Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I’m a child of the 1990’s. I remember a world before smart phones and social media, I wore Nirvana shirts because I actually listened to the band (I could write a whole post on the joys of opening the plastic wrap encasing CDs), and I remember Skater culture with its baggy jeans, poor posture, and punky attitude. In particular, I remember a brand skaters used to wear called No Fear. I had a No Fear shirt with a cool saying on the back:
He who dies with the most toys…still dies!
So edgy! So deep! So…biblical?
Seriously. The Gospel reading this week gives a similar message. Actually…the Bible is edgier and with a pretty clear warning!
Jesus tells a story about a farmer whose land produces an abundant harvest that won’t fit into his barn. He decides to build bigger ones to accommodate the surplus, reveling in his good fortune. However, that night God calls him out of his earthly life to his judgement. The story implies that your great fortune in this life does not translate to the same in the next one. It may be, depending on your choices, a detriment.
Like the farmer, we want all the barns for all the toys! And both No Fear and the Gospel agree this isn’t good. While the pithy saying adorning the shirt shows the futility in hording things, Christ clearly warns against it. The garment mocks those consumed by materialism, the Gospel convicts us to avoid falling to its allure.
And yet, Jesus, in His tragic tale, weaves a message of hope. As in all His parables with less-than-happy endings, He points to the path He wants us all to follow – the path that leads to the home we were made to inhabit. Heaven.
If you feel like the farmer, how do you give the story a happy ending? What saying would you write that would truly inspire no fear? What if you gave all of yourself to help those around you? Maybe, at your final judgement, the back of your shirt could read…
Gave to your neighbor before you died…so you get all the (heavenly) toys!