C
Proper 14 19 Ord Paul 2025
Luke
12:32-40
August 10, 2026
As we read along in the gospel of Luke, according to the
Revised Common Lectionary, we see Jesus teaching God’s economics over and
against the economics that destroys the life of his people on a daily basis. You have heard me preach from the economics
related in the Lord’s Prayer in Luke, chapter 11, doing things like forgiving
debt. But earlier in Luke, chapter 12, I believe you have probably heard more
eloquent preachers talk about how Jesus chastises the rich farmer who builds a
bigger barn to store up all his wealth, seems to be oblivious to the needs in
his wider community, and seem content that their 401K will pump out retirement
income to keep themselves high on the hog.
In that telling, Jesus
equates storing treasure up for oneself as an enemy to God’s economics and the
sharing of resources with the whole community.
Jesus implies to hoard resources is to go against God’s economy. The rich farmer’s market security blinds him
to how God’s economy works.
In Scripture not included in
the Revised Common Lectionary, just before our Scripture today, Jesus outlines
God’s economy. The Greek word Jesus uses
is a command, a command so many interpreters diminish. This command requires urgent action. Katanoesate,
is “Pay attention!” or, in context, better, “Hey, refocus your
attention! Over here! This is the way God’s economy works with the
good earth.” Jesus then talks about how
God feeds the ravens. Invoking ravens
reminds Bible readers of God provides for ravens in the book of Job[1]
and in those ancient songs of the Psalms[2],
or how ravens provided for the prophet Elijah when he was in exile during a
famine[3],
a story, by the way, that just precedes Elijah confronting Ahab and Jezebel for
how they have sought to hoard wealth in Naboth’s vineyard.
“Hey, pay attention. Refocus to what God is doing over here. Those wildflowers, they don’t punch in for
work, or grow anxious about what they shall have the next day, and yet, King
Solomon, hoarder of wealth he was, was not as beautiful or decked out like one
of these wildflowers! So stop being
anxious, Jesus says, God’s got you through all the goodness this good earth
provides. Hear it in the Lord’s
prayer? That economy. Give us this day, our daily provision.
Don’t be anxious. Again, this is put in command form.[4]
Throughout the Gospel of
Luke, God is also communicating another message through angels, mentors, and
Jesus. “Do not be afraid.” Luke’s gospel
begins with the angel telling an unmarried, soon-to-be-pregnant teenager,
soon-to-be migrant and then a refugee, a peasant (meaning a farmer without
land), “Do not be afraid.” An angel
appears to shepherds, those who did not own the fields they slept in, who did
not own the sheep, stinking to high heaven, “Do not be afraid.” Again, it is this assumption that the status
quo for the poor and destitute, life is so hard, that they would be terrified
God might visit them, might be a part of their lives. For certainly, didn’t the life they were
living, the violence that was a part of their everyday lives, indicate God was
against them? Angels must remind people
like Mary, the shepherds, and this week, the disciples, not to be afraid of God
or what God has in store for them.
Jesus begins the Scripture reading today with, “Do not
fear, little flock, for it is the loving Creator’s good wish to give an
entryway, an on-ramp to the empire as God lays it out.” If you are hearing these stories told of this
Jesus fella’, you hear “do not be afraid” repeated over and over again. It sets the tone. It reminds you, that as you step out into the
world, you can risk boldly when God is ready to act in the world. And much like “Do not be anxious,” “Do not
fear,” is a command.
Two weeks ago I tried to say that the Lord’s prayer and
Jesus’s teaching bracketing that prayer taught that God is good. “Come out, Eunice! Apparently God does not wish to smite us!” No, “what person of you would give their
child a snake when they asked for an egg, or a scorpion when they asked for
bread?”
Fundamentally, Jesus had to teach the disciples a message
that was counter to the world they saw around them, a counter-cultural message,
a message that was opposite the one Rome intended for them, The Roman imperial
economy bit, devoured, and consumed the people.
Do not confuse the status quo of Roman Empire with God’s economics. “No,” Jesus is saying, “God wants to give you
the keys to the kingdom. For God is
good.”
