18th Sunday in OT 2019 - Put Greed to Death

The book of Ecclesiastes was written about 300 years before the birth of Our Lord and is part of the Old Testament known as the Wisdom literature, along with the book of Proverbs and Psalms. The Jewish people read from the book of Ecclesiastes every year during the festival of Sukkot, the festival of Booths, at the end of autumn, when they celebrate the fall harvest. In the midst of the abundance of earthly things, they read “vanity of vanities all things are vanity”—a reminder that the things of the earth pass away, they are as ephemeral as a breath.

Ecclesiastes reminds all people that the purpose of life isn’t simply to toil for earthly things; in fact, that in the end our earthly pursuits aren’t really that important. It’s a travesty to spend all your life, all your time, to just make a bunch of money and then die, to pass it onto children who will just squander it. Rather, through the seasons of life, we are to cooperate with God that God may place the timeless into our hearts and reorient us from the earthly to the eternal, we are to pass on to future generations not just wealth, but wisdom, to help them value wisdom more than wealth or earthly accolades.

When confronted someone from the crowd who is clearly overly concerned with earthly matters, Our Lord in the Gospel this today teaches, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Greed—the love of money—the love of possessions—is a powerful motivating factor for a lot of people, in ancient Israel, in Jesus’ day and in our own. We commit Greed when we overvalue the things of the earth and undervalue the things of God.
And in order to reinforce this command, Jesus goes on to tell a parable, known as the parable of the rich fool. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’

Notice, right from the start of this parable that the only person this rich farmer talks to is himself. He’s not seeking the timeless wisdom of God, he only keeps his own counsel. He only listens to himself. Here’s the first indication that he’s a fool. As the book of Proverbs says: Those who trust only in themselves are fools.

Notice, too, that the reaction of this farmer to the abundance of his crop is not gratitude but an impulse to hoard. He identifies his crops as his possession to be hoarded for himself. I will build bigger barns to store my grains and my goods. He foolishly does not see the good things that he has as gifts from God, the source of all blessing. He foolishly dismisses the wisdom of Proverbs which teaches that are are to give the firstfruit of our labors to God. This foolish farmer has not even considered his duty toward God, nor his duty toward the needy in his community. He sees his abundance only in greedy, selfish terms. His goods will enable him and him alone to eat, drink, be merry, and rest for years to come.

But, then he gets a surprise, doesn’t he? God has overheard his interior monologue. God knows the selfishness in his heart. God says, ‘You fool!” forget about those years and years of merriment you have planned for yourself, “this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ The farmer’s greed has resulted in a sort of death of soul—greed after all is listed as one of the 7 deadly sins, causing the death of grace in our souls, the death of the love of God in us.

Jesus then drives the point home, by teaching: “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” So, in order to avoid the spiritual death of the greedy, we do well to consider what does it mean to be rich in what matters to God?

Well, the last few weeks we have heard wonderful stories about what matters to God. Three weeks ago, we heard the story of the Good Samaritan. What matters to God is that we exercise charity to all, we expand our definition of a neighbor to include those whom the rest of the world overlooks. What matters to God is that we become Good Samaritans to all. Two weeks ago, we heard of Jesus’ visit to the home of Martha and Mary. When Martha complained about being overwhelmed with earthly matters, we heard what mattered most to Jesus is that Mary was concerned with heavenly matters, she nurtured that intimate relationship with Him by listening to his words, sitting in his presence, that’s what matters to God.

And then last week, we heard how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He taught his disciples the perfect prayer, the Our Father. What matters to God is that we seek His Will over our own, that we approach him with open-hands daily instead of relying on our own self-sufficiency, that we practice unconditional forgiveness, and seek God’s protection and deliverance from all evil.
One of the points of today’s parable is that God is not impressed by the quantity of our assets. What impresses God is the quality of our lives, the quality of our souls, whether our lives are filled with his truth, goodness, and beauty, or not.

Elsewhere in the Gospel, Our Lord teaches, where your heart is, there your treasure will be also. Do you want to know what a person values? Look at that person’s life, his commitments. On what does he spend his time? On himself, on building himself up in the eyes of the world, in pursuit please? Or does he treasure the things of God?

In the Second Reading, St. Paul says bluntly: “put to death, the parts of you that are earthly:” Here’s the remedy for our tendency to love the things of earth more than the things of heaven.

The parts of us that are obsessed with the goods of this world, put them to death, the parts of us that consider the earthly more important than the heavenly? Nail them to the cross and leave them behind. The things that cause you to forget Christian duty and your Christian identity, sever your relationship with them.

Paul says put to death “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”  Immorality ignores the commandments of God and the teachings of the Church, put an end to it.  Impurity uses one’s body in ways that it is not meant to be used, put an end to it.  Greed wants too much of what it does not need and too little of what gives life to the soul, put an end to it.  Say “no more” to every impulse that seeks happiness in things rather than the newness of life that comes from God.

For that is what God wants for us: to share his very life with us, to make us like himself, full of generous self-giving and limitless charity, to glorify God in seeking and living out His will.

At this Holy Mass Jesus comes once again to renew us in Word and Sacrament, may he continue to free us from the desire for earthly things and increase our hunger and thirst for holiness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.