The Measure of our Lives
Bible Text: Luke 12:13-21 | Preacher: Rev. Bruce W. Kemp
The Measure of our Lives – Luke 12:13-21
We live in a time when more people than ever have accumulated resources and possessions which have gone beyond anything our grandparents might ever had imagined possible. The transfer of wealth from one generation to the next is at an all time high. And whether we personally have or will benefit from any of the accumulation of the generations that have preceded us, we will no doubt find ourselves or someone we know embroiled in a dispute over inheritance.
Even a person’s last wishes are often disregarded by those who feel slighted and who prefer to force the matter to their own end rather than accepting what the person desired. It seems that we often interpret our inheritance as a sign of how much our relative or friend loved us. We do not necessarily believe that perhaps they judged that someone else or another organization or cause which they felt strongly about could benefit more by what they could offer. I was too young to be at the table when my grandmothers passed away but I remember hearing the stories about the arguments that took place and the unhappy compromises that were made. Unfortunately it led to divisions within the families that never seemed to heal. Recently someone related a different story. When their mother died, the children gathered to hear the will. In disbelief, they learned that their mother possessed almost nothing. In their minds, she was a miser who had accumulated a small fortune and they had their plans made for what they believed would be their portion; but there were only a small amount of clothing and a small bank account. She had been living with one of her children because she had nothing but her old age pension to live on. If we count the worth of a person’s life to us based on the material things they might leave us, we have devalued that person and made them less than human.
Obviously the man who came to Jesus and demanded that his brother be forced to divide the inheritance with him believed that his brother was not worthy to receive what he did. Further he believed that his father had no right to exclude him from the inheritance. There are a lot of questions that don’t get answers. For example, what was the relationship between this son and his father? What was the relationship between the brothers? Were there any good reasons for not including this son in the inheritance? Clearly the father had decided in favour of one and not both of them. It is also clear that the son who did not receive a part in the inheritance believed that his brother had an obligation to share with him in spite of his father’s wishes. This man looked to Jesus to be the judge in a family dispute. And anyone who has ever been asked to decide matters for a family knows that there is no happy ending. There is always someone who feels they got the short end of the stick; further, the judge will always be praised or blamed no matter what the decision.
Jesus is not about to get into the middle of this one. But he doesn’t just avoid becoming the arbitrator between the brothers, he goes further. Someone has passed away and left and inheritance for the next generation. The actual sum is immaterial but what is important is that everyone will one day come face to face with the fact that this life will come to an end. And as much as we may believe that we can control the time and place when that will happen, reality tells us that we cannot absolutely predict that time nor can we guarantee what will happen to what we leave behind.
The rich man in the story realized that he was blessed with an abundance of grain far beyond what he had been expecting. There were two things he could have done: 1) he could have seen this as an opportunity to make a special donation of grain to the poor and so enable more people to be adequately fed; this would have been a reasonable thing to do as his regular crop was sufficient to be handled by the barns he already had erected; 2) he could build more barns to hold the extra grain and so be able to keep the excess until such time as he could realize a profit. He chose the second one; but then something happened that he hadn’t counted on. His soul was demanded of him that night – in other words, he died. And knowing what we know of family disputes over wills, not only was he not going to be able to enjoy his new found prosperity but he was powerless to decide what was going to ultimately happen to all that he left behind. No matter what the attachment we have to any of our material possessions, we cannot guarantee that those to whom they come as an inheritance will cherish them the same way. Perhaps we never took the time to pass on the story surrounding a special piece of china or a picture or other article. Those who inherit them may look on them as a piece of junk or a meaningless object that has more value in cash than sentiment.
At the heart of this lesson today is a warning against covetousness. It is one of the Ten Commandments that were given to the people of Israel as part of the original law of God to guide the people in how they were to live with one another in community. And in spite of all we have learned of how to live as people in community, the issue of covetousness continues to rear its head and bring division and discord into people’s lives. None of us is immune from the tendency to covet because we all struggle with the idea that one person can be more successful than another, that another person can be more talented, better looking, or more popular. Too often even we who are followers of God in Christ find ourselves more concerned with those things that the world around us values as signs of a successful and happy life.
I remember my youngest son when he found out I worked for a non-profit organization. “No wonder you make so little money,” he said. I asked him if he had ever gone without anything he really needed. “No,” he answered. Then we needn’t be concerned about what we don’t have. In a world where success is measured in possessions of a material nature, we can overlook or neglect the real treasure that can be the possession of anyone.
No doubt we will struggle with this but in the end, the memories we will cherish of those we love and care for will never be about the house we inherit, or the stocks or bonds, or even the antique car. The memories we will cherish will be the times they shared their time, their wisdom, their laughter and their heart. These are treasures that no moth or rust can destroy and no one can take them away from us. These are to be the measure of our lives and in so doing we will find our true wealth.
AMEN