Luke 12: 13-21

What do you think about the Jesus’ parable this morning?  There was once a man who was very successful in his business.  In today’s language, he had successfully played the commodities market.  So prosperous did he become that his barns could not hold all of his crops.  His solution was to tear down these barns and build bigger and better barns.  Then, with his financial security in hand, he could sit back and truly enjoy life.  His philosophy was: eat, drink, and be merry.

Truth be told, when I read this story last week after returning from my vacation in California, I find myself rather envious of this man.  During my vacation, Elizabeth and I visited several colleges there.  As some of you know, Elizabeth wants to go to a college in California next year.  So, we visited several UC schools and a couple of private colleges.  Well, I am afraid I can’t send her to these colleges we visited because the tuition is so expensive.  According to their printed information, it costs about $650,000 per year including room and board.  Wow! 

Now you know why I am envious of this man in our lesson.  A financially successful man doesn’t have to worry about his kids’ college education.  Not only for that, but truth be told, we see him as savvy and powerful.  Am I wrong?  YET, Jesus concludes the story by saying that this man is a fool.

Let me share a story.  Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot.  He wanted more of everything.  Here is how Tolstoy tells the story: One day a farmer received a novel offer.  For 1000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day.  The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.  

Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace.  By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground.  Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point.  He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.  As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line.  

Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared.  He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth.  In a few minutes he was dead.  Afterwards, his servants dug a grave.  It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide.  The title of Tolstoy’s story is: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”
In the end, Tolstoy suggests, all a man really owns is a 6 by 3 piece of earth, so we are better off putting our confidence elsewhere.  Jesus, like Tolstoy, is warning us that we had better not put our trust in the promise of materialism; if we do, we will be sadly disappointed.  Jesus might have asked, “How much barn does a man need?”  We might ask today…, how much storage space does a man need?  The only resource that can possibly address our deepest longing is God.  It is God that will be our rock and our sanity and our security; not a mutual fund.  When the doctor calls you in one day and says: It is cancer.  It is God that will offer you the peace and calm that you so desperately seek.

The man in the parable was a fool because he banked on full barns.  As Paul advises us in Colossians, let us set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Colossians 3:2).  I believe we will be truly wealthy beyond all imagining if we only invest in the “real estate” of REAL relationships, with our God, with our family, with our friends, with our church, and with our community.

Like any good investment “property,” in the real estate of relationships the three most important factors are “location, location, location.”  Right?  The location of your heart.  The location of your soul.  The location of your strength.  The grounding that makes all other relationships possible is the commitment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).  If you get those love “locations” right, then you will be among the richest people in the world.

In 2008, Rev. Rick Warren, leading pastor of the Saddleback Community Church, led a presidential debate between McCain and Obama.  I still remember one question very clearly.  The debate was almost over and, all of sudden, Warren simply said, “Define rich.”  McCain immediately said, “5 million?” and he laughed because he knew it was not a good answer at all.  I don’t remember exactly what Obama said.  But, I remember he said something that our Lord wants to make a point with this parable.

The rich farmer in our Gospel lesson today invested in the wrong kind of real estate.  He measured his wealth according to the standards of this world.  But this rich farmer had no investment in relationship with God or with others in his community.  In Jesus’ parable the rich man only talks to himself.  Why?  Because he is the only person he truly cares about.  He loves his “stuff.”  He loves himself.  The rest of the world, its people, its problems, are none of his concern.  He believes that by increasing his worldly wealth he will assure himself a long, carefree existence.

The truth is this: What the rich man guaranteed was that he would die one day.  It could be 20 years from now.  Or, it could be tomorrow.  And he had no relationship with God.  No cords of compassion tied him to anyone else in his life.  He had no one to “eat, drink, and be merry” with.  His vision of a perfect future was huge hoards, bursting barns, and himself.  His notion of nirvana was glorying and gloating over his riches.  But he entertains no notions of sharing his bounty with others – no family, no friends, no community of faith.

I believe the richest real estate is only found in relationship.  It is the only “real” investment we can make in our lives.  Commitment and compassion have no off-seasons, no recessions, no bear markets.  Loving with all our heart, and soul, and strength always brings a “profit” of blessing and bounty, even if those we love will not or cannot return our love.

Want to be wealthy in life?  Invest in “real” estate.  Invest in the people you love and live with.  Invest in the people you work next to and encounter on the street.  Build up your “real” value, your divine dividend, by being “rich toward God,” not rich in “material things.”

We can all be wealthy beyond the world’s imagining, if we are invested in the “real” estate of a cherished relationship with the God who has given everything for us.  Thanks to be God.  Amen.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash