…do we let go enough?

August 3, 2025

Scriptures: Hosea 11:1-11, Colossians 3:1-11, Luke 12:13-21

We do not know the background of the man’s request for Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with him…but it is clear that Jesus did not want to weigh in on either side of that question…so…maybe at least part of the man’s request is related to the very concept of inheritance itself…at least in terms of the acquisition of wealth or resources that someone else accrued, and did not use up while they were alive.

Now, to be truthful, inherited wealth is not something that everyone actually has a part in. For some, there is nothing left after someone dies. For others there may never have been an opportunity to accrue sufficient resources to leave anything behind…something that I am sure many find to be true in their own experience. But that is a serious discussion for another time.

But it does seem clear from our reading that inheritance can cause problems within families. Living in this town from the mid-1960’s, I have seen many large and extended farm families absolutely fall apart after the founding family members have passed, and do so over this same feeling that the division of remaining wealth or property was not distributed fairly.

        And I also know that the discussion of faith versus wealth is not only hard to preach about, but is a thread of ‘religious speak’ that everyone has heard over and over. And quite frankly there are plenty of gospel references that support the notion that faith and wealth are not compatible including the verse in Matthew 6 that clearly claims, ‘you cannot love both God and money…’.

But that is not my focus today…at least not entirely. Rather, I was struck by the line in our reading where Jesus said, ‘Be on your guard against all kinds of greed’. For I had never even considered that there might be different kinds of greed…but on closer reflection, I think in fact a case can be made that there is much that can get in the way of our relationship with our Lord, and with our ability to truly love every ‘one another’, when it comes to greed.

And in considering this question as to what ‘greed’ actually might be, I began to wonder if our faith may in fact be trying to convince us that greed is any form of gathering unto ourselves resources or comforts that are in excess of our need ‘at that moment’. Thinking here of the manna which was given each day, and only lasted for a day!

Also, perhaps there is more to greed than just trying to gather as much material wealth and resources as you can. Perhaps greed can also take the form of anything we do not want to give up, anything we consider uniquely our own, anything we do not necessarily want to share. Perhaps this thing called greed can be found in more than one place…let’s see…

The first place that comes to mind for me is the one we all know of, and that is the desire to gather unto ourselves either wealth or possessions…for fear we may not have enough, and for surely a whole host of reasons or rationales. But how about the idea of keeping to ourselves, or to our own small group of friends…about being unwilling or afraid to truly be vulnerable to others, and not all that interested in sharing the goodness or comfort we get from our circle of close friends with others, with newcomers or even strangers…is that perhaps greedy in some sense?

Or another, how about holding on very tightly and securely to our personal opinions, to the ideas or beliefs we cherish and rely upon…to that which we hold on to most tightly. Those beliefs of forces of habit that make us unwilling to consider that there might be another viewpoint, or that someone else’s ideas or questions might possibly deserve our consideration? Is that a form of holding on a bit too tightly?

Or how about the desire to hold on to the status quo? I think this may be one of the most prevalent and damaging forms of greed in which many participate. For this way of being encourages us to fiercely protect whatever our notion of life is all about. Presuming of course that we have the bulk of the ‘creature comforts’ we feel we need, such as sufficient income, a house, little or no personal debt, the ability to do what we want pretty much when we want to, sufficient money or savings which can serve as a hedge against hard times, and investments that make the future a little less scary. And perhaps most importantly when it comes to holding on to one’s personal ‘status quo’, there is the notion that we have a place in society where we personally do not feel threatened, regardless of our heritage or the way we look or sound to others.

Which indeed is a lot to try and hold on to. But in times as strange and different as those we are currently in, it seems that many individuals across all social spectrums are seeking after the comfort of ‘no change’…harboring feelings and sentiments which may lead them to feel or to say things like, ‘those problems are not mine, I am not like those people, I belong, please don’t ask me to care for them!’

In truth, the desire to preserve one’s life-status-quo may in fact be one of the most troublesome forms of greed today…‘let me just live unto myself, I don’t want to get involved, I have what I need, please just let me be’…please?

But what does our faith, what do the gospels actually tell us about all this? How or where does it really address all these questions of what we have, what we need, and what we want? The most telling thing, and the thing many include in their prayers quite frequently, whether or not they pause to consider what it may mean is the request in our Lord’s Prayer for ‘daily bread’. Which it could be argued is the most prayed for, and least believed in or expected thing in the whole of our faith practice.

For in truth there is a real fear of living day to day, or even paycheck to paycheck. There is, I feel, a real hesitation to believe and trust in ‘promises or words of assurance’ that were first spoken over 2000 years ago, and in very different times and circumstances. But are our times really that different? For sure we do not really know what it was like for those who were living ‘well off’ during the time of Jesus, but I am not sure it was all that different. For goodness sake, the same religious wars, and reasons for warring have remained constant even unto today…and they are just as indefensible when it comes to truly living into Jesus’ call in Matthew 25 to ‘do unto the least of these’.

And again, from the very start of our faith story, all the way back in the book of Genesis we hear God calling Abram out of his desert nomadic lifestyle to lead a nation which he said he would greatly bless. A promise that so very few realize is contained in that call, and even fewer know what the promise actually was…namely that God told Abram that he was going to bless him, in order that he might be a blessing for all others’. In other words that original call was setting the stage for a way of living that actually had no provision for greed to even take root!

Be that as it may however, greed, as a very human attribute, has been around from the very beginning of our story. However, I feel that a close reading of the scriptures, and an understanding of what Jesus was actually doing as he walked among humankind would seem to indicate that his call was to a different way of being, to a different set of principles governing our daily walk.

And I can say that because, if our church experience has been anything, it has offered sincere and frequent proof that this provision of ‘daily bread’, is the Spirit’s usual and preferred mode of action. So, so many times we have received what we needed in order to do the work of our Lord…and at just the moment we needed it…never late, but not a moment sooner either.

Which is easy to say, and sort of easy to preach…but truthfully, in the end, it is a challenging ‘promise’ to consider, and hard to just accept on the word or the ‘say so’ of another. That level of letting go and of trusting raises the question, ‘is faith really about letting go enough of our deepest concerns, wants, or our fears, and instead trusting that what we say we believe, is actually true’? Is it really possible that there is a good, gracious, and loving God who is intimately interested in our personal welfare, and, who wants to provide for our every need?

Yes, but…and this is the kicker…I believe that our Lord truly wants a depth of relationship with us in which that is indeed the case…however that provision, that meeting of our needs, is inextricably tied in with the Lord’s desired will and purposes. In other words God always provides for any and all holy endeavors we feel led by the Spirit to engage in…but not necessarily all the creature comforts or hedges against fear we may desire as well.

So…greed in some form or other is something we all need to work against, and do so most likely every day. But in its place we are constantly being called to a life that is much fuller, much deeper, and much more rewarding. A life that is truly alive…

…a life characterized by frequent ‘holy moments’, moments in which we know without a doubt that God has drawn particularly near, and is even now only the slightest whisper away.

…a life in which the hard work of revealing the kingdom of God among us, is work that is done by all of us in partnership with our Lord, and for which there will always be sufficient resources to complete the task.

…a life in which we truly will be delivered from fears that paralyze us, or overwhelming concerns that are not actually of this moment.

…a life in which it is far easier to love our neighbor, for everyone truly is our neighbor.

…a life in which we are but vessels for the Lord’s use, and are filled to overflowing with peace, joy, love, and perhaps most importantly, fearlessness.

We just have to be willing to let go enough, and to finally trust in what it is we say we believe…

…the Holy Spirit will surely take care of the rest…

…amen