Made to Wait

As we learned last week, Amos was a pre-exilic prophet who was a subsistence farmer in the southern kingdom of Judah who was called to proclaim God’s word to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. Their sin was that they had forgotten the poor, the widow, orphan, and alien in their land. Instead of taking care of them they used their wealth to live luxurious lives and, as we saw last week, even exploited the poor to increase their own wealth. Amos was warning them that they needed to change their ways and if they did not they would be the first to go into exile. We know the results of this prophecy of Amos: The wealthy did not heed God’s word given to them by Amos and were the first to be conquered and taken into exile by the Assyrian King Pul (1 Chronicles 5:23-26).

We read this account because of the story that Jesus tells in our gospel reading for today. The rich man seems not to remember his history or the law just like the people to whom Amos preached. (Although Luke probably is telling this story because of the last line. Jesus did rise from the dead, yet many of the descendants of Abraham did not believe he was the Messiah.) While this passage brings up many issues overall it is a warning to the people of God about how they view their possessions. We have heard that many times during these several weeks after Pentecost. That is, in part, because we are reading from Luke and he has a preference for the poor and an emphasis on how God’s people use their possessions. He reminded us about building up treasure in heaven and told the story of the man who built bigger barns so he could keep more things. All these stories emphasize the temporal nature of our things and God’s call for us to use them to help those in need. 

Even the writer of First Timothy reminds us not to set our hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly provides. As I have said many times before, we are overly blessed by God for we are some of the richest people in the world. Some may object to this statement because we usually compare our possessions with those of others. In comparison to Bezos or Gates we claim to be poor and they the rich. In comparison to the world, we are in the rich category by far. There is a web-site that will help you see this howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org. You can put in your income and it will tell you where your income fits in with the rest of the world. We all are in the top quarter of income and most will be in the top 10% of the world. That possibly places us into the same category as the people Amos preached to and the rich man in Jesus’ story.

I say possibly because it is not your possessions that get you into trouble with God – they are God’s gifts to you – it is what you do with your possessions that can get you into trouble. If you, like the people of Israel, think that those things you have are yours you are mistaken. If you use your possessions only for your luxurious life you are in trouble. God calls you to live a life free of the bondage your possessions may bring. God calls you to follow the example of Jesus who gave up what he had and took on human form and was humbled even to death on the cross. No, you do not have to use your possessions wisely in order to be saved. That task has already occurred; Jesus paid the price of your sin. Now, freed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus you are able to share all that you have with the world – yourselves, your time, and your possessions – so others can experience the joy that you have so fully experienced as a child of God.