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"What Happens to People" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– August 4, 2013 Centenary United
Psalm 107:1-9; Luke 12:13-21 Many years ago there was a butcher who worked in a family-owned
grocery store near where my family lived.
He lived by himself for most of his life and absolutely enjoyed
his craft. Most of all, he
lived for his relationship with the other butchers, most of whom had
been working at the store for as long as he had.
The day came when this
gentle giant died. Jake
had no family and his simple Last
Will and Testament directed that his estate of $38,000 be divided
equally among the other butchers.
That was a lot of money in those days.
Jake’s living expenses were very modest so over the years his
left-over salary accumulated. He
knew that his fellow-butchers had children to educate and weddings
coming up so it gave him great pleasure to provide for them after his
death. What happened next dramatically challenges our sense of
right and
wrong.
An obscure relative that lived in the mid-west took Jake’s estate
to court. He contested
the Will because he could
prove that he was family. He was a distant cousin that had never met
Jake. The court hearing was
successful for this young man and he was awarded the money, minus his
legal expenses. This morning we are going to consider what happens to people that
circle like sharks when there is
a pot of gold at the end
of someone’s
rainbow.
We are also going to consider what frequently happens to us when
we come into contact with those that prey on people and take what is not
theirs. We notice from our Scripture lesson today that this was the kind
of episode Jesus faced when a listener said, “Teacher, tell my brother
to give me my portion of the property that our father left to both
of us.” Jesus refused
to become involved in the family squabble.
The man’s request, however,
provided Jesus with an opportunity to discuss what happens to people
when they struggle over something they consider of material value.
The allure of wealth can be so seductive that it causes some
people to cross the line in
ways we can hardly imagine.
What happens to people that causes them to become like a moth to a
flame? We often see this
behavior outcrop in families before and after a funeral.
A wealthy colonel retired in It was obvious to everyone who knew the colonel that he would
never do such a thing. They
speculated that the only way the colonel would have signed over
everything to a doctor he had never met, was if he had been told he was
signing papers giving permission for his surgery.
Under the influence of enough
medication, the trusting colonel would have signed anything. Instead of giving consent to honor hospital protocols, he signed an up-dated Will that was also witnessed by several others in the medical community. In a court of Law, the doctor walked away with the entire estate. When the family produced an earlier Will from the colonel’s personal safety deposit box, the document did not matter. Everyone lied, and legally there was nothing the family could do. There was a pastor in Her family sat in my office and told me that there was nothing
legally they could do. Like the
loved ones of the colonel, the family members knew that their mother
would never have made such a decision unless she had been manipulated to
do so by her pastor. Jesus’ message was quite clear throughout his ministry about the
consequences for people whose spirits have become entwined in the things
of this world. Jesus once
taught, “Where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also.”
(Matthew 6:21)
In today’s lesson he said.
“Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because
your
true life is not made up of
the things you own in spite of how wealthy you are.” What happens to people when they become committed to stealing 136
million dollars worth of diamonds, a theft that occurred last week
reported to be the greatest jewelry heist in history?
What happens to people who swindle seniors out of their
life-savings? What causes
people to think that by taking what is not theirs, they are getting
ahead in life? Most of us could not imagine living in a home on a farm that we
literally stole from the relatives of a man who died of cancer.
Nor, could we live with the thousands of dollars that were meant
for the needs of the butcher’s friends simply because we were an
absentee, distant cousin. Imagine a life that is so self-absorbed that it has no understanding of what it is like to emit qualities like thoughtfulness, generosity, compassion, sharing, wholesome living, empathy, and the confidence-building that comes from leaving this world a better place because they lived. Some people are so glued
to the things of this world that they cannot display the qualities of
their divinity that were just
named. Their sense of
accomplishment comes from building
magnificent sand castles at
the edge of the surf. They
do not realize that by
morning, the things in which
they invested their life’s energies will be gone. What happens to people
like us when we hear these stories or even fall victim to such a
person that is driven by the lust for needing what is not theirs?
We can become filled with rage.
As with many injustices in our society, we can strap on a placard
and march with other protesters.
The truth is that no
one ever gets away with anything.
Who we become only changes when we make the decision to do so.
There can be no greater justice than this.
God forgives everyone one
hundred percent of the time, but even God cannot present
a high school diploma to
anyone that has refused to leave
the first grade.
What Jesus did
was to refuse to get involved in any struggle over worldly possessions.
Are
we as understanding as he was?
Sometimes people spend years being trapped by their bitterness
and anger after such a theft. These feelings make the theft all the more
spiritually destructive by allowing the thief to hold people’s spirits
captive as well. Learning
to let go instantly allows justice to come in another form in another
day. One of my colleagues in Several months went by and he had not received one bill from the
managers even though he had handed out 38 cards.
He thought “How wonderful!
The managers have gotten into the spirit of giving to the poor
and the hungry in the name of Christ.”
Jim traveled to the restaurants to thank each manager personally. Each one told him a similar story. They said, “The people you sent to us tried to redeem the card for its cash value. When we told them that we were not doing that, they left very irritated.” Not one person redeemed the card for a free lunch. In essence, they wanted to steal money from the pastor to use for other purposes. Pastor Jim told me that we should never judge
a good thing by its abuse.
Jim knew that when we give with the insistence that our gift must
be used for the purpose we intended, such an attitude does not
reflect who we are striving to become.
God places no strings on how we live in creation. God floods the
material world with the symbols of caring and compassion.
God gives us everything we could possibly need in such abundance
that there is plenty left over so we can share. God’s creative energy is
always flowing away from its source.
It appears that God allows people to respond to creation in any
fashion that they choose. Jesus
refused to become involved with any struggle over worldly possessions.
Jesus knew what
happens to people when they become attached to the things of this world.
It happens all the time.
What we think about and
desire expands. What we
feed grows larger and larger.
Since we know this is
a universal theme that is part of all human evolution, why not feed our
desire to allow our divinity
to show up more often?
It is our kind of spirit,
attitude and behavior that the world needs to experience.
We
can help others transform their lives by our behavior and attitudes, not
by our words or our clamoring for
justice, or our preaching “thou shalt not.”
If we want the angel
living under our skin to mature, our desires will focus on developing
the qualities that we imagine are part of God’s nature.
Instead of building
magnificent sand castles at the
edge of the surf, we will become
a lighthouse that offers
guidance to other passing
vessels.
We will become the leaven for the loaf.
This is our calling as disciples.
What other people chose to become is up to them.
We have to remember that disciples of Jesus have been called to
become a light in darkness.
By that definition, we will always be way outnumbered by those
that understand their lives differently.
However, it took one Jesus to bring humanity into a new awareness
of how to live so that our
unencumbered spirits will sail on and on once our journey on earth
is done. This transformation of
the world began after only three years of his ministry.
What can God do with us? |