RBWords

     The Gospel of Luke consistently emphasizes Jesus' teaching about the danger of material possessions.  This is not because the possessions themselves are the problem.  Rather it is our desire for them because they represent security.  As one commentator put it:  "The heart follows the treasure."  Today's gospel passage is really contemporary in its image.  We do not have to look far to find examples in our own time. 

 

     The rich "fool" in today's gospel, however, serves as our model.  His treasure is in his barns and crops.  He thinks he has gained ultimate security, but he has forgotten two very important elements:  God and the poor.  His failure to use his wealth wisely in giving alms leaves him with no "treasure in heaven."  His belief that his wealth guarantees him happiness and a long life would come crashing down because God would demand his life as soon as he claimed to be secure!

 

     Recent financial scandals in our own country have shown how greed is very much alive.  The "god" of the market and the economy attracts greed and the "rush" of "success."  When I look at the huge office buildings here in Houston, TX, where I live, I see symbols of this dangerous form of "security."  The "gospel of prosperity" is not what Jesus preached.  I am put in mind of Tolstoy's famous short story, "How much land does a man need?" in which a peasant hears he can obtain for free as much land as he can encompass by walking in a single day.  He walks hard around a large plot only to fall dead of exhaustion at the finish line.  The moral is that he only needs as much land as it takes to bury him!  Where is our treasure?  Where is our heart?   AMEN