The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary and the Canadian election connect today in a resonance with faith that trusts in the plan of God and the teachings of Jesus regarding how greed may separate us from loving God and neighbour.
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| Faith and the future |
The reading from the Letter to the Romans reminds us of our inheritance through Faith that is reckoned to us as righteousness.
* [4:20] He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief: any doubts Abraham might have had were resolved in commitment to God’s promise. Heb 11:8–12 emphasizes the faith of Abraham and Sarah.1
The response today is from the Canticle of Zechariah, “The Benedictus” an early Christian praise of Jesus.
* [1:69] A horn for our salvation: the horn is a common Old Testament figure for strength (Ps 18:3; 75:5–6; 89:18; 112:9; 148:14). This description is applied to God in Ps 18:3 and is here transferred to Jesus. The connection of the phrase with the house of David gives the title messianic overtones and may indicate an allusion to a phrase in Hannah’s song of praise (1 Sm 2:10), “the horn of his anointed.”2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warning against Greed is in the parable of the Rich Fool.
* [12:13–34] Luke has joined together sayings contrasting those whose focus and trust in life is on material possessions, symbolized here by the rich fool of the parable (Lk 12:16–21), with those who recognize their complete dependence on God (Lk 12:21), those whose radical detachment from material possessions symbolizes their heavenly treasure (Lk 12:33–34).3
Larry Hopp comments that, in today’s readings, we are provided with an incredible story about what true faith looks like and then a reminder of how to live our lives through a true, enduring faith.
This story certainly paints a picture for us of what true faith really looks like, and perhaps more importantly that we can seek such amazing faith even though we have experienced periodic faith lapses or even outright failures in our faith walk. Even when life doesn’t make sense, we can know that our patient God will never leave us nor forsake us. The Responsorial Psalm taken from Luke further reinforces this incredible fact.
And then we turn to today’s Gospel message about living a life through a lens of true faith in Christ. Jesus tells us the parable of the rich man who stored up his bountiful crops, thinking “things” were what really mattered in life. Jesus, however, points out the fallacy of that concept. For God is in complete control of every aspect of our lives. How could it possibly make sense to put our faith in anything but God. True faith means trusting in Him completely, even when things make no sense at all.4
Don Schwager quotes “Surrounded by wealth, blind to charity,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"'What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, 'What should I do?' ... He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity. Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his life, as if he would also reap this from the ground. He says, 'I will say to myself, "Self, you have goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself." 'O rich man,' one may say, "You have storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? By the decree of God, your life is shortened." 'God,' it tells us, 'said to him, "You fool, this night they will require of you your soul. Whose will these things be that you have prepared?" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 12:13-21 invites us to take a look at the parable. The landowner is called a fool, not because he is wealthy, but because he stockpiled his wealth. He was concerned only for his own comfort and security. He ignored the needs of the people around him. That attitude stands in stark contrast to God’s compassion for the poor and suffering.
We might be tempted to chuckle about this man until we realize that we too have been blessed with a bountiful harvest. Regardless of the amount of material resources we possess, each of us has God-given gifts. Each of us has been given the gift of faith; we have unique talents and loving relationships. These are the gifts we can share with the people around us, instead of keeping them to ourselves.6
Friar Jude Winkler discusses Abraham as the Father of Faith in the Letter to the Romans. We do not buy justification through things we do. Friar Jude advises us to be wary of our possessions beginning to possess us.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that God is clearly more comfortable with diversity than we are, and God’s final goal and objective are much simpler. God and the entire cosmos are about two things: differentiation (people and things becoming themselves) and communion (living in supportive coexistence). Physicists and biologists seem to know this better than theologians and clergy.
If I were to say this [commandment in the Law that is the greatest (Matthew 22:35-40)] apart from Jesus’ authority, you would rightly accuse me of being simplistic, naïve, and reductionistic. Yet Jesus’ approach takes the risk of allowing people the freedom to be themselves and to love God according to the shape of their own heart, soul, body, and mind! Religion developed for the sake of social control, but Jesus does not give us much grist for the social control mill. For Jesus, it is all about union—union with God, others, and what is, however it presents itself. Do not let the labels trip you up—woman, man, transgender, cisgender, straight, bisexual, gay, queer. We all belong, but how cleverly our moral pretenses prevent us from struggling with what is right in front of us! How ingeniously our ego protects itself from compassion and understanding.
Jesus, like the cosmos itself, constantly affirms two parallel drives toward diversity and toward communion. The whole of creation cannot be lying.7
The scope of the texts today that touch on trust, greed, and diversity are food for thought as we prepare to vote for the social contract between people and government in Canada today.
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