Seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

- Luke 12:13-31

Yesterday, we read that as Jesus spoke to the scribes and Pharisees, they began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.  In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.  And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  My study bible says that it was customary for respected rabbis to arbitrate personal disputes.  But a dispute over an inheritance can be detrimental to salvation if it simply exacerbates covetousness and greed, which are actually forms of idolatry.  The real question is a matter of emphasis and the centrality of God to one's life (see Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13).  

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."   What the emphasis in life?  What do we focus on?  Jesus seems to teach here that in fact our time is not truly our own, so we must spend it wisely.  If we're not thinking about salvation, then we're wasting our time.  What is it to be rich toward God?  In the Gospels, almsgiving is consistently presented as a way to store treasure in heaven.  How we practice mercy is a way of building up the treasure we take with us into eternity, something that truly belongs to a soul.  The meaning of this parable presented by Jesus is that this rich man has actually cheated himself.  My study bible says that "Whose will those things be which you have provided?" is actually the key to understanding the saving up of material goods.  St. Ambrose writes, "The things which we cannot take with us are not ours.  Only virtue will be our companion when we die."  Even when Joseph stored up grain in Egypt, it was for the benefit of the whole nation.  My study bible adds that these teachings apply to parishes as well as each person.

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."  There is a depth of emphasis on what God knows about us here in these words.  Jesus' beautiful preaching asks us to look around at the beauty of the world and to understand that God knows all about us and all about the needs that we have.  Our first trust should be there.  An anxious mind is one that is spending one's time thinking all about the material goods one can get.  The emphasis here is about what we put first.  Seeking the kingdom does not mean we leave behind all our needs.  But it does mean there is something that is our recognized treasure that is central to all the rest of life and into which we place our trust, to which all these things are added unto you.

Jesus places a great emphasis here on how we spend our time.  What do we think about?  What is it we dwell upon?  What gives us anxiety?  What is it to be rich in the things of God?  There is always a system of exchange at work.  Christ seems to teach that we can't really have it both ways; we must put an emphasis on pleasing God or mammon.  Our time is limited.  He doesn't leave out the good in life that we need.  Neither does he leave beauty and enjoyment out of life.  He points out the care God provides for the ravens, even for the beauty of the lilies of the field.  These things are not wrong nor bad.  But the more essential thing is what we put first, and then "all these things shall be added unto you."   We store up treasure in heaven by building up the things of the Kingdom in this world.  By practicing charity and mercy, by helping others, by keeping our focus on the love of God, we build treasure every day that is also a true part of ourselves, a part of the soul, the reality that will stand before God.  There's a key to true richness here, that joy and wealth don't really come from an abundance of riches.  In fact, we should all understand that when one can feel an internal wealth it changes our perception of our own lives, our feeling of wealth in life.  The loneliest and saddest place in the world can be a life full of "stuff" without meaning and without connection to love and true beauty.  We can delude ourselves, as the rich man in Christ's parable, by thinking it must be so.  But we are more than just a body; our very lives exist in the fullness of what it is to be a human being made in the image of God.  There is nothing that can make a person more wealthy than understanding what they have to give to others, or the abundance of love they can find within themselves, the great treasure of resources God provides which is surprising and inestimable.  Charity is so much more than wealth.  It's a frame of mind.  What a person needs may not be money. It might be a thoughtful caring word, a reassuring smile, maybe a telephone call.  St. Basil says that a coat hanging unused belongs to the person who needs it.  A conversation -- one's time -- with a person in need may do more to give hope and support than an impersonal donation.  There are all kinds of ways to spend our lives focused on the Kingdom and the wealth and abundance we create there.  Let us not forget to trust God to find the place we need to be, and to understand the good gifts of life and all that we need.  Lest we forget, let us not neglect prayer when there is nothing else we can give; it's the source of so much that can change a life.