To Be Rich Toward God

Psalm 
49

Old Testament   
Hosea 11:1-11

New Testament    
Colossians 3:1-11

Gospel   
Luke 12:13-21

Peace and prosperity, the beloved Shalom of the Hebrews, is in Hosea a vanishing blessing. This is associated with the people of God’s inability to “see”: “but they did not realize that it was I who healed them (Hosea 11:3).” The apostle Paul is more specific regarding this inability to understand: It is rather a whole way of life that must be “put to death” and a new way of life that must be “put on.” There is no actual difference between Hosea and Paul. Both recognize the tremendous difficulty that the people of God face. All of us feel the pressure from our peers, society and ourselves to trust our strength, our career, our self determination or our pedigree rather than wait on God. My anxiety is due to my need to be admired as significant and extraordinary now. In the face of this tremendous pressure, who can trust God?

Jesus has already taught substantially about wealth in the Gospel of Luke. The wealthy thus far have been characterized as “fools,” that is, those who live in absurd ignorance to God’s graceful initiatives. And now a man has the audacity to ask (demand?) that Jesus should rubber stamp his decision to divide his inheritance with his brother. His arrogance, assuming compliance and ignoring the need for sound advice already set him in parallel to the prodigal son (Luke 15:12). Jesus has a one word to describe and to judge him: “greed.” The text that follows provides the editorial interpretation to this terse indictment: A man is blessed by a bountiful harvest, but what he does in response to this is what Jesus calls greed. First, he fails to recognize that the harvest has been a gracious allowance of God to his people. Second, he engages in pathetic self talk, instead of the expected acts of thanksgiving and worship. Third, the rich man behaves “without understanding (psalm 49:20)” by acting without regard for the community at large. In short, this man fails to realize that “God has healed him” and that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Luke 12:34).”

Pastor Alejandro Sotres