Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost
The Eyes of All Look to You, O Lord
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. Today's Gospel comes from our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. In this
Gospel, Jesus not only warns us against greed, but He also assures us that
we Christians have absolutely no reason at all for allowing ourselves to be
ruled by our greed. "Look at the birds of the birds of the air. your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Again,
"consider the lilies of the field. if God so clothes the grass. will He not
much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
Dear Christian friends,
Greed is a sneaky devil that creeps around and pounces on you before you
realize what is happening. Greed is like a tick that latches onto you and
rides around for a while before you even notice it. Greed is so tricky and
subtle that we Christians sometimes build our lives upon greed without even
realizing it.
· The most obvious form of greed is the discontented, never-ending
quest to gain more wealth or property. For example, as soon as I purchased a
little piece of land several years ago, I began eyeing the vacant lot next
door, wondering how I might get my hands onto that land also. I still would
like to buy that little lot next to mine, but I also wonder, after I have
gained it what will be the next thing I begin to want? (Call me crazy, but I
do not think I am alone in experiencing this first form of greed.)
· But even if you can beat the desire for more and can live
contentedly with what you have, the second form of greed will still hunt you
down and sink its jaws into you. This second, more cunning form of greed
does not consist of what you wish to gain, but this form of greed has to do
with what you refuse to give up. This second form of greed thinks to itself,
"I have already given thus-and-such, and that is enough. Let others now do
their part in giving also." This second form of greed will tolerate giving
that comes out of surpluses, but it refuses to tighten its belt and lower
its standard of living and truly sacrifice so that others may be served all
the more. For example, I have a federal tax rebate check coming to me that
is large enough to erase a pretty good chunk of our congregation's debt. But
I also suffer continually from this second form of greed, and this second
form of greed causes me to think rather piously to myself, "You do plenty
already. Let the others give also. If they do not give as they ought, this
congregation's struggle will be their fault, not yours."
That is not the worst of it. The worst of it is that I do not personally
know how to repent of this greed that is "at work in the members of my body.
making me a prisoner of the law of sin" (Romans 7:23, NIV). I do not desire
to turn away from this greed and I do not want to make it stop. I simply
cannot-will not-"sell what [I] possess and give to the poor" (Matthew
19:21). I do not trust Jesus enough to do that. I do not love Him enough to
do that. There are definite limits to what I am willing to abandon and give
up, and these limits define my greed.
There is hardly anything our God hates more than greed. There is hardly
anything more destructive to you and to me and to those whom we love than
greed. Greed will turn our personal daily lives into endless rat races we
will never win. Greed will destroy our family relationships. Left unchecked,
greed will eventually leave you alone in this world. Greed convincingly
teaches you that there is no one who truly matters except you. This is why
God's apostle Paul states so bluntly in his letter to the Corinthians, "the
greedy. will not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:10). It is
also why the same apostle calls greed idolatry (Colossians 3:5).
Yet for all of God's deep hatred and loathing for the death grip
I keep on my greed, look at the gentle way Jesus comes to me in today's
Gospel. He rebukes and corrects me, to be sure: "If God so clothes the
grass. will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" But this
rebuke is really very mild compared to the hammer and tong, thunder and
lightening, that are certainly within our Lord's power. Jesus knows that, if
He were to come at me with terrors and threats, I would fly away, like a
bird escaping a cat. So Jesus does not terrorize and threaten in this
Gospel. Jesus draws me in with gentle words, just as a cow or a horse can be
drawn in and enticed with a handful of clover.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value
than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his
span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
In these words from today's Gospel, Jesus does not expressly forbid and
condemn our greed, as sinful and as idolatrous as it is. In today's Gospel
Jesus simply makes our greed useless. The dear children of God do not need
greed any more than Eskimos need ice cubes. Jesus points to the air and to
the field. He promises that the heavenly Father who so meticulously cares
for birds and flowers will likewise and with equal attentiveness also
continually care for you.
Last week, Time magazine ran an article titled, "Why the world can't
afford food and why higher prices are here to stay." This article tells you
nothing you don't already know by looking at your wallet. The cost of bread
has increased 74% since 2003; frozen vegetables 28%, fresh fruit 41%, and
meat from 64% to 124%, depending on the kind of meat you buy. Let's not even
talk about gasoline, which we rely upon almost as much as we do water. Then
add the fact that our wages at our jobs have not increased anywhere near as
much, if at all. What is the result of increasing prices without increasing
wages? You and I now have less money to spend than we did five years ago.
We Christians should regard such things NOT as losses, but we
should think of such things as great personal gains. Our nation's financial
crisis-and our individual places in it-should be thought of as gifts and
treasures that our loving heavenly Father has purposefully and mercifully
given especially to us, His dear Christians. What we find ourselves
unwilling to give, our heavenly Father lovingly takes. What we find
ourselves loving too much, our dear Lord Jesus prevents us from loving any
longer. When we find ourselves too easily trusting our homemade crutches,
God the Holy Spirit breaks the crutch so that we may lean exclusively upon
Him who both created and redeemed us. In this way, love and trust in God are
created for us, rather than demanded from us.
Look at the birds of the birds of the air. your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field. if
God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is
thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little
faith?
Jesus speaks in this Gospel. Jesus, whose death and resurrection
have provided for your greatest needs of soul and body, assures you today
that you are worth more than many sparrows. This means that you are also
worth more than your mortgage, your car loan, your medicalbills, your
groceries, your cell phone, and your retirement savings. By the power of His
death Jesus has forgiven you the sins of your soul. By the power His
resurrection Jesus has guaranteed you the eternal redemption of your body.
We can happily let the rest go. "He who did not spare His own So but gave
Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all
things?" (Romans 8:32)
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