The 11th Sunday after Pentecost - Eat, Drink and be Merry?

So what did you think of the parable of "The Rich Fool?"  That was then; this is now?  Or given my situation, I'm never going to have to build bigger barns?  Or using what is called a "resistant" interpretation, we could ask what is so wrong with being a successful landowner or farmer?  What's so wrong with eating, drinking and being merry--especially since I worked hard to earn enough to do these things?

"Having wisdom" or "being wise" had a high value in the Jewish tradition--perhaps an even higher value than being rich.  We find several books in the Hebrew Scriptures that offer guidance in this regard.  Proverbs and Ecclesiastes give the most direct advice. Certain psalms contain information about living wisely.

In the eighth chapter of Ecclesiastes we find this advice: "So I commend enjoyment because there's nothing better for people to do under the sun but to eat, drink, and be glad.  This is what will accompany them in their hard work during the lifetime that God gives under the sun."  The writer continues by speaking about the futility of understanding what God is up to here on earth.

Since human life requires such hard work to sustain ourselves, then shouldn't we balance that with some pleasure.  So what the rich man does in building bigger barn, so he can later kick back a bit, doesn't seem that outrageous.  Yet in the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah, we hear an oracle or prophecy of Isaiah's decrying having a party in the face of an invasion by the enemy:  "The Lord God of heavenly forces called on that day for weeping and mourning, and shaven heads, and wearing mourning clothes.  But instead there was fun and frivolity, killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine. 'Eat and drink! Tomorrow we will die.'"  In contrast to these activities as part of a balanced life, they are placed in a context of denial and fatalism.  The attitude Isaiah described might go like this: "It isn't going to get any better--perhaps it get a lot worse, it may even be dreadful—so let's enjoy ourselves as long as we can.  God called for acts of contrition and repentance, but what would that get us?”

In the parable about the rich fool, Jesus puts slant on this behavior of eating, drinking and being merry that's different than either of these other points of view.  Jesus isn't speaking about balanced life.  He isn't speaking about escapism from a dreadful fate.  He's talking about how life should be lived with the wealth or gifts or talents we have been given.  He's calling into question what that rich man should call his own.

One the important issues in your life when you're two-years-old is what is yours and what belongs to others.  When my daughter-in-law prepared for my grandson's two-year-old birthday party, she made these amazing party favors. Each child got a plastic pail with his or her name on it and filled with tools to dig in the sand.  When I visited the day before the party, Jacob was saying, "Mine? Mine?" when his mother showed them to me.  His mother explained they were for Abby and Reid who were coming to his party.  He accepted that explanation sort of . . . Over the two months since the party I've noticed that he often classifies things by their owner: Mommy's shoes, Daddy's phone, Grammie's hat and so on.  He accepts that not everything can be his--although he will push the point if he really wants something.

In the gospel reading for today we heard about a man pushing the point about something he claimed as his.  He asked Jesus to speak to his brother about the fair division of an inheritance they were to receive.  This would have been a legitimate request to a religious authority.  But Jesus turned this request into an occasion for teaching people in the crowd about greed.  Jesus was looking deeper into the motivation of someone who had all that he could use and more.  Jesus' teaching defined greed in an unusual way.  In this parable greed wasn't trying to get more than your share.  Greed was holding onto more than you needed and failing to recognize that your abundance came from using the gifts God had given you--in the landowner's case, the good weather and the rich soil, and his talent in working the soil.  Not only did the rich man's lack of gratitude make him "foolish," but also his cluelessness about the transitory nature of life and his possessions made his desire for bigger barns seem all the more unworthy.

As we consider our own situations (which are not really like the rich man’s) in the light of this parable, what is the best we can hope for?  Perhaps it is this: to live in such a way that all people have the opportunity to use the talents God has given them in a society that allows them to earn enough so everyone can eat, drink and be merry--so everyone can, for example, have a wonderful celebration like Jacob's birthday party.  "Being rich toward God" in terms of this parable isn't talking about personal piety, but rather a spirit of generosity toward those who are in need.  For after all, in the end, the stuff or treasure that we clutch so tightly, whose will they be?  Jesus was teaching the crowd to open their hands as a different way to be rich--rich in giving, for nothing else truly lasts.