The Basics September 26, 2010
Jeremiah32:1-3a, 6-15; I Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
As I watch the beautiful children who are coming to Jack and Jill in the morning from my office window, I think of how they are just getting started on this grand adventure of life, meeting new people, seeing new places, getting along with others, learning new things, getting the basics and it made me think about how important the basics are. Our faith also has some basics that perhaps it would be good to review from time to time. The readings for today give us an opportunity to do just that so here we go.
First Basic: Trust God. Jeremiah has just, as usual, had bad news for his people. He knows that the near future is pretty bad. The big bad Babylonians are coming and they are going to throw everybody out of their homes and off their land. The worst has happened. The people will be displaced. They will not have a place to be. They will live the life of exile, strangers in a strange land. This is disheartening because it really feels like more than losing your place, it feels like losing your future. But what does Jeremiah do? His actions illustrate as well as any other story I can remember what it means to trust God. He bought a plot of land even though he knew that it was about to be run over and taken away. He buys a plot of land because he trusts that one day justice will prevail and he will return to that very piece of land and it will provide life for him. In short, even though the present and the near future are doomed he believes in the future, that there is a future, there is hope, because he trusts that God is just and loving and will make things right for those who wait and who never stop believing in a future with God. It is one thing to trust God when all is going well. It is quite another to continue to trust God when it feels more like God has abandoned us, when things fall apart, when everything we thought we could count on is suddenly like so much dust in the wind.
Second Basic: Know what enough is. The writer of 1 Timothy is very clear. Having stuff is dangerous. Always wanting more can consume us. A wise person once said that if we want to know peace, we should stop having what we want and start wanting what we have. Of course, the challenge for us who have so much and so many choices is to be able to discern what enough is. From the Christian Century this week: John C Bogle tells how Joseph Heller responded when someone pointed out that his billionaire party host made more money in a single day of hedge fund trading than Heller had ever earned from his book Catch-22. Heller replied: “ Yes, but I have something that he will never have: enough.” To know what is enough is wisdom and sometimes it has to be learned the hard way. One possible clue is what having and wanting more is doing to us and to others. The irony of a life that is forever consuming is that in the end it is one’s life that is consumed. The poor rich man in the gospel reading for this day is a perfect example. There is another way, however. The problem is not just having more than enough but what do we do with the abundance?
Third Basic: Share the abundance. It is amazing how many voices are unanimous on this one. George McGovern (one of my sad heros from the past) said that “Every religion in the world instructs us to feed the hungry.” That is pretty basic. Our own John Wesley said that we should make as much money as we could make but then share the wealth with those in need. Even the Koran (can you imagine?) has this word: They shall question thee concerning what they should expend. Say: “The abundance.” Of course every religion and every other attempt to end poverty has failed even though there is enough for everybody. How ironic is it that in some parts of the world people are dying because they eat too much and in other parts of the world they are dying from not having enough to eat? There are lots of reasons for this and it is complicated but it is also simple or at least it was in the case of the rich man in our gospel story this morning. In his case it seems that it is not so much what he has done but what he has not done even perhaps what he has failed to notice needed to be done. The saddest thing of all is that he could have easily done what needed to be done. He just didn’t. After arriving in Hades, the story goes, the rich man, seeing Abraham far away across a great divide standing with the man he had repeatedly stepped over on his own doorstep, he wanted to know why nobody ever told him before it was too late that his lifestyle was not what God wanted. He hadn’t meant to harm anyone. He just hadn’t noticed that others were suffering. He somehow overlooked poor Lazarus everyday until finally the days ran out for both of them and Lazarus is in paradise and the rich man is beyond helping. How could he have known that he would ever need help, he who had never needed help from anyone? This is one of the dangers of being rich. Not knowing our own need we do not understand or even see the need of others. That is something we can do something about however. We can pay attention. We can examine our lives more closely and see what is enough and what is needed and we can make choices that will make things better.
If only the rich man had known the golden rule. You talk about basic. This is another idea that is present in all the great religions.
Hinduism: Do not to others what ye do not wish done to yourself . . .This is the whole Dharma. Heed it well.
Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; that is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary; go learn it.
Zoroastrianism: Human nature is good only when it does not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self.
Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
Confucianism: Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.
Islam: No one of you is a believer until you desire for another that which you desire for yourself.
Bahai: Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not. This is my command unto thee, do thou observe it.
And, of course, Jesus, in Matthew 7.12 saying, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” The genius of this word is that we know what to do because it is what we want done to us. This is nice because we can understand it but on the other hand it provides us no cover. It brings to mind that other word from Deuteronomy that the rich man should have known: Surely this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you; nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven; that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
In other words, there is no place to hide. There are no excuses. We trust God, we share the abundance, we help those in need, we treat others with the respect and kindness that we want for ourselves, or we just don’t.
This is basic. This is also why it is still important to hear the Word of God and ponder its meaning for us. Here is light and guidance for complicated and overwhelming times. If we practice every day with every person we meet this basic understanding to love one another as we love ourselves, we will change the world and we, too, will be changed, for there is a peace that only God can give. 1 Timothy has an important clue to finding it: As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
And that is what we want, isn’t it? The life that really is life. There are other basics to this faith journey, this grand adventure of life we all share from the little ones just starting off to those of us who watch them with breaking hearts because we know what they must find out, that life is hard sometimes and sometimes it hurts and things change and anything can happen and we are all afraid but it is beautiful, too, this life, and love is always possible, and that is basic, too. There are many things to learn and Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will teach us those things. One such moment is captured in a poem I just read that I must share with you this morning because it is a reflection of one of those ordinary moments where the life that is really life is revealed:
Put the words close enough.
Closer than that, even closer
so that one breath
will make the other turn
and the other turn
and say
and the wind break this leaf
from its stem, not the other
and make a cup for the dew
in the shade where the sun
won’t dry it
where the bird stops to drink
as your son waits, pointing
“birdie, birdie” and
you snap the picture, the one
where his smile is like
the first time anyone ever smiled
and its place in the frame on your desk
makes you wonder why
you don’t write poetry about this.
-Marcia Rae Johnson
The smile that is like the first time that anyone ever smiled is basic to why we live. May God teach us the basics through these holy words and with the Holy Spirit and may we come to see what is holy in every living thing and live with each other in the world as if it were the first time anyone ever lived.
