WEBVTT 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:06.080 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:11.980 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Brothers and sisters, 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:14.380 at first this parable might not make much sense 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.640 to us in the modern world. Isn't it perfectly 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:22.859 normal for an older man to save up for his retirement? 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:28.859 Isn't that what this gospel is about? He had 00:00:28.859 --> 00:00:30.940 lots. He could retire. He could eat, drink, and 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:33.719 be merry. He didn't have to worry about his material 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:37.320 support any longer. He had enough to sustain 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:41.060 himself indefinitely, so it seemed. What's wrong 00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:47.600 with that? Why is this man called a fool? Well, 00:00:47.619 --> 00:00:50.700 it seems that precisely the final verse of the 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:56.359 parable gives us a clue. He was rich, but not 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:00.479 rich toward God. Now, what does that mean, to 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.799 be rich? toward God. He was rich in terms of 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:08.959 this world, but he was not rich in terms of the 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:13.579 kingdom of heaven. Being from Alaska, you can 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:15.939 expect an Alaskan story from me, and that's what 00:01:15.939 --> 00:01:20.640 I'm going to divulge now. It's a wonderful story, 00:01:20.859 --> 00:01:24.700 one of my favorite Yupik Eskimo folktales of 00:01:24.700 --> 00:01:28.599 a boy and his grandmother who are starving. They're 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:31.120 living all alone. Why there's no village nearby 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.140 is never explained. What happened to the boy's 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:38.040 parents? Forget that, they never tell you. And 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:39.840 why didn't they notice that they were out of 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.319 food yesterday? It's just the way the story begins. 00:01:44.819 --> 00:01:47.519 The grandmother says to the grandson, grandson, 00:01:47.739 --> 00:01:50.920 we're out of food. You'll have to go hunting. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:54.439 The boy says, rather arrogantly, I'll be right 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:58.950 back. Now, why do I say this is arrogance? Because 00:01:58.950 --> 00:02:01.930 the traditional belief among tribal peoples everywhere 00:02:01.930 --> 00:02:05.450 is that the animals are wise, smart, strong, 00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:08.770 and intelligent. You never catch an animal because 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:12.169 you tricked it or overpowered it. You only catch 00:02:12.169 --> 00:02:15.849 the animal that allows you to catch it. Now, 00:02:15.889 --> 00:02:18.229 that may seem preposterous to any of you who 00:02:18.229 --> 00:02:23.689 have never gone hunting. But it's the universal 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:26.469 belief among tribal peoples everywhere. In fact, 00:02:26.490 --> 00:02:28.430 if I can digress a bit, just to tell another 00:02:28.430 --> 00:02:31.169 story in the midst of this one. The story that 00:02:31.169 --> 00:02:33.210 both the Tlingit Indian people tell in southeast 00:02:33.210 --> 00:02:36.349 Alaska and the Yupik Eskimo people say on the 00:02:36.349 --> 00:02:38.710 opposite side of the state along the Bering Sea 00:02:38.710 --> 00:02:41.210 is this. The first people arrived, at least in 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:44.449 Alaska, in what is now remembered as a huge clamshell. 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:48.330 And as the emerged raven, the leader of all the 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:51.009 animals, walked up to them and inspected this 00:02:51.009 --> 00:02:55.360 group of humans. Shaking his head. Pathetic. 00:02:56.379 --> 00:03:01.680 Ridiculous. You've got no wings. You can't fly. 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:04.780 You have no feathers. Your legs are short and 00:03:04.780 --> 00:03:07.840 stubby. You obviously can't run very fast. And 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:11.620 worst of all, you have almost no fur. The first 00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:14.780 day of winter and you're goners. I'm sorry to 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:18.719 inform you, but you have no future here. But 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:20.719 Raven felt sorry for the first human beings. 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:23.979 He called a convocation of all the Arctic animals. 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:26.240 Look what I found on the beach this morning, 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:31.000 Raven said. And all the animals examined the 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:33.460 first humans and came quickly to the same conclusion. 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:36.000 They can't run, they can't fly, they have no 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.500 claws worth anything, and their teeth are stubby 00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:40.539 little bits that we don't even know what they're 00:03:40.539 --> 00:03:43.099 going to eat. And worst of all, they're going 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:46.080 to freeze to death with the first blizzard. Exactly, 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:48.000 said Raven, I've come to the same conclusion. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.930 The animals said, but Raven, they're kind of 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:57.650 cute. Let's keep them. Raven said, I have no 00:03:57.650 --> 00:03:59.870 objection to that, but I don't see how it's going 00:03:59.870 --> 00:04:02.129 to be possible. I'm open to your suggestions. 00:04:03.310 --> 00:04:05.949 The animals conferred most of that day and returned 00:04:05.949 --> 00:04:09.430 by evening with this proposition. They said, 00:04:09.449 --> 00:04:11.870 what if we give these pathetic new creatures 00:04:11.870 --> 00:04:15.750 our feathers and our fur for cover, for clothing? 00:04:15.909 --> 00:04:18.670 And what if we give them our bodies, our flesh, 00:04:18.730 --> 00:04:23.589 as meat? Couldn't they survive then? Raven seriously 00:04:23.589 --> 00:04:27.170 considered this proposal and concluded, you know, 00:04:27.250 --> 00:04:30.870 that just might work. But why would you do that? 00:04:30.949 --> 00:04:33.649 What's in it for you? And the animals said, we 00:04:33.649 --> 00:04:35.889 will give these ridiculous, pathetic new creatures 00:04:35.889 --> 00:04:38.810 our feathers and fur for cover, for clothing, 00:04:38.930 --> 00:04:42.410 and we will give them our bodies as meat in exchange 00:04:42.410 --> 00:04:48.189 for gratitude and respect. And that's the deal. 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.560 That's the covenant the animals made with the 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:55.139 human beings. You can see immediately why Christianity 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:59.680 made such good sense to such people. When the 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.839 gospel came and said, the Lord came to offer 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:06.519 himself to you, to sacrifice himself for your 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.980 salvation, and as we sing on Holy Saturday, to 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:13.620 give himself precisely as food to the faithful. 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:17.589 Now back to my original story. The boy's going 00:05:17.589 --> 00:05:21.069 hunting, you recall. And he walks all day, but 00:05:21.069 --> 00:05:23.509 he said, I'll be right back. As if it's up to 00:05:23.509 --> 00:05:27.029 him whether or not he will catch anything. And 00:05:27.029 --> 00:05:29.389 the animals, having overheard this, withhold 00:05:29.389 --> 00:05:33.410 themselves. They hide. He doesn't see a mosquito 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:36.810 that day, not a bird, not a squirrel. He walks 00:05:36.810 --> 00:05:39.709 all day into the night. He's starving, he's hungry, 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:43.389 he's frustrated and exhausted. And finally, he 00:05:43.389 --> 00:05:47.319 just collapses onto a tree stump. Just as he's 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:49.360 about to doze off to take something of a nap, 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:53.540 a tiny shrew, a mouse, runs right over his foot, 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:55.920 right over his boot. The boy jumps up. What was 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.519 that? He grabs a stick and clunks that little 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:02.060 mouse. Now holding it in the palm of his hand, 00:06:02.100 --> 00:06:06.540 he's got the catch of the day. It's not much. 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:08.660 He told Granny he'd be right back. If he walks 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:12.439 all night, he can return this to her house. But 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:15.389 she'll laugh at him. You've been gone all day 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:18.129 and all night, and all you caught was this tiny 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:20.730 shrew, this little mouse. And what will Grandma 00:06:20.730 --> 00:06:23.610 do with this? I tease my Yupik wife, there's 00:06:23.610 --> 00:06:28.509 only one recipe in the Yupik cookbook. It starts 00:06:28.509 --> 00:06:34.410 with boil water. She will make mouse soup. But 00:06:34.410 --> 00:06:37.410 he'll get a tiny little bite, and so will she. 00:06:37.490 --> 00:06:40.500 They'll both be starving. What's the point of 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:43.439 carrying this little mouse home only to be ridiculed 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:45.860 and then have to walk all the way back out here 00:06:45.860 --> 00:06:48.939 to hunt again tomorrow? I'll eat it myself, he 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:52.459 rationalizes. I need to keep up my strength. 00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:54.939 Granny's just sitting in the house sewing or 00:06:54.939 --> 00:06:57.959 something back there. I'm expending all my energy. 