As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19) Proper 21 Year C
You all know about the seasons of the church—in eight weeks or so we’ll start a new liturgical year with the season of Advent, then move through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and, back to where we currently are: Ordinary Time. Each season in its turn has its special color and its one or more days of special celebration or observance. Ordinary Time, for us, has several non-quite-official days, like the 4th of July and the start of school and Labor Day and Thanksgiving—and it also has what you might have experienced in the past as your least favorite unofficial stretch of days—the final weeks of Ordinary Time are always the mini-season of Stewardship Time—and they start this week. My hope is that this year we can all discover a completely new and different perspective for this season, replacing apprehension and discomfort with appreciation and life-giving gratitude.
You have probably noticed that already for several weeks now in our Gospel readings Jesus has been talking about generosity and giving away some or all our possessions. Today’s parable tells the story of an un-named rich man who created a barrier between himself and poor Lazarus, blinding himself to the needs and closing his ears to the Lazarus’ cries for help and hunger and need for healing. You remember that scary scene in A Christmas Carol where the ghostly Marley confronts Scrooge to tell him he is doomed if he doesn’t change his ways? Marley is depicted weighed down by heavy chains, and he says these are the chains he forged in life that bound the poor people he abused and ignored—and now they bind him forever. Today’s parable is like that: the unbroachable barrier, the untraversable distance, the rich man put between himself and Lazarus in life is now the chasm that cannot be crossed for Lazarus to reach down and help. The story is ancient and powerful: the way we live, the way we treat others, the compassion and generosity and forgiveness we have or don’t have, becomes our own destiny.
I want for start Stewardship Season today by saying something perhaps risky and radical: It might seem like when the church constructed the lectionary schedule we use it purposefully shoved together all these readings about money into this time of year to make you feel guilty about money. It might also seem like this because of the way the church has frequently dealt with stewardship season—by trying to create guilt. But here’s the thing: Jesus didn’t know about stewardship season! During this second half of Ordinary Time every year we’re reading from each Gospel the stories of Jesus active ministry. Advent and Christmas and Epiphany have the readings that lead up to Jesus’ birth and the tell of the beginnings of his ministry. Lent and Easter and Pentecost have the readings that lead up to Jesus’ Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. These readings we’re in right now at the end of Ordinary Time tell of what Jesus did and said during his ministry in between; they tell of Jesus walking and healing and teaching and preaching the Good News of God’s Salvation and Jesus calling people to follow him on the path to abundant life.
Last week we heard Jesus tell the Pharisees, “You cannot serve both God and money,” and they ridicule him for this. So now Jesus tells this Lazarus and the rich man parable. Over and over again as he preaches and teaches in our readings, Jesus puts money and wealth on the agenda for our conversation. Not because God wants our money—but because God wants our whole selves. The letter to Timothy today is often mis-quoted: Paul doesn’t say “money is the root of all evil,” Paul says “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” The rich man in the parable is not depicted as fundamentally, actively wicked. His problem is he has let his wealth blind him and deafen him to the poor man Lazarus. He simply doesn’t see a fellow human being in need, someone he has the ability to help if he could only see and hear. In life, he could not cross over to a place of compassion and action, and in death he could not cross over to a place of rest and comfort. For him, as for Marley, it was too late.
God doesn’t want our money—because God wants our whole selves. The covenant established by God is a loving relationship between God and us and between us and each other and between us and all of creation. How we live each day, how we orient our lives, the way we use or abuse the resources of the earth we were given to steward, the way we use or abuse the resources of wealth we were given to steward, matters. It is our side of the covenant. Jesus knew—Jesus knows—how easy it is for us to become distracted, blinded, by the power of these resources we’ve been given and to despoil what we’ve been given to steward. Jesus knew—Jesus knows—that living a life without compassion and generosity and open-heartedness puts us in danger of an eternity of misery.
Money isn’t an evil thing, and it shouldn’t be a source of guilt—money is one of the resources God gives us, both for our enjoyment (as Paul says to Timothy) and as one of the key tools of ministry we all use to bring light to the world’s darkness. Like all of God’s gifts, though, we can give ourselves over to the illusion that the power it brings is not God’s, but our own. This is the story of creation and the fall in the Garden of Eden, repeating generation after generation.
This is why Jesus has all these stories for the Pharisees about the rich and the poor. This is why Jesus, later on in Luke, exaggerates and says it’s harder for a rich person to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. This is why stewardship season is important. It’s a time each year for reminding us to look inside our hearts and see where and when, like the un-named rich man in the parable, we have closed our eyes and ears to the Lazarus’s around us.
Jesus never said, “Give money to the church.” But, of course, I hope you will consider making a pledge to St. Andrew’s during this Stewardship season—not because we need to keep the lights on, but because the church—this church of St. Andrew’s—is one of the most important ways we work together to bring light to the world. The bonds of friendship and fellowship we forge here buoy us up in both times of joy and times of sorrow. Just on Friday I saw God’s healing hand in action, in the hopeful liturgy of a funeral and the loving sharing of memories by family and friends afterwards as they shared refreshment in the truest sense of that word. I’ll say again how inspiring and important the work of helping form children of God that our many Sunday School teachers do. There are so many church groups and community groups that meet here and provide life-changing support, counseling, and friendship that are hard to find anywhere else.
Too, we have all averted our eyes from the homeless asking for money at the intersections around Omaha. This is our time to confess it together, to know that we are forgiven, and to look for ways to do better. And here’s one way: our youth group in a few weeks will be putting together small care bags you can keep in your car so that, when you think it may not be the most helpful thing to hand out money at that intersection you can still give a kind word and a helpful package. Did you know that all week long we are able to offer a prayer and a Hy-Vee voucher to the many distressed who come to the church office for assistance—because of your generosity in the open plate offering and other donations you make that go into the Rector’s discretionary fund? One of our special October events is a “fill-the-van” with paper products drive for the Omaha Street School, and you’ll be hearing about ways you can personally help that vital organization by being a reading tutor for the kids there. In November, Deacon Teresa Houser will be visiting us to talk about the mission of Magdalene House and ways we can deepen our connection with them. This place, St. Andrew’s, is holy and life-giving, because you make it holy and life-giving.
Jesus told us to abide in Him. To abide takes special and regular attention to the daily details of love, prayer, work, Scripture, giving and receiving kind words, friendship, compassion, and giving generously of all that we are. My prayer us all this week is Paul’s for Timothy: May we, who are all so rich, put our hopes on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. May we do good, be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for ourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that we may all take hold of the life that really is life.
Fr. Keith