For people living in poverty, death, and violence, they
had to wonder. Was life some cruel
joke? If God ordained the status quo,
what kind of arbitrary and punishing god was this that we, and our people, the
Jews, and particularly the most faithful among us, live these short and harsh
lives? Who would want to follow such a
God, be the disciple of someone who regularly encouraged us to be their followers? The Roman gods love to be in charge in their
quest for power over us. But what kind
of God is this?
Jesus has to go about
reminding the disciples that their God is the God of the slaves and not the
taskmasters. Remember?
Share bread and resources.
Heal one another and make healing possible for one another. Turn your attention to the communities you
are creating so that the most vulnerable and those with their backs against the
wall might have their daily provision as well.
Jonathan Roberts, a gay, disabled, poor person, shared
this last week, “[W]hen you say, ‘[W]e
just disagree politically but we can still be friends,’ I need you to
understand something: your politics
decide whether I eat, get healthcare, marry, survive. This isn’t just a disagreement. It’s my life.” God wants us to pay attention.
Joey Yochheim, a Christian coach and consultant, who works
in areas of fitness and health management, shared something this past week I
thought related where many of us are. He
asked first if we knew what was considered the most obese town on the planet,
thinking that many people would assume it was in the United States. Instead, the most obese town in the planet is
Ebbw Vale in the United Kingdom (Great Britain). 80% of the people in the town are obese.
Yochheim related his findings, how that obesity is not
related to laziness or lack of willpower.
Instead, what happened is that Ebbw Vale lost the steel and coal
industries that helped it to thrive economically. And, as a result, they lost community. When you’re broke, calories become currency,
and a McDonald’s meal can feed a family of four for 14 pounds. A meal with fresh veggies is about 25 pounds. When you have to choose between rent and
groceries, ultra-processed foods win every time.
Ebbw Vale has what is referred to as “Takeaway Alley,” a
section of town where multiple fast food joints are stacked on top of one
another. Some residents order fast food
delivery 2 to 3 times a day. When
healthy food is scarce but junk food like McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell,
and Wendy’s are stacked right outside I-94, guess what happens?
The physical infrastructure in Ebbw Vale to encourage
health and exercise collapsed too: they have no accessible gyms or sports
centers, there is limited green spaces for walking, there is poor public
transport to reach better grocery stores, and jobs went from physical labor to
unemployment. When 80% of the people
around you are obese, the societal pressure for change disappears. Everyone thinks this is normal.
Nobody learns to cook.
Kids think takeout for each meal is just what you do. Children have never seen their parents
exercise. Nobody learns nutrition. Poor habits, Yohheim writes, are passed along
like family heirlooms.
In this example, our economy is subsumed under the quick
buck and profits of the fast food industry.
And it has no relation to ravens and wildflowers.
Yochheim believes this English town is a lesson for what
our country faces in this present moment, an understanding of where we orient
our economy. When economic opportunity
dries up, healthy food is not based in the earth but in ultra-processed
alternatives, exercise infrastructure crumbles, education is no longer valued,
and government support for communities vanishes. Ebbw Vale’s failure is not a personal one,
but a societal one.[5]
Turn your attention to this economy, Jesus says, in parts
of Luke chapter 12, just before our Scripture passage for today. And then Jesus exhorts us in what was read
for today that we should, “Stay awake!” and “Get ready.” For that other economy comes like a thief in
the night to take the very essence of our communities like it did from Ebbw
Vale. Before you know it, what God had
intended for your community, God’s economy, is leveled by those who seek to
build the bigger barns.
And we have somehow interpreted the leveling of our
communities as the work of God. That
seems to be a part of our human condition, right? Many of us have been taught that faith is not
to question and to know that God is in heaven and all may not be right with the
world . . . but it’s just because you dummies haven’t got it figured it out
yet. Cancer visits . . . multiple
times. We lose a child early in
life. We see addiction destroying our
life. Or the life of someone we
love. Mental illness makes our life
anxious. Or a living hell. If I trusted in a God who cared about being
almighty and worked by having power over, just one of these tragedies in my
life would have me storming the halls of heaven with serious questions. Maybe regardless of how we picture God, those
questions should be front and center.
