Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 12 – 14, 2: 18–23 / Psalm 49: 1–12 / Colossians 3: 1–12 / Luke 12: 13–21
This
is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran
Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 3, 2025 by Fr.
Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“THINGS WE WILL LOSE, THINGS WE WILL LEAVE BEHIND, THINGS WE
WILL TAKE WITH US”
(Homily
text: Luke 12: 13–21)
If we think about life, and our walk through that life, it’s probably a valid observation to make to say that three things will be realities for each of us: 1. There are things we will lose as we make our way through life; 2. There are things we will leave behind us, once this life is done; and 3. There are things that we can take with us once this life is done and we face God.
With this perspective in view, let’s
remind ourselves that Luke is fond of filling his Gospel narrative of things
that Jesus said and did that completely turn our normal expectations of the way
things ought to be (or, usually are) upside down.
That is certainly the case with the
parable we hear today, as Jesus tells us about a rich man who, having decided
to retire, tells himself that his retirement portfolio is quite healthy…”Soul,
you have many goods laid up for yourself; relax, eat, drink and be merry”.
Applying the three principles we
outlined above to the Lord’s parable, we can come to some valid conclusions (it
seems to me):
1. The rich man will leave all that he has
accumulated to someone else. The Lord’s warning is stark: “This night, your
soul is being demanded of you”, He says about the rich man, adding, “then,
whose will those things (that you have accumulated) be?”
2. The rich man will leave behind a
legacy, but it won’t be one of being aware (and even thankful) for the work of
the laborers in his fields who made the abundant harvests that he has come to
enjoy possible. Nor will there be a legacy of care and concern for those who
lack food and other necessities of life.
3. The rich man will take nothing of value
out of this world and into eternity, for he did not cultivate a relationship
with God while he had the opportunity.
Jesus’ original hearers may have
scratched their heads when they heard this teaching. The reason is that, in
that place and time, the common belief was that if a person was wealthy or
healthy (or both), their blessings must be directly due to their own diligent
observance of the Law of Moses. Put another way, they were where they were
because they had done all the “right things”.
This parable exhorts us to step back
and encompass a wider perspective, one that stretches our awareness beyond the
here-and-the-now. and into the things of God.
Returning to the three principles with
which we began, as we contemplate eternity, we come to the realization that the
only thing we will take into that life beyond this one is our relationship with
God. The nurture we’ve applied to our walk with the Lord in this life will
shape the nature and the character of our life with God in that time where there
no end to the ages. As God’s boundless love reaches down to us, claims us as
His own, and anoints us with the ability to know God and to grow into the full
stature of Christ, God shapes us to know Him, so that when we come face-to-face
with Him in heaven, we will know Him, even as we are fully known.
May we then pray for the intervention
of the Holy Spirit, that by the enlightening power of the Spirit, we may come
to know and value things heavenly, even as we are passing through things that
will pass away.
AMEN.
