In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ parable asks us to consider our wealth and how we use it. It is a cautionary tale for sure. First Century Palestine was a “limited goods” society, which meant that they understood that there was a limited amount of goods to be had by all persons; so, it was believed that when one person amassed great wealth it meant it was at the expense of someone else not having enough.
It was not a capitalist society of consumers in the same way as we are today. The parable is about a rich man who focuses his life on acquiring more and more for himself while ignoring the Reign of God and the needs of others around him.
That man in the parable has ignored what is important to God, and did not focused on the Reign of God, but focused only on himself and on acquiring more and more possessions for himself.
The second reading also warns against greed and calls for us to focus on Christ and the Reign of God. Whereas the first reading cries out that all of life is suffering and empty, and is written through the eyes of someone who lives as if God didn’t matter and they were not cared for or loved by God; the words of someone who has lost all hope!
But Jesus has called us to live with God at the center of our lives. And so, the meaning in our lives is found in God and not in the possessions we accumulate.
Often enough, we hear of people whose lives are burdened under the weight of their possessions, as if they are “owned by what they own”. Our consumeristic society tells us that we need to consume; it tells us we need to buy more and more “stuff” and in and through having more “stuff” we will find meaning and happiness.
But we all know the truth. True meaning and happiness is not found in “stuff” but rather through a loving relationship with God and loving one another as Jesus loves us.
Academic study after study has shown that the accumulation of wealth does not make people happier. On the other hand, it is glaringly clear that poverty and human callousness causes great human suffering. All we need do is turn our eyes to the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza. How would it be different if USAID was still on the ground? How would it be different if the international community moved quicker in recognition of what the Netanyahu led government is really attempting to do to the people of Gaza?
This coming week we remember the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan on Aug. 6 and 9, respectively, 1945, during World War II. It will never be known for sure how many people lost there lives in those two nuclear bombings, somewhere between 110,000 and 210,000. And eighty years later we still hear the threats of the use of nuclear weapons, still not having learned anything from the mass loss of civilian life, and the tragic human aftermath. War…will we never learn its true cost?
A world view where ‘my/our needs are most important and all that really matters and everyone else is expendable or viewed as pawns to be used to a means to our goals and our enrichment,’ is a world view that is completely antithetical to God’s dream of a peace-filled and just world that has been revealed to us in and through sacred scripture and ongoing Divine revelation.
And this is ultimately Jesus’ point about the man in today’s Gospel. Instead of thinking of God (who commanded that the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable be cared for), instead of thinking of his neighbors and those who labored in his fields, he thought only of himself and amassing great wealth for himself -- that he might eat, drink and be merry. Ultimately it meant nothing as his life was demanded of him and he did not live to use his wealth.
I think these readings call us to ask ourselves to reflect on our world view -- how we see “the other,” as individuals but also as nations, “other peoples”; those who have different social and religious traditions, different political systems, who order their lives in different ways and by different customs. Is national wealth what makes a nation great or is the greatness of a people measured by how they care for each other? How they care for the poor and the marginalized and the most vulnerable amongst them? Is the greatness of a nation measured not in its ability to destroy other nations but rather in its willingness to build up and help other nations in their times of need?
Like the man in Jesus’ parable, what are we “storing up” in our lives and as a nation, and for what…ultimately? How does my discipleship of Jesus shape my relationship with “my neighbor,” near and far…how I see them and how I care for them?
May God’s most abundant grace be upon you. Amen.
Fr. Tim
It was not a capitalist society of consumers in the same way as we are today. The parable is about a rich man who focuses his life on acquiring more and more for himself while ignoring the Reign of God and the needs of others around him.
That man in the parable has ignored what is important to God, and did not focused on the Reign of God, but focused only on himself and on acquiring more and more possessions for himself.
The second reading also warns against greed and calls for us to focus on Christ and the Reign of God. Whereas the first reading cries out that all of life is suffering and empty, and is written through the eyes of someone who lives as if God didn’t matter and they were not cared for or loved by God; the words of someone who has lost all hope!
But Jesus has called us to live with God at the center of our lives. And so, the meaning in our lives is found in God and not in the possessions we accumulate.
Often enough, we hear of people whose lives are burdened under the weight of their possessions, as if they are “owned by what they own”. Our consumeristic society tells us that we need to consume; it tells us we need to buy more and more “stuff” and in and through having more “stuff” we will find meaning and happiness.
But we all know the truth. True meaning and happiness is not found in “stuff” but rather through a loving relationship with God and loving one another as Jesus loves us.
Academic study after study has shown that the accumulation of wealth does not make people happier. On the other hand, it is glaringly clear that poverty and human callousness causes great human suffering. All we need do is turn our eyes to the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza. How would it be different if USAID was still on the ground? How would it be different if the international community moved quicker in recognition of what the Netanyahu led government is really attempting to do to the people of Gaza?
This coming week we remember the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan on Aug. 6 and 9, respectively, 1945, during World War II. It will never be known for sure how many people lost there lives in those two nuclear bombings, somewhere between 110,000 and 210,000. And eighty years later we still hear the threats of the use of nuclear weapons, still not having learned anything from the mass loss of civilian life, and the tragic human aftermath. War…will we never learn its true cost?
A world view where ‘my/our needs are most important and all that really matters and everyone else is expendable or viewed as pawns to be used to a means to our goals and our enrichment,’ is a world view that is completely antithetical to God’s dream of a peace-filled and just world that has been revealed to us in and through sacred scripture and ongoing Divine revelation.
And this is ultimately Jesus’ point about the man in today’s Gospel. Instead of thinking of God (who commanded that the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable be cared for), instead of thinking of his neighbors and those who labored in his fields, he thought only of himself and amassing great wealth for himself -- that he might eat, drink and be merry. Ultimately it meant nothing as his life was demanded of him and he did not live to use his wealth.
I think these readings call us to ask ourselves to reflect on our world view -- how we see “the other,” as individuals but also as nations, “other peoples”; those who have different social and religious traditions, different political systems, who order their lives in different ways and by different customs. Is national wealth what makes a nation great or is the greatness of a people measured by how they care for each other? How they care for the poor and the marginalized and the most vulnerable amongst them? Is the greatness of a nation measured not in its ability to destroy other nations but rather in its willingness to build up and help other nations in their times of need?
Like the man in Jesus’ parable, what are we “storing up” in our lives and as a nation, and for what…ultimately? How does my discipleship of Jesus shape my relationship with “my neighbor,” near and far…how I see them and how I care for them?
May God’s most abundant grace be upon you. Amen.
Fr. Tim
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