication, he did give us all advice that
life doesn’t consist in possessions.
Jesus makes it tough on a people like us who are so consumed with
consumerism. As if this weren’t harsh
enough advice and a reminder of where our real values lie, he goes on to tell a
parable which is equally damning.
“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.”
Were you
listening to this man’s soliloquy? It
was all centered in self. Never once did
he say, “I have more than enough, maybe I should see to it that those who don’t
have very much can share in my good fortune.”
No, instead it was all I, I, I, and mine.
Now this
flies in the face of all we have been taught.
For years we have been taught to prepare for our retirement by careful
planning, consistent saving and shrewd investment. What are we to do with the clear divide
between what Jesus says and what we believe about the prudent management of our
financial affairs?
In each of
these examples, the entreaty of the man to secure Jesus’ aid in dividing his
inheritance with his brother and in the parable of the fool with the bigger
barns I think Jesus asks the “L” question, the legacy question. “And the things you have prepared, whose will
they be?” A second question accompanies
this, “What will be done with these things?”
I don’t think Jesus was talking about our full attics, our full
basements, or our full garages, although I do know that often we don’t own our
things, but our things own us. When that
happens, that is the tipping point for us to reconsider our lives and what they
stand for. Will this be our legacy,
rooms full of goods to be disposed of at our death? Will this be the best of ourselves that we
can pass on to the next generation? How
will we be rich toward God?
When I ask
these questions of myself I think of those pictures on my desk, those eyes that
seem to be looking back at me from those faces I love. Will they remember that they have been
loved? Will I pass on to them the legacy
of Jesus that I have received from my parents and all the parents I have had in
the churches I have been in from whom I have received the gospel as it has been
lived out in their lives?
Will they
value the Bible stories and lessons and will they shape their lives as they
have shaped mine?
Will my
heirs look around themselves and see human need? Will they see the face of Jesus in those who
have need and will they be generous toward them and know that when they are
serving others that they are being rich toward God?
Will they
see injustice and not stand idly by, but passionately take steps to see justice
done in Jesus name?
Will they
see service to the community in which they live to be an obligation and a
privilege granted by citizenship? Will
they honor the best traditions of their country and seek to correct their
society when they feel that it is not moving in a direction consistent with the
gospel of Jesus?
Will they
be faithful members of the
These are
the legacy questions I ask as I look at those wonderful faces of my family whom
I regard as a great gift of God.
I hope that
you get my point that Jesus calls us to be more than our possessions. I think that you do get that point. You are here this morning hoping to get some
direction for your lives out of a word from Jesus. You could be a lot of different places, but
you are here to gain some insight as to what God calls you to be and how to
live out that calling.
Because you
are here, I know you are running a risk that something in Jesus’ word will
cause you to change your life and that is risky business.
If that is
so, you have the assurance that Jesus will accompany you on this new venture
wherever it takes you.
Sermon
preached by Reverend