I know there are times when I find myself raging at God
through an addiction I cannot shake.
“Where are you?? Is this what you
intended for my life? I have asked and
asked . . . and you, you are nowhere to be found! Who do I feel like I walk through this all
alone? How can you be called ‘almighty’
when I see you have no power over me?”
Sometimes, only sometimes, the silence after my raging
gives way to a far deeper wisdom which reminds me that Christ crucified is not
about a God who cares about being almighty or winning or showing off
power. Rather, what we have, is a God,
who through Christ’s life and ministry, reminds us the power of what it means
to walk with hurting folk, who finds true treasure and value in making sure our
neighbor makes it through another day, a God we touch and feel in the brown
earth as we garden or smell a wildflower, a God who wants us to piece together
systems and structures in ways that are not about hoarding and fear—but about
love and compassion. What if we were to
risk that? Tell others we’re just
repeating the small fractals, rhythms and practices, God is doing in our
hearts?
Jesus seems to know, he seems to know, that taking such
risks only happens when we know that God is good, the fear dissipates, and
MMMmmm . . .MMMM, we know we are loved. Again,
our Scripture verse begins today with Jesus saying, “Don’t be afraid, little
flock, because your loving Creator delights in giving you the empire, the
kingdom. All of it is yours. God wants you to have it. God wants to give it to you.” Become a murmuration, little flock, a
murmuration of God’s love.
One
of the ways I depart from the worship and liturgy taught to me in seminary is a
reformed notion that we come before God as sinners, as somehow deserving of
God’s judgment and punishment. Many
worship services will begin with a prayer of repentance and assurance of pardon
that indicates somehow we are guilty but, in God’s mercy, God does not punish.
And I really think that is wrong
and abusive. I try to tell you every week
of God’s love in worship so it gets deep into you. Because I know it can be hard to trust.
You are loved. You
are cherished. And in being loved and
cherished, you are now free to risk dreaming the dream and living the life God
invites you to follow. Little flock, God
loves you and wants you to have the keys to the kingdom, an entryway and onramp
to the way God wants us to be in the world..
Jesus makes it clear that it looks nothing like the kingdom Rome has
constructed—concerned about who is no. 1, who is the winner, who has the most
power, and then reinforces their status through escalatory violence. So you had better build bigger barns, amass
wealth and weapons in protection, make sure your people are taken care of.
How ironic that this same Jesus seems to be worshipped by
so many who wish to make him no. 1, proclaim him as the ultimate warrior and
winner, have an ever greater bloodlust for more and more power, declaring who
is in and who is out, understanding the chosen people as the ones who have a
license to destroy. Our culture has so
transfigured what it means to grow into an authentic life.
Once we are loved, we are free to risk great things: to not find our wealth in our material things
but to sell possessions and give alms to the poor, that our purse or wallet may
concern itself with the things of God, to act outside the violence of a violent
world. For if I know that God cares
about the dwindling hairs on my head, that now seem to be found growing out my
ears . . . if we know that God pays attention, cares for our daily needs even
as God cares for the daily feeding of ravens, and if God looks at the
wildflowers and sees such beauty, how much, even more so, God will look at us
and say, “You beauties!” We would then
know what we could risk. We would be
awake and ready to not let the thieves take our communities.
Would that that still our anxious voices just enough to
risk something great for God, our neighbor, and this good earth. You . . . are loved. God cares for your daily needs. And God finds you insanely, naturally,
spectacularly beautiful. Risk
accordingly, grow communities that share, heal, and bring life into the economy
of God. Amen.
[1]
Job 38:41
[2]
Psalms 147:9
[3] I
Kings 17:4-6
[4]
Ched Myers, “Pay Attention to the Great Economy (Lk 12:13-21),” Bartimaeus
Cooperative Ministries, August 7, 2025, https://bcmonline.org/2025/08/07/pay-attention-to-the-great-economy-lk-1213-21/.
[5]
Joey Yochheim, @joeyyochheim, X, August 7th thread, https://x.com/joeyyochheim/status/1953451948436255064
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