Hebrews 11.1-3; 8-12

Luke 12:22-34

sharing is a way of life

After hearing this text one may be tempted to begin a chorus of “Don’t worry, be happy” and merrily lead us on a bird watching venture, gazing on the flowers along the way. Actually, if it weren’t so blasted hot and humid in our fair city, it might be good thing for the people of God to gather in God’s good creation to marvel at the wonders there. The hummingbird who delicately dips her long thin beak into the bright orange blossoms of the trumpet vine then darts away only to return to the source of her sustenance. The robins who gather the scraps around them – twigs, loose hair, grass clippings, leaves, simple things – to build a nest for their young. And notice the butterfly bushes are in bloom now and the crape myrtle. How quickly they come in all their glory – purple, red, white - then they pass away!

Consider these things, says Jesus, learn from them. Learn what?

When markets are faltering fears arise about the scarcity of resources. Will there be enough? Scarcity is the story that rules the world – in that story, there is never enough. Therefore, Be afraid. Store up all that you can now before someone else gets what remains. This is the anxiety that lurks below the surface and occasionally erupts in crisis. It is the source of fierce arguments in families adjusting their budgets. Will there be enough to get my kids through college? There are others who ask a different pressing question. Will there be enough to feed my children? The two questions and the difference between the people who ask them is at the core of the gospel today. The fear of scarcity is the demon that pollutes our dreams.

But that story is not new for the people of God. It’s at least as old as Pharoah and the solution is always make more bricks. Or the rich farmer in Jesus’ parable whose only solution to his overflowing abundance is to build bigger barns, only to die in the process, surrounded by his abundance.

Consider these things, says Jesus to his disciples, learn from them. Learn what?

The community gathered around Jesus – he calls them “little flock” – apparently suffered the same worries that haunt our dreams and disable our trust in God. What is that we are to learn from a text that drives a stake right into the heart of our anxieties about economic security? Would it be the same lesson that the people of God nurtured on these gospel counter stories have learned in every generation? The same one announced in the letter to the Hebrews? “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.”

Abraham did not set out on his long journey knowing everything was secure. Neither did Sarah. Rather it was “by faith that Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance;” and here is the emphasis, “ he set out, not knowing where he was going.” In the end, the reason we remember Abraham and Sarah is because of their utter faith in God and their willingness to follow God’s call. The text then resolutely declares the fruit of that radical faith in God, the promise fulfilled. “From one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

Faith in God’s provisions is the alternative to anxious worrying over scare resources. Faith assumes God’s abundance, and lives from the conviction that there will be provisions for all when all share. Fear assumes there is never enough, and lives from the conviction that the provisions will run out and sharing is cost-prohibitive.

Don’t worry, says Jesus. Your life is about more than food, and the body more than clothing. Besides fretting about all these things will bring you no good thing. As if to make the point more emphatic, “don’t keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after these things, and your Father knows you need them.”

These are the two stories that have always vied for the allegiance of the people of God. Shall we live by faith in God trusting that our needs will also be provided as we share with others? Or, shall we be consumed by worry and anxiety that will bring no good thing and may lead to an early death? By the way, did you hear the text say that it is the nations of the world that live by the story of fear? This is Pharaoh’s story. There is never enough, therefore worry, fret, be anxious.

But, the little flock – the church that gathers around Jesus’ way – will learn to live by a different story, one of faith in God’s provisions – much like our ancestors Abraham and Sarah - sharing what we have because we trust in God’ provisions for our deepest needs.

There will always be enough. This is the miraculous story of the people who trust in God. This is what our scriptures teach us. We call this way of life, stewardship. That the church has reduced the word stewardship to a fund raising campaign is unfortunate and will take years of intentional spiritual practice to overcome. Economic sharing that brings the poor into the circle of abundance is at the heart Jesus’ way.

Having announced the provisions of God that will sustain the community of faith, Jesus then urges us to share abundantly and especially to those in need. For where your treasure is, he says, there will your heart be also.

Is Jesus’ saying that the truest measure of my spiritual life – my heart before God - is the extent to which I share out of my abundance? Is he saying that what I treasure most reveals my Christian life far more clearly than words could ever do? Do I treasure the things that money cannot buy – where neither thieves can steal or moths consume – the relationships that flourish and all too swiftly pass away?

If all this is so, what does the gospel demand of me in world where1.1 billion people are too poor to survive and that 30,000 people, most of them are children under the age of five, are dying of hunger-related illness? (Presbyterian Outlook. August 13, 2007)

These questions that trouble me are not mine alone. They are spoken to the little flock of Jesus that we might help one another live as he taught. We can’t do alone nor is that Jesus intent to have solitary disciples struggling over these matters of economic sharing and faithful living.

Giving generously from our abundance would substantially lift the burden of those who live at the bottom of the pile – the very ones that Jesus called to our attention – vulnerable, poor children. I’m told that if every American who claimed to be Christian tithed, we would raise $143 billion a year. That means you keep 90% and the remaining portion goes to the service of God. UNICEF says it would cost $70-80 billon a year to provide food, healthcare and education for all the poor children of the world.

That is a staggering claim and almost unimaginable prospect. (Presbyterian Outlook. August 13, 2007)

Almost unimaginable. What if the people of God living from the gift of God’s promises lived into the joyous obligation to share abundantly? (I’m told the average Presbyterian gives 1.3%. That’s all.) And Jesus said where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Ouch!

What if we imagined a different way – a more simple, joyous way where what is treasured most is relationships, beauty, creation, care for the broken? What if we actually began to live into these possibilities – becoming stewards, trusting God, sharing our resources – can you imagine how world would be different. In fact, might we have a glimmer of God’s kingdom?

Consider these things, says Jesus, learn from them.