00:06:58.540 --> 00:07:01.740 I deserve this little snack. And so he devours 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:04.660 that little mouse and falls asleep. The next 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:07.519 morning, he resumes his hunt. He walks half the 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:09.480 day and comes to a pond about as big as this 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:13.160 church. In that pond, there are muskrats. Most 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:16.279 of the muskrats flee from the boy. But one of 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:18.259 them feels sorry for this pathetic, starving 00:07:18.259 --> 00:07:20.899 kid and swims close enough for the boy now to 00:07:20.899 --> 00:07:24.180 use an arrow to shoot that muskrat. Now he's 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:29.279 got lunch on a stick. It's good to feed one person, 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:31.399 but not enough to share with two. If he walks 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:33.620 all day and all night, he can return this to 00:07:33.620 --> 00:07:35.860 Grandma's house, but he'll have to share it with 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:39.240 her. She'll get three or four bites, and he'll 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:41.040 get the other half, and they'll both still be 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.540 starving. It's not worth it to walk all the way 00:07:43.540 --> 00:07:47.240 back to Grandma's. I'll eat it myself. I'll get 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:49.579 something better, more substantial for Granny 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:52.660 tomorrow. And so he eats the muskrat. The next 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:55.240 day, he comes to a lake filled with beaver. Most 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:57.639 of the beaver flee from the boy, but one approaches 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:00.420 close enough for him to spear that beaver. Now 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:02.620 the beaver is a substantial amount of meat, but 00:08:02.620 --> 00:08:05.199 the boy is so hungry now, without even thinking 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:07.600 of his grandmother, he devours the entire beaver. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:10.360 The next day he arrives at the sea coast and 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:13.620 kills a seal and eats the whole seal. The next 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:16.120 day he kills a walrus and he eats the whole walrus. 00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:18.899 The next day he kills a sea lion and he eats 00:08:18.899 --> 00:08:22.050 the whole sea lion. And finally, he finds a beached 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:24.589 whale the size of this church, and he eats the 00:08:24.589 --> 00:08:30.870 whole whale. Now this stretches him to a size 00:08:30.870 --> 00:08:33.809 taller than this roof. He's become something 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:36.370 of a big, fat, ugly monster at this point, but 00:08:36.370 --> 00:08:39.809 he's thirsty. So he kneels down and swallows 00:08:39.809 --> 00:08:43.649 the Bering Sea. And this makes him larger than 00:08:43.649 --> 00:08:46.639 any dinosaur that roamed the planet. the biggest, 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:49.700 ugliest monster that has ever existed, and he 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:53.460 walks home in seven giant steps, shaking the 00:08:53.460 --> 00:08:56.679 earth beneath his feet, creating an earthquake 00:08:56.679 --> 00:09:00.139 with every step. He finally arrives at his grandmother's 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:04.179 house. Then he realizes what has happened to 00:09:04.179 --> 00:09:08.759 him. The house is only the size of me compared 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:13.269 to my shoe. He looks down at that house and realizes 00:09:13.269 --> 00:09:17.289 what a big, fat, ugly monster he has become. 00:09:17.690 --> 00:09:20.990 And Granny is still in there a week later, faint 00:09:20.990 --> 00:09:26.169 with hunger, sewing. She calls out faintly, Who's 00:09:26.169 --> 00:09:30.490 there? The boy answers, Don't worry, Grandma, 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:34.669 it's just me. She calls out to him, Well, then 00:09:34.669 --> 00:09:41.090 come in, dear. He answers, I can't. And he starts 00:09:41.090 --> 00:09:44.929 to cry. Grandma calls to him, what's the matter, 00:09:44.990 --> 00:09:49.509 grandson? He answers, not untruthfully, I've 00:09:49.509 --> 00:09:53.870 brought home too much food. Grandma says, that's 00:09:53.870 --> 00:09:55.529 all right, grandson. You can come in through 00:09:55.529 --> 00:09:59.070 the roof. Come in through the smoke hole. He 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:01.169 places one huge foot on one side of the house 00:10:01.169 --> 00:10:04.350 and another huge foot on the opposite side. And 00:10:04.350 --> 00:10:08.230 then she calls up to him, now jump in, head first. 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:13.440 Head first. As if he were a gymnast in the Olympics 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.320 or on a diving board or trampoline. He bends 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.500 his knees and he throws his whole body up into 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:22.100 the air. And as his head descends toward the 00:10:22.100 --> 00:10:25.600 chimney of the house, Grandma within holds up 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:30.470 her magical ivory sewing needle. He passes through 00:10:30.470 --> 00:10:32.990 the eye, through the hole of that needle, and 00:10:32.990 --> 00:10:35.509 she transforms him back into his normal size. 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:38.090 And out of him comes the ocean, the whale, the 00:10:38.090 --> 00:10:39.990 walrus, the sea lion, the seal, the beaver, and 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:42.929 all that food. And the story traditionally ends 00:10:42.929 --> 00:10:46.830 with grandmother saying to the boy, Oh, grandson, 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:52.970 what a good provider you are. Now you can just 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:56.159 say that's a silly old Eskimo fairy tale. But 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.200 I submit to you it's a very serious story that 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:04.019 ties us directly to today's gospel. The boy did 00:11:04.019 --> 00:11:08.259 not grow up to be a human being. The boy did 00:11:08.259 --> 00:11:10.179 not grow up to be the kind of creature he was 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:14.299 intended by God to be. He grew up to be a monster. 