True Riches

Gospel Luke 12.13-21

13Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ 14But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15And he said to the crowd, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ 16Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 18Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.‘” 20But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

St Martin-on-the-hill Sermon

In today's gospel Jesus tells a story as a warning against avarice. It is usually called 'The Parable of the Rich Fool'. Bishop John Moorman in his commentary describes the passage as Jesus' exposition of the 10th Commandment 'Thou shalt not covet'. Leaving the scripture to speak for itself on these matters let me focus on our Lord's punch line: "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God".

The same Bishop John Moorman was an acknowledged authority on St Francis of Assisi and he wrote a number of books about him and about Franciscanism. He called his book on Franciscan spirituality 'Richest of Poor Men'. In it he describes how Francis was brought up in a wealthy home - his father was a prosperous cloth merchant - but he was gradually led to give up everything. He adopted a life of such extreme poverty that he literally owned nothing. One day he stripped himself of his clothing and placed the garments at the feet of the Bishop of Assisi declaring that he was taking Lady Poverty as his bride. The Franciscan historian Bonaventura comments: 'No one was so greedy for gold as he was for poverty; no treasure was guarded so jealously as he guarded this gospel pearl'.

We are not all called to imitate St Francis literally but he does point Christians in the right direction. In life there are riches more valuable than material riches. Cardinal John Henry Newman spoke with prophetic insight when he said: 'All bow down to wealth. Wealth is that to which the multitude of men pay homage. They measure their happiness by wealth and by wealth they measure respectability'. Christians, however, choose to be rich towards God. They are those who store up their treasure in heaven. Put in the form of a prayer he says "Lord, to know you is to be truly rich. Your Scriptures are treasure beyond price, your Eucharist is the greatest gift we can possess and your Love, unlike the shine of wealth, is eternal.'

At her Coronation the Queen had a bible placed in her hands and she was told 'This is the most valuable thing that this world affords'.

St Francis wrote to his friars about the riches of the Eucharist 'What wonderful majesty! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread for our salvation'.

Frederick William Faber in his hymn on the Love of God 'No earthly father loves like Thee; No mother, e'er so mild, Bears and forbears as Thou hast done With me, Thy sinful child. Father of Jesus, loves reward, What rapture will it be Prostrate before Thy throne to lie, And gaze, and gaze on Thee'.

If you wish to be rich in the sight of God - Come to the Scriptures, Come to the Sacrament, Come to the Saviour.

'There is only Christ; he is everything and he is in everything'.
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