Year C Proper 13 Colossians 3:1-11 Luke 12:13-21

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters] in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thus begins the epistle to the Church in Colossae [colo-say]. Colossae was a city located in what is today modern Turkiye, and when Paul expanded his ministry in that area, many were converted to Christianity.

At first, as is so often the case with new converts, the church was filled with devout individuals and it thrived living according to the commandments and teaching of Jesus. But by the time the epistle was written, the Christian community had begun to relax in its vigilance, and folks were doing what people so often do - falling back into familiar ways and old, often bad, habits. There is also the indicator that Gnosticism was getting a foothold in the community, thus bending and altering the pure faith. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. . .

That is very clear, but the problem is, it takes prayer and devotion to seek things that are above. It takes work, and folks are always eager to find an easier way to do things. And then the author of the epistle reminds the Colossian Christians, and us, “for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

That should give us pause, because none of us here, at least those we can see, is yet dead. We forget that in baptism we die with Christ and rise from the water reborn.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly.

And then are listed, along with a few basic sins, those things that are apparently coming back into popular practice in Colossae: fornication [free love and such], impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). Well – gee – that’s all the “fun stuff”, some of which may have been part of the pagan practices that the early Church in Colossae had forsaken.

The Church is therefore reminded, you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self - and you can almost hear the congregation in Colossae sigh at that news. After all, heavenly reward, so far as they can see, comes later – and apparently hard work with less jollies is what comes now. And again you can hear them, or some of them – phooey!

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."

What an odd thing to say to Jesus, or so it at first sounds. While this is another instance of someone in the crowd goading Jesus, waiting to hear what He’ll say, trying to trip Him up by dragging Him into a family argument, the request isn’t really as inappropriate as it seems.

The Mishnah, a Jewish book of laws, guided rabbis in how to handle questions of inheritance, and it would be expected that Jesus would be well read on such issues. The annoying thing for Jewish men of Jesus day was that Mosaic Law prescribed that an elder son receive twice the inheritance of a younger son. (Daughters didn’t count – it was expected their husbands and sons would care for them.) The request that begins today’s Gospel obviously comes from a younger son, but Jesus isn’t going to be drawn into sorting out this issue.

He responds sternly, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" The word translated as “friend” literally means human, a stern salutation. Then He adds: "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Not that the listeners in the crowd that day had anything like what we today would consider an “abundance of possessions”. The richest among them might have had a small herd of animals, a patch of farmland and a house, and a couple of changes of clothing - something we might well consider as we think about our own abundance of possessions.

And then, instead of getting involved in a divisive family argument, Jesus offers His listeners a parable, one with which we are all familiar.

There are a couple of ways to interpret what Jesus is saying. Some would read this parable and decide to sell everything and give alms to the poor. Interestingly, that is exactly Jesus’ instruction in the passage from Luke’s Gospel you’ll hear next week.

Another thinker could read this and argue a way around it. What Jesus really meant is not that we should sell our possessions, but simply that we should love God and our neighbor, and then all will be fine.

Give away everything or give away nothing. Neither question addresses the core of the problem. The real question is, how do we free ourselves from our selfishness so that we can love unconditionally?

The rich man in the parable has become totally self-absorbed, and instead of caring for his family and his neighbor, is concerned only with his personal comfort and security. It is the same problem the Colossians faced, and it is one that faces us every day. Though we start out each day with the best of intentions, even the most devout among us face the temptation to drift – drift into things familiar, things pleasurable, things that are reassuring, things that are all about us.

And no matter how much we already have, we all imagine that we could be quite comfortable with more. That’s the direction most of us seek. And it is where the world, our materialistic society, calls us to go. In fact, it is where most of our American society lives. We don’t think about the Church, which, by the way, means the people and not the building, we focus on ourselves. We go about building our barns, disregarding our calling, with all it entails, to love one another.

We make many arguments to explain why we drift, why we don’t do better. We already have too many responsibilities, we don’t have the money, we don’t have the time, we are too old to volunteer. And, once again, every single argument is all about us, what we have and don’t have. This is what the world teaches us.

What Jesus teaches us is that it is all about Him, and God the Father, and about each other. We have died in baptism, and risen in Christ, and what that has done is bind us to each other and to God through the Holy Spirit. Living out our new responsibility, being one in the Spirit, is the calling of our lives.

This really does mean giving up our attachment to our “stuff”, (to even seeking help if that attachment has become an addiction), to changing our focus from all the glittery, comfortable, satisfying things the world flashes before us, and to begin thinking about how our lives and the way we live, impacts others.

True - this isn’t easy or perhaps even natural. After all, our human nature is what is always getting us in trouble. But, for the joy it brings and the salvation we have received, we made promises to God. We may want our faith to be a comfortable consolation, but we are called to more. We are called to be detached from what the world endorses, and to instead be generous with all those around us, loving them with unconditional hearts. We don’t have to do anything spectacular, even the littlest deed done with love matters to God.

This past week, my husband and I tried three supermarkets searching for one item that we go through at a tremendous rate and that always seems to vanish from the shelves. On our third stop we found a shelf laden with that item – but we had each come on it separately. I loaded six into my cart, only to discover my husband had done the same thing in his cart. Though six will last us the week, I suggested maybe we should buy all twelve. “Building barns,” said my husband – and we left the other six behind. Oh well! As some of the Colossians must have said - phooey!

It’s just so easy to not think beyond ourselves and our own personal needs. It is not easy to answer Jesus’ call.

Mother Teresa once said, “Let us not love words [and we might add “stuff”], but let us love until it hurts. It hurt Jesus to love us: He died for us. And today it is your turn and my turn to love one another as Jesus loved us. Do not be afraid to say yes to Jesus.”

Let us pray:

Almighty and eternal God, please forgive us when we drift from Your chosen Way, and then so draw our hearts to You, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly Yours, utterly dedicated to You; and use us, we pray You, as You will, and always to Your glory and the welfare of Your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.