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:22.450 Why? Because he cared only for himself. He didn't 00:11:22.450 --> 00:11:23.970 care about his grandmother. He didn't care about 00:11:23.970 --> 00:11:26.909 anyone as long as he got what he wanted, which 00:11:26.909 --> 00:11:29.429 is exactly, of course, the way all babies are. 00:11:29.850 --> 00:11:33.090 An infant, when they're hungry, will cry till 00:11:33.090 --> 00:11:36.070 they're fed. An infant, when they're uncomfortable, 00:11:36.529 --> 00:11:40.309 will cry until their needs are met. An infant 00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:43.450 will demand what it needs or wants and will scream 00:11:43.450 --> 00:11:47.049 until he gets it. That's how we all are as infants. 00:11:48.169 --> 00:11:52.519 But what does it mean to grow up? To be a human 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.600 being. To be a real man or a real woman. It means, 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:00.700 in the spirit of today's parable, to care about 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:05.360 others. The boy in the story cared only for himself 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:11.580 and grew up to be a monster. My students at the 00:12:11.580 --> 00:12:15.759 elementary school ask, is this story true? And 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.919 I have to respond, in some ways it is. Because 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:21.539 whether you grow up to be a Christ -like person 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:27.320 or a monster is your option. And how do we become 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:31.220 inhuman, insensitive monsters instead of real 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:34.320 people, Christ -like human beings? By caring 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:39.559 only for ourselves. By being rich in this world, 00:12:39.620 --> 00:12:45.620 but not rich toward God. How do we become rich 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:50.120 toward God? By giving away as much as we can. 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:55.679 This is the rule. What in this life you save 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:00.059 for yourself is garbage. It actually counts against 00:13:00.059 --> 00:13:03.940 you. And what you give away in the name of Christ 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:10.179 is gold. It's your fortune. Your heavenly riches 00:13:10.179 --> 00:13:13.179 will be calculated precisely based on how much 00:13:13.179 --> 00:13:17.759 you gave away. How much you provided for others, 00:13:17.980 --> 00:13:21.559 not what you kept for yourself. The ballgame 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:25.940 rules are the opposite of this world. We admire 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:29.620 and respect and defer to those who are wealthy 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:32.440 and powerful and influential, who have made a 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:35.399 lot of money. We think they're something special. 00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:38.899 But every nickel and dime of their fortune will 00:13:38.899 --> 00:13:41.820 count against them on Judgment Day, as it does 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:46.779 for today's man in today's... parable. He was 00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:50.259 rich in this world, but is there any evidence 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:52.740 that he ever cared about anybody else but himself? 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.799 Like the boy in my Eye of the Needle story, he 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:01.919 grew up to be a monster. He was capable of helping 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.779 many and helped none. He was capable of being 00:14:05.779 --> 00:14:09.500 generous and he was stingy. He cared only for 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:13.980 himself and ended his life not rich toward God. 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:17.820 So as we approach Thanksgiving Day in this coming 00:14:17.820 --> 00:14:23.279 month, let's give thanks, not just by feasting, 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:26.720 eating, drinking, and being merry. It's allowed. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.779 We give thanks to God for his blessings. It was 00:14:30.779 --> 00:14:33.679 the land of this rich man that produced his harvest, 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:37.679 and the land was God's gift to him. Our land 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.639 is God's gift to us. But in order to... Properly 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:45.299 give thanks as Orthodox Christians. Let us not 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:48.360 become the monster in today's Eskimo story and 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.980 care only for ourselves, but give thanks to God 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:56.080 by being generous to others. Because we will 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.220 be rich toward God only to the extent that we 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:01.860 have given away at least some of the blessings 00:15:01.860 --> 00:15:05.580 with which God has showered us. Amen.