Avoiding a Fool’s Fate
- davidwperk
- Oct 28, 2022
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, October 28, 2022
Proper 25, the week of the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
15And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ . . . .‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 18Then 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. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 20But 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?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.’
(You will find the full text of today’s reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 991)
AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51
Ecclus. 34:1-8,18-22; Rev. 13:1-10; Luke 12:13-31
Today we celebrate the Feast of Simon and Jude, Apostles. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis once quipped, "The sensible thing would be for me to stop now. but I can't. I have to keep aiming higher and higher--just for the thrill of it." * The sensible thing for the farmer in today’s reading to have done would have been to stop now. But, like Onassis, he could not. When his fields yielded more crops than he could store, he expanded his storage capability and assumed that he now was financially secure—no more worries.
Luke’s arrangement of Jesus’ sayings highlights the wealthy farmer’s barn building and party throwing as forms of anxious striving for security. Anxiety over whether we have enough generates an anxious striving and accumulating of possessions. (Matthew lacks this parable and places the sayings about anxiety in a different context.) The focus falls on “me,” on my need to be secure. Note how many times in the parable the farmer refers to himself, “I know what I will do, etc.”--12 uses of the personal and first person possessive pronoun, ”I” and “my,” in this brief parable.
We can imagine alternative responses to so much wealth. He could have given a large share of it to the synagogue or Temple. He could have cared for the hungry and poor in his area. In so doing, he would have been trusting that subsequent years would yield adequate crops and committing himself to ongoing productive living rather than his plan to “eat, drink, be merry” (v. 19).
Just how fully has our cultural craze for security taken us captive and blinded us to Jesus’ simplicity of life and his teachings about possessions? How many retirement fund commercials do you see in an evening of television? And, how has our craving for creature comfort indebted us so that we have less discretionary income to give to the church or to worthy causes consistent with our beliefs and values?
Perhaps we should begin monitoring our internal conversations with ourselves and question the content of those conversations. Could we put them to the test of Jesus’ teaching and his lifestyle? Could we interview our own approach to living and possessions and ask where it reveals our own anxious striving? Could we dare trust in God’s abundance and care and begin risking new and less acquisitive behaviors? That would be, in Jesus’ words, to have treasure in heaven (a Jewish way of saying treasure in God).
* Aristotle Onassis, cited in Preaching 5 (May-June 1990), p. 63.
Collect of the Day: Proper 25, the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 235)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Simon and Jude, Apostles.
Collect of the Feast of Simon and Jude
O God, we thank you for the glorious company of the apostles, and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 97)
For Peace
Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 258)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 124)
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Office Gospel, Luke 12:13-31
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ 14But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ 16Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 18Then 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. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 20But 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?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.’
22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
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