The Tyranny of Home Renovations

Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” From Luke 12:13-21

It turns out the lectionary has a sense of humor. I’ve only preached on this text one other time when I lived in Georgia, and both times I’ve been asked to preach on this text I’ve been in the middle of a home renovation! Trust me when I tell you, these words land differently when you are down the rabbit hole of making a few “small improvements.” My current contractor said it well, “You have to be careful—one thing leads to another.” 

It’s true. Fresh paint in one room makes the less fresh paint look terrible throughout the rest of the house. New countertops in the kitchen make you rethink a tendency to put too many things on every square inch and suddenly you find yourself assembling an appliance cart with 8,000 pieces so you will have a better view of the beautiful new countertops. 

Now, I’m grateful to have the resources to do this kind of work and acknowledge this is very much a first world problem, but the spiritual temptation is to become consumed with how much control I have, to become overly fixated on the project, and imagine a time when I can just sit back and regard the work with a sense of deep satisfaction. Being happy with the improvements is reasonable and if it makes me grateful, that is all for the better, but the subtle temptation is to take that abundance and lose sight of who gave the abundance in the first place. 

The rich man has taken abundance and not only failed to be grateful for it but turned it into a problem that needs to be solved. What will I do with all of this? I guess I’d better find a place to store it, so I don’t have to harvest the land in the future. 

What is missing from this parable is the rich man’s awareness of who is responsible for the abundance in the first place. When I know my abundance to be from God, I can easily shift to being generous with others. I don’t have to store it all up for myself but rather look to needs outside of myself. This is the important context of this parable. Jesus offers it in response to someone looking to settle a family inheritance fight. Jesus warns of greed, because the heart of greed is the separation it creates between us. When we inhabit a posture of abundance, we see ourselves more deeply connected to one another and God. And then, when we have a rich harvest, we act with generosity.  

Peace, Beth +