After Thoughts: Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 12:13-21

Reflecting on last Sunday’s Gospel lesson, the first thing we probably recall is that it was about the guy who built the big barns to store all of his wealth. But let’s back up. What about the opening verses that set the context for the story? The ones where ‘Someone’ in the crowd wants Jesus to tell his brother to share the family inheritance with him. This request is what leads to the parable that Jesus tells. So let’s take a closer look at that.

Most likely, Someone is a younger brother. The law of the land at that time made the oldest brother the sole heir to all of the father’s goods. Everything went to the firstborn male. Someone, the man making the demand of Jesus, is not the one receiving the inheritance, hence he must not be the oldest. He wants an advocate, someone to plead his case, take his side, set things right.

Someone does not get the response he wants. Jesus does not demand that the older brother share the inheritance. He does not defend the younger brother who has been left out. In true Jesus fashion, he poses a question “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” and then he tells a story.

In this story, a man is blessed with abundance. And what does he choose to do with it? To shrink inward, to think of himself. “What should I do?” “I will do this.” “I will pull down.” “I will store.” “I will say to my soul…” I, I, I. This guy had some serious myopia. So bad that it ticks God off to the point that God takes drastic action. This rich guy has left God and his neighbor completely outside the equation of his life. The consequences are dire.

In a way, I feel a bit sorry for the rich guy. He had a big year, loads of success, and he was strutting his stuff. Haven’t I done the same? I know I have. Maybe you have, too. We start thinking we’re all that and a side of fries. We start thinking we earned that abundance, we deserve that abundance, we are worth that abundance. Hopefully, it is at this point that we remember this story, drop to our knees, give thanks to God, and then arise to help and love our neighbor.

Maybe this is what Jesus hoped the older brother would do when he heard this story. That, even though the law allowed him to take it all, he would choose differently, he would choose mercy, grace, and sacrifice to love his younger brother. But, just in case that brother, or me, or you, or any of us, missed the point, Jesus would live an even bigger story to drive it home.

Jesus is the firstborn son of God. He is the firstborn within a large family. (Romans 8) He is the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1) God brought Jesus, the firstborn, into the world. (Hebrews 1) Jesus is the firstborn of the dead. (Revelation 1) Get it? According to the law, it’s all His. Everything the Father has. What did he decide to do? Share it all. Jesus made us heirs of God - and joint heirs with Jesus. The magnitude of this is impossible to fathom. The only response is a humble heart overflowing with gratitude.

And yet how easy it is to forget our place in the family. As this 12th chapter of Luke opened, Jesus was warning the people about the ‘yeast of the Pharisees,’ – that is, their hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be something she isn’t, a person who says one thing and does another, a liar, someone who lives a life of pretense and dissembling. Potentially, any of us when we forget our place in the family, when we forget that Jesus is the firstborn, that we are heirs because of his sacrifice, that it is in God that we live and move and have our being, that all of our abundance is a gift not to be squirreled away in ever bigger silos of selfishness, but to be shared with our fellow creatures, all of us sinners saved by grace.

When we live an unleavened life, free of hypocrisy, embracing our inheritance as a gift, we are freer to love like Jesus did. In so many situations every day, we have the power and the potential to be the ‘oldest brother’ to those around us. We can share our abundance, we can extend grace, we can overlook wrongdoing, forgive transgressions, love without expectation, bring peace into the midst of conflict, replace animosity with acceptance. We can exist beyond the letter of the law and live in the Spirit. Our Big Brother has our back and the Kingdom is ours.