Eighteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time C- Greed

Some Blog writers collect lists of humorous First World Problems, like Losing the TV Remote, Being Hungry But Not For Any Of The Food In Your Fridge, your walk-in closet is not big enough.

Our Gospel today mentions two people who suffered from “First World Problems.”

1). “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”

The man probably did not have a just case but was covetous instead. Had his claim been just, the laws of inheritance would have taken care of the request.1

Greed is the immoderate love of possessing, and our 2nd Rdg speaks of “greed that is idolatry.” Jesus wants to heal the selfishness behind the request.2

E.g. Someone who is well-established in their career, yet they feel insufficiently recognized; or the parent who feels their son or daughter never scores enough goals or points in sports or does not get all straight A’s.

Fr. Sam Keyes, Catholic Answers chaplain, asks:

Do we regard having more than two children as “too expensive” because we take as normative the expectations of American consumer culture?

Do we shrink from the idea of our children pursuing celibacy in religious or clerical life?

Do we think we are being generous when we throw a small bill into the offering plate every so often?

Do we resent it when the Church asks us to show up on a weekday, or fast, or abstain from meat?

In this parable, the word "possessions" refers to private property3.

Jesus is not against the legitimate accumulation of possessions or being rich, but the plans of the rich man are not neutral; he is probably removing grain from circulation to maximize profits, and he speaks of “mine” four times.

In contrast, Jesus says, “Take this, all of you; given up for you,” and “poured out for you and for many.”4

If a person does not acknowledge other beings, they do not recognize the existence of God hence, this is the parable of the rich fool.5

All is vanity we hear in our First Reading. The Latin vanitas means “emptiness” or “futility” that is used for the Hebrew word for “vapor” and refers to that which is fleeting and perishable (Psalm 62:9; 144:4).

When the question is "life," the answer is "God." There is a hunger only He can satisfy.6

Even his soul, which he said was “his,” was going to be required of him.

Thus, the parable plunges the hearer into a searching reflection on the meaning of life. We may declare “whoever has the most toys when he dies wins,” but the parable exposes the emptiness of such a materialistic lifestyle. “Being rich towards God” is expressed by generosity towards God and others.7

Ancient Jews believed that the tithe was a kind of income tax payable to the department of eternal revenue… The tithe belonged to God. Anything above it was generosity.8

Concluding story:

A priest tells about a prayer he heard an old man pray at a worship service in Africa. The old man prayed, “Lord, let us never move into stone houses.” The priest had no idea what the prayer meant, so he found the man later and asked him.

The old man said, “You know Africa. You have seen our country. People here live in huts, and huts have no doors. That is why your family is my family, and my family is your family. But as soon as you move into a stone house, you build a door. On the door you put a lock, and behind your door you begin to accumulate more and more things. Then you have to spend the rest of your life protecting all that you have acquired.

Remedies for Greed.

Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Prosperity means to have no lack, but the man saw his wealth only as an opportunity for pleasure; not as an opportunity for giving. Poverty of spirit is a beatitude of being sensitive to the material needs of others like the poor, orphans.

St. John Chrysostom recommended on expelling avarice through almsgiving, which shows a love for God and in community with one’s neighbor.

Poem by C.T. Studd, “Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.

1. Henry Mugabe, Parable of the Rich fool: Luke 12:13-21, Review and Expositor 2014, 73- 67

2. Kenneth E, Bailey, Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes: A Literal Cultural Approach, Parables in Luke (Grand Rapids: w. B. Eerdmans, 1983): 70 cited in Henry Mugabe, Parable of the Rich fool

3. Mugabe, pg.70

4. Cf. David Peter, Anatomy of a Sermon: A Sermon on Luke 12:13-21 by Brian King, Concordia Fall Journal, pg. 63