My Faith Report Card
Hosea 11:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
NO 8/5/07
Scene
Jesus has a huge crowd following him as he is headed for Jerusalem. He has had an encounter with Martha and Mary where Martha attempts to get him to make Mary do what she wants her to do and Jesus does not play that game. Once again, Jesus is caught in the middle of a family dispute and asked to solve the problem but he will not play the game. Jesus is not a game-player and he makes that clear.
Jesus uses the occasion to teach the disciples, crowd and us a most valuable lesson about how we are to live should we want to be called followers. As I read this passage and prayed about it some memories of my earlier life began to come into awareness. Let me share with you my memories and asked that you think about yourself in this light.
My Report Card
I easily remember report cards prepared every six weeks when I was in school. The card would fit comfortably in my back pocket and I was to take it home for my parents to sign and bring it back to school the next day. The card listed all the subjects and had the grade for that six weeks and then a column for comments about behavior. Do you remember those days? Unlike others here in this sanctuary, I dreaded report card days and even more handing it over to my mother and father. I was not a very good student and not very well behaved in class and all of that was reflected on the report card. It was really difficult to avoid changing the grades or losing the report card. Actually, I did lose a couple of them and there were those that got so stained from grass and mud on the way home that it was hard to read them. Each of the report card days was difficult for me.
My Faith Report Card
Now, I can easily imagine walking up to Jesus and handing him a report card. I don’t believe that will be a pretty sight. I suppose that I will sort of shuffle my feet, look down at the ground and hold out my faith report card without looking into his eyes. It will be a difficult day.
This is what I see going on in the case of the man in the Gospel passage. He would be popular in our culture by being so successful that he needed larger barns to hold his stuff. God is saying, “I want to see your report card and the only subject listed is, ‘greed.’” God’s response to the successful man’s card is, “Fool!”
Shudder
I shudder a little when I think of this because I’ve come to understand that we are not just talking about money when we talk about greed.
First Methodist Birmingham
Back in the middle 60s I served Gandy’s Cover and Mt. Tabor Methodist Churches and we would not have preaching on fifth Sundays because it messed with the schedule. Every fifth Sunday I would head for First Methodist Church in Birmingham and listen to Denson Franklin preach. Now, I’m not sure that I really took full advantage of the beautiful music, huge choir, a sanctuary filled with hymns and people, or even the thoughtfulness and theology of Denson’s sermons. I was too busy picturing myself in that pulpit.
Now, I never once thought about the salary he must have been making. I was making a whooping $200 to $300 a month and what more could a fellow need? I was thinking of the status. How people would think of me – like they thought of Denson Franklin. I was thinking about how great I would be by being the pastor of First Church Birmingham. GREED!
Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling
Leaving the local church for a specialized ministry in Pastoral Care and Counseling did not change this bent on greed one iota. I changed my view from standing in the pulpit at First Church to being the Director of the Department. This time it probably had somewhat more to do with money but status was still the greatest motivator. GREED!
The “Self” Issue is the Greed Issue
Eugene Peterson in The Message translates the last verse of this passage in a most significant and understandable manner and I want to share this with you: Luke 12:23 "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."
Greed is all about what we fill our barns with rather than how many or how full our barns may be. Peterson makes it clear that greed is thinking about self rather than God.
Greed – Turning Care into Self-Righteousness
The Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor writes in an article entitled, The Evils of Pride and Self-Righteousness, “In a culture that sanctions every individual's right to seek his or her own path to perfection, self-righteousness can seem only an irritating character flaw. One person decides that steaming vegetables is the responsible way to eat and turns pale when her friends order meat. Someone else discovers the aerobic benefits of running and begins to badger all his sedentary friends. We all do it on some level. We find something that gives us life and we want everyone else to have it too. We want to share the good we have found, whether it is as simple as a new way of losing weight or as profound as a new way of approaching God.
But when I turn my good into your duty and judge you for your failure to perform it according to my standards, then my wish for your well-being becomes something darker and more dangerous. My altruism becomes self-righteousness, which is no longer an annoying habit but a pernicious pride that works evil in the human soul… Jesus does not preach humility because modesty is becoming. He preaches it because it is the only cure for the deadly pride and arrogance that make us want to kill each other, whether the murder is as subtle as purging someone from our circle of friends or as bloody as nailing someone to a tree. The only cure is to recognize each other as kin, united by the only one who was ever right.”
Conclusion
When we put ourselves first we are living greed. When we become satisfied that we are on our way to heaven and it’s too bad about those who are not like us – we are living in greed. When we have decided that we are right and everyone else is wrong – we are walking the path of greed. When we fail to see that every other human being, no exceptions, is the daughter or son of God, the One Father, then we are thinking in terms of greed.
I can look back and see just how foolish I was when I didn’t study enough to make good grades. It is simple to see how when I let sports, band, girlfriends or just having a good time become more important than gathering the tools I would need to be a contributing member of the human race, I was foolish. I thought of me. I filled my barn with self. I lived in greed.
How are you living? If Jesus was standing before you today and asked to see your greed report card how would you respond? I shudder at the thought.
That, however, is not the end. Hosea and Paul remind us that even when we are fools in life and God becomes angry God’s anger is not the defining word. Hosea hears God saying that I don’t have to act on my anger because I’m not human, I’m God. God’s love will come to bear in the end. In the meantime, our bent to greed will have its toll that must be paid. However, if we will wear the new wardrobe provided by the Love of our Lord we will also have a new life and a new way to live life.
Step off that pathway of greed today. Set your focus on the needs of others rather than the reasons they don’t deserve our help. Set your eyes upon Jesus and live as closely as you can to how he lived. I can tell you that my faith report card is not the same as it once was. Perhaps it was the three years of military duty or the 16 months in Korea or the work of the Spirit, I’m not sure but I know there was a change in my life. My grades in college and graduate school were mostly As and Bs. I’m giving my life to Jesus once again in the hope that his transforming love will grow my faith stronger and deeper. Join me in living a new report card day.