In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. There's
a book called The Sunflower. And in it, one of
the author, St. John of Tobolsk, who is the related,
the great grand... Father, I can't remember exactly,
of St. John of Shanghai in San Francisco. He
tells us that whatever we desire, that becomes
our self, our true essence. That becomes our
personality. Now, obviously, he's not talking
about such things as, after liturgy today, I
hope to have a cup of coffee. I'm not going to
become a caffeine addict. I'm not going to become
coffee. When my car breaks down, I hope to get
it fixed, or I hope to get a new car. It's more
like I desire that our former parishioner, Kathy
Dodges, Cousin Heidi recovers from COVID -19.
I desire that all of you stay well. I desire
that all of you experience the peace and love
of God. I desire good things. And then we orientate
our mind and our heart. When we desire an enemy
to suffer, someone we don't like to experience
something bad, then our attention is going towards
our passions. Today, we hear this parable, which
Jesus spoke to those, it says, well, it starts
off with this, with verse 11. It would be nice
if the lectionary started with the 13, but it
doesn't. It says this. One of the companies said,
when Jesus was speaking about life and about
forgiveness and about standing firm for the faith
no matter what would come before us, and he said
something about blaspheming against the Holy
Spirit. One of the companies said to a master,
Speak to my brother, please, that he would give
me my share of the inheritance. And Jesus said
to him, man, and this is ironic because, of course,
man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
And he said to them, take heed, be careful, and
beware of covetousness. For a person's life does
not consist in the abundance of the things which
he possesses. Well, what's covetousness? I had
to look it up. I think I know what it means,
but actually looking it up in the dictionary
is quite revealing. It means desiring something,
a lustful desire for something, even at the expense
of someone else. Even if you hurt someone else.
You've got to have that thing. So Jesus tells
a parable, no doubt spoken to the brother who
would not divide the inheritance and to the brother
who wanted the inheritance. To be careful. And
what does he say? He speaks about the ground
of a certain rich man. This rich man was successful.
That's good. That's a good part of the parable.
He says, I'm so successful, I need to store this
stuff. God has spoken to us, brothers and sisters,
through his word, Jesus Christ. The most profound
word he could give is on the cross in silence,
with his arms outstretched. It's the word of
love. It's the word of salvation. He speaks to
us in the gospel accounts. God speaks to us through
the lives of the saints and what they say. Through
the liturgical life, the church services, the
hymns, the gospels you hear. But still, we want
a word from God on high personally. How about
our rich man? God spoke to him on the last night
of his life. God spoke to him. Thou fool. What
a thing to hear when God speaks to you. Thou
fool. Why a fool? Well, the ground of a certain
rich man produced a good crop. This man is portrayed,
not as a sinner, but as an honest, hardworking
man, like any of us whose labor was blessed by
God with abundance. And truly, the abundance
of the rich man was a good thing. It was a blessing.
This is the catch to the parable. The earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And all
that dwell therein. It all belongs to God. It
is a blessing to work hard. It is a blessing
from God when that work leads to honest, yes,
success. It is a blessing to plan for your retirement
and for your children. It is not a sin to build
a bigger barn. This parable is not about getting
ready for death. It's not about building bigger
barns and being successful and working hard.
It's about covetousness. The parable... given
by our Savior doesn't criticize those things
that that man was successful for. But as the
parable progresses, we see that there's something
terribly wrong, seriously wrong with the man.
I, my, I will do this, I will do that. With the
increase of his wealth, there was no corresponding
increase in his heart. Maybe he was fearful he
would lose it all. His desire was focused. He
had no corresponding generosity. Covetousness
is what? It's the lustful desire to acquire something
even at the expense of someone else. In this
case, no acknowledgement of God's hand at all.
My crops, my this. my that, and ultimately he
says, the stupidest thing of all, which makes
him the fool, my soul. And I will do this, and
I will do that. Dear friends, let me encourage
you every morning so your mind doesn't go like
this foolish rich man. Let me encourage you to
say the prayer before work. Every day before
you start. And what does that prayer say? Oh,
Jesus Christ, thou hast said with thy most pure
lips that without me ye can do nothing. Oh, Lord,
we embrace these words. So it was at the height
of this man's prosperity that he died after he
was spoken to by God. You know, our prayers of
Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving's coming ought
to outnumber the prayers of request. As much
as we request, much more should we say thank
you to God. Prosperity is not a virtue. It is
a blessing. Wealth is not a virtue. It is a blessing
to be shared. The parable reminds us of the truth
that, as Dr. Martin Luther King said, money is
a good servant, but a bad master. Again, when
the coffin is lowered into the ground at the
cemetery, it's my duty as a priest to take a
shovel full of dirt. And say the words of the
psalm to remind us that we come from the same
place. God fashioned us out of the dust of the
earth. And we only exist because he breathed
into us the living spirit. And we've been redeemed.
We've been saved. We heard about a temple on
Friday and yesterday morning. And today we hear
about a barn. We're being built up. We are stones
of the temple of God. And what I say at the grave
with my shovel full of dirt as I put the dirt
on the coffin in that six -foot hole is the words
from the psalm. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. It's all his. Everything we
have, dependent on Christ our Savior. Indeed,
our death and our resurrection. Right now, we're
dust and ashes. But in the age to come, we will
be immortal. So the saint tells us, again, whatever
we desire, that becomes our self, our true essence.
Do we desire? goodness, the peace and wisdom
of God. We have to examine our conscience daily
because we're in flux, we move around, we live
in troubled times, we're not sure what we want
one day or the next. I know for me that's true.
What do we deeply desire? To be with Christ,
to live in the light of his love, to be his apostle,
his disciple, his follower. his servant? If that's
it, then we have no fear of covetousness because
those things are eternal. But if we've got our
mind, our heart, our desire fixed on that which
is of this earth, and fear is one big thing,
those things aren't eternal and they will pass
away. Let's not be fools. Let's be servants of
God. Let's desire the one thing needful that
Jesus has about Mary. One thing needful. The
salvation of our soul. And God will take care
of the rest with our hard work and our cooperation
with him. So you see, this isn't a parable just
about morals and ethics. This is a parable about
the state of our soul before God. To him be glory.
and majesty now and ever to ages of ages. Amen.