But 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 east; 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 if 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 them, the scribes and the Pharisees 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 will also 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."  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 east; 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."  My study bible explains that it was a custom for respected rabbis to arbitrate personal disputes.  However, it says, a dispute over inheritance is detrimental to salvation.  Notice how unfitting the question from the crowd is, coming directly after Jesus' words in yesterday's reading (above).   So, in this particular setting, it is considered a form of idolatrous greed (Colossians 3:5), unfitting for those who know God.  Jesus puts the full reliance on material goods into perspective when in the parable God asks, "Whose will those things be which you have provided?"    St. John Chrysostom writes that the only barns we need we already have:  "the stomachs of the poor."  St. Basil the Great taught that the bread in our cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat that hangs unused belongs to the one who needs it.  The shoes which rot in our closet belong to the one without shoes, and the money we hoard belongs to the poor.  St. Ambrose says, "The things which we cannot take with us are not ours.  Only virtue will be our companion when we die."  My study bible adds that even when Joseph stored up grain in Egypt (Genesis 41), it was for the benefit of the whole nation.   It says that these teachings apply to parishes as well as to each person.  Notice again, the context into which Jesus' words apply our attitude toward wealth:  it is a fool 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 if 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."   My study bible says that Jesus is warning against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.   It adds that anxiety over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

In many different dimensions Jesus gives us greater expressions for our faith, and by contrast, the lack of it.  Here, Jesus applies the understanding of faith in God to material possessions.  He does not say that we can live on air, or simply drink water, or have no need for material things.  On the contrary, He assures us, "For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things."  Our Father knows that we have need of these things.  Our faith is not one that separates life into the material and the spiritual, focusing on only one.  Rather, it is just the opposite:  life as lived with a foot only on one side or another is false.  We are to live in this world, understanding that there are material things of which we have need, but only in a commingled understanding of the dedication of all things to the purposes of God.  Our lives are to be infused with all of life -- in this world as fully human, but also of the kingdom of God as fully faithful follows in communion with Christ and in participation in His life and the grace He offers us, in all aspects in which that can manifest.  There is nothing left out, no either/or choice here.  Rather -- the choice is for a fullness of life.  It makes sense to think that, since all things come from God in the first place, since life itself is a gift of God, we place our lives in God's hands, and therefore whatever we have, or make, or do in our lives is in the service of salvation.  This does not mean that we are to starve and it does not mean we punish ourselves.  Rather, we seek God's purposes for what we have.  The treasure in heaven, without which earthly treasures are rather empty and meaningless, is the capacity to use our worldly gifts for God's purposes:  to put our worldly goods to use for our faith.  If the two great commandments that Jesus gives us are to love God with all our heart and strength and soul and mind, and to love neighbor as oneself, then out of that great love for God so we also consider our lives as lived in this world in nurturing and helping those in need.  We become more fully "like God" when we also are generous and abundant with what we have, our hearts expand with the knowledge of what truly great gifts we have when we have the capacity to share them with others in need.  There is truly nothing more truly wealth-generating than the understanding that one has the capacity to enrich others' lives.  It makes what we have that much more valuable, and gives us a consciousness of our own wealth of resources.  It almost doesn't matter what the amount is (and this is especially true when we follow Jesus' teaching about the widow who gave two small coins to the treasury of the temple, Luke 21:1-4).  And it doesn't just apply to material wealth.  We have other resources we spread to help the world:  our time, our skills, our compassion or empathy, our ability to communicate a needed message, our support, our intelligence, our food, our prayers, and a host of other things we don't necessarily think of as wealth.  Anyone in the world, even the poorest among us, have gifts to share and give to others.  All of these, in service to our faith and through discernment within our love for God and seeking God's guidance, can be "spent" in such a way that we accumulate treasures in heaven, which make all the things we think we have just that much richer and abundant.  The greatest key to understanding how this works is Jesus' final statement to us in today's reading:  "But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."  All we really have to do is to seek that kingdom in the ways that we're taught, in the ways that grace leads us, in the faith it takes to pray and seek a deeper communion with God -- and "all these things shall be added unto you."  It is all about putting our lives as firmly, deeply, blessedly, and persistently in God's hands, and resting in that place of faith.  The abundance we have might surprise anybody.  Let us not take even the tiniest gift we have for granted -- for its use in faith brings an abundance of blessing.