Good Morning Friends,
Some of my Catholic friends this time of the year have been known to celebrate the life of Pope Hilarius with a little more jocularity than you might expect. Pope Hilarius died on February 29th more than 1500 years ago. But because Pope Francis the current Pope is in his fourth, and now longest, hospital stay since he became Pope in 2013 and everyone in the church’s central administration remains on high alert waiting for news – day and night – of the ailing pontiff and tension mounts on who might be the next Pope, humor does not seem to be a priority. But I am torn on the subject because many Popes have been very funny. One Pope when asked how many people worked at the Vatican said about half. That is funny because it is probably true. To a man who, while thanking him for an audience, stated Pope Pius IX had also given him an audience just days before he died, Pope Leo XIII replied, “If I would have known that you were so dangerous for popes, I would have postponed our meeting for a few years!” Pope Paul is credited with saying that after being shown his schedule for a particularly busy day: “There is only one thing lacking, at the end: the pope’s funeral!” Popes seem to understand their own mortality and even find humor in it perhaps because they believe in a life after death. Still whether you are protestant or Catholic we all appreciate a good laugh. In Immokalee I have worked with several nuns and pastors of protestant faith as well. I also knew a Baptist preacher named Hilario and as the derivation of the name implies, he too could be funny at times. Sometimes we can be too somber for our own good and too coveting of acquiring sanctity that we fail to smile on our human condition. In avoiding sin, we need to embrace the solution Jesus offers in a process of replacing vices with virtues but sometimes we need to laugh for that helps the process. You see, we all must fight for what is good because we are connected and sometimes, we just need to smile at our collective human condition. That is why we must look at the person in the mirror and in some way relate to the plight of the oppressed and even face the challenge with some degree of humor. Friends, we are called to a social and relational Gospel that many would like to deny. So today we face the issue of wealth and sharing and humor. We dive into scripture to discover some golden nuggets of wisdom. And it is here in the deep waters we face the challenge of being in just relationships with everyone…even our enemies. Friends, we must become enlightened with an answer to today’s question about social justice that helps us to overcome sin in our lives and avoid regret in a polarized world. The question is this: Who Pays For People’s Greed And Lack Of Humor When We Fail To Act?
Scripture: Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.
James 5:1-6 (NRSV)
I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 (NRSV)
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Mark 9:38-50 (NRSV)
The greedy person stirs up strife, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be enriched.
Proverbs 28:25 (NRSV)
A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (NRSV)
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Mark 10:17-27 (NRSV)
Message: Well maybe this isn’t even funny, but the laugher button and the crying button can be very close to each other. Ok here is another one. Who is the most sinful person in the Bible? The answer… Moses. He broke all ten commandments at once. Groan. The short answer, in our polarized world, is that everyone pays the price of greed, even those who are greedy, for they of all people fail to experience the joy of generosity. So, we need to find something that makes us all laugh so that we can find some common ground for our existence. A few years ago, my friend Sister Maureen Kelleher who is an attorney for the disadvantaged told the story of going to the Vatican and at the time she was in a wheelchair and that placed her at the forefront of the action. The Pope was going up in an elevator and beckoned her to join him. For a moment she thought she might have a private moment with the Pope but then a flock of Cardinals came into the elevator and pressed her into a corner. All she could do was laugh. Friends, greed has a way of taking the very beautiful and reducing it to a price tag and transaction. But here is the thing, greed is about our relationships beyond money and stuff, no matter how much or little we have. It is not about quantity. It is about the quality of a relationship. And it is a lonely, miserable life when one’s perceived worth depends upon what you can do for me. Greed tends to be solitary, miserly, because there is something about greed that puts us in competition with our neighbors and ultimately alienation from them. Greed needs a partner, but laughter, interestingly enough, can be shared. Jesus teaches a different economy where self-worth is tied not to what we earn or accumulate but what we distribute. Jesus was trying to teach that rich young ruler a new desire for generosity so that he might overcome his greed. You see, the power of a new love is the strength needed to overcome sinful behavior. We are not simply to turn away from sin, we are to laugh in its face. We need to replace sin with virtue. Friends, 100% of our money is a gift from God to be used to the glory of God. We are to build up the Kingdom of God by serving our neighbors in all that we do and laughing with them is a good place to begin and often that means humbling ourselves. The thing is that when we put our accumulation of stuff in the light of eternity, it does not hold up. Being the richest person in the cemetery wins no prize, especially if we fail to enjoy life. Enough is enough. Having more is pointless unless we find joy. The one who dies with the most toys does not really win. The problem here is greed. Greed turns love into lust, leisure into apathy, hunger into gorging, honor into arrogance, righteous indignation into rage, and admiration into envy. If it were not for greed, we would suffer fewer of the other evils of the world and maybe laugh a bit more at ourselves. We all pay when we fail to be hilarious givers.
And So, have you ever wanted to go but stayed. Have you ever wanted to appear bright, but you felt dull. Have you ever wanted to share but ended up being selfish? Have you ever wanted to be thankful but felt resentment? Have you ever wanted to be big, but you felt small. Have you ever wanted to care, but down deep you were indifferent. A little double-minded here but I think that at one time or another, each of us found ourselves a little frightened and disgusted at the same time and too insecure to do anything that would pry us from our current but limited security at the risk of getting involved. This is where humor comes into the picture. In our Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus uses hyperbole to convince his disciples of the judgement that might fall upon them for doing something that might cause someone new to their faith in Jesus, to stumble in their faith. He also warns the disciples to beware of their own sinfulness, their own failures to live according to the Word of God that Jesus reveals to them. This is an ironic twist in the story that Mark puts before us. For it all starts with the disciple John coming to Jesus complaining to him about someone who is not a disciple of Jesus, perhaps not even a person who even met Jesus, casting out a demon in Jesus’ name. “How dare they invoke your name, Lord, when they don’t even know you?” Well, Jesus dismisses John’s complaint by saying that it is not important. Anyone who does something positive in my name will not long be able to speak against me. But then Jesus speaks woes to those who do know him, and do not act according to the will of God. In other words, Jesus was not as concerned about those who pretended to know him, as he was about those who actually knew him. And he wanted his followers to be faithful. The passage of Scripture has both a direct and indirect message. For sin involves both sins of omission as well as sins of commission. If, by my inaction, I have allowed a sin to take place, or failed to prevent an injustice to another person, it is the same sin as if I would have committed it myself. But the most important message of this lesson is the fact that the greatest miracle of all is provided by Jesus himself. But at the end of his life, Jesus overcame his own fear and gave his life for you and for me. May God’s Spirit help us all to be more faithful disciples.
Pray that we overcome greed with generosity. Pray we do not define ourselves by what we have or can provide but in relationship with God what God has given to us in a new life. Pray we gain all we can, save all we can and give all we can. Pray we realize that God is enough. Pray we embrace an economy of kind abundance. Pray we understand the power of replacing vices with virtues as a way of not sinning. Pray we grasp our connectedness and the importance of healthy relationships that honor God by loving the oppressed and discovering the joy of serving. Pray we realize that gold is turned into garbage if we are not generous. Pray we not be double minded. Pray we realize that the Lord loves a hilarious giver.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 