² Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

¹² I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, ¹³ applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. ¹⁴ I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹⁸ I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me ¹⁹--and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? ²³ For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Luke 12: 13 - 21

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

The readings for today are warnings about the illusions of power and wealth that tempt us.  The accumulation of wealth is like trying to chase after the wind.  Our readings are warnings about our anxiety and toil, and our obsession with greed.  We have an obsession to obtain the illusions of “the good life” as it is portrayed in the gospel parable.  These readings demand our attention as followers of Christ.

In today's story Jesus is invited to be a mediator, a very difficult but highly honorable role in this first century culture. Conflicts, then as well as today, easily escalate into violence. Ideally the mediator would be a distant relative, someone who would be removed from the issue involving the disputing parties, but also someone who was related and respected.  The mediator should be a person who, because of personality, status, respect, and influence could create in the litigants a willingness to conform to the decisions they agree upon.

Jesus responded to the invitation in two ways. First, he recognized the customary expectation.  He was not related to these feuding brothers.  So Jesus told him, “Friend, who set me to be judge, or be an arbitrator over you?”  Then secondly, like Jesus often did, he ignored the customary expectation and showed mercy on these feuding brothers. Jesus addressed the issue with the tool he knew best, he told them a parable.

In this lesson Jesus reminds us that, as followers of the Way, we are guided by a different voice. It is the voice of God.  God will either proclaim:  ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  - or - “This, this one is my beloved.”   Ours is a plain and crucial choice.  Who will be our God?   Who or what has power over your life?

This rich land owner was dealing with a philosophy that many of us are plagued with today.  In Jesus’ time there were no pension programs, no social security nets, no Medicare or pharmaceutical programs. This parable describes a first century retired land owner.  Retirement is a modern day illusion!  There is a powerful preoccupation we have with retirement.  We are plagued with the question, how will I support myself in retirement?  This is the very preoccupation that kept the rich landowner from living a full life, a life in relationship with his neighbors and with God.  The Gospel writers refer to it as living a life like the “Son of Man”, the fully human one.

Retirement is our modern day preoccupation; as Jesus said, with “greed and for the abundance of possessions.”  We ask the question again and again, “Who will take care of me when I am old and dysfunctional?”  Our economic system holds up an ideal that is based upon greed.  Why, in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, have we become so preoccupied with being financially independent, and self-supporting in our senior years?   “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.”

In just four generations we have destroyed the social fabric that believed that caring for our elders in the family network is a moral responsibility.  At one time families took care of their elders, that is, until our modern day philosophy of retirement became our preoccupation.

In Jesus' parable about the man with the bumper crop, God is not pleased with his plan to “save for the future” in bigger barns. God calls this man a fool! Does this rich man deserve God's judgment?  This is the same judgment that Jesus warned the feuding brothers about.  They were preoccupied with greed, and for the abundance of possessions.  It was destroying their relationship with each other.

So why is this “future planning” condemned by God?  Could it be because we do it at the expense of relationship?  Could it be because it keeps us from living life in the here and now?  Could it be because it is done at the expense of the poor, the unemployed, and the very fabric that holds society and our economy together?  “I have ample goods laid up for many years,” said the rich land owner. He did his financial planning and stored his wealth, setting it aside for the lean years.  What’s so wrong with that?

There is more to this story .  It’s what happens when the Rich Landowner encounters the needy. When the poor come to him and borrow grain, he will charge an exorbitant price in hopes of confiscating from them what little they have. We call it the rule of supply and demand.  He will invest in the companies that will give him the best return.  Some will be at the expense of the environment, some will have immoral employment practices, some will directly or indirectly take advantage of the poor.  What should the fool have done? The same anyone else in that position should have done.  In God’s Realm we are called to work against exploitation.

So, rather than becoming a benefactor or helper, he became a hoarder and an obstruction to economic justice.  He might have (Luke 16:1-9): used his surplus wealth as a means to gain friends, like the parable in Luke 16, so that when his wealth was gone, his friends would remain and repay their kindnesses.  This would have been the better way, but it’s not the way of “greed and the abundance of possessions.” 

Wealth saddles us with moral issues that most of us would just as soon ignore.  Jesus wanted these feuding brothers to discover a depth in life that was not based on greed.  The temptation is that we will let wealth limit us or control us. “Vanity of Vanities!” instructs the great teacher. “It is like a chasing after the wind.”