Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Rob Fisher
St. Dunstan’s, Carmel Valley

Readings: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

Some years ago I was in a singing group in college.  It was an unusual group.  All we sang was Slavic music—Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Bulgarian.  We sang Slavic folk music and Russian Orthodox hymns.

A highlight of those years for me was a tour we took in Ukraine

It was in the summer of 1995, so it wasn’t so long since the end of the Communist regime.  And the people, by and large, were not very happy.  Things were not going well, and from what we saw it seemed that only the thick-necked Ukrainian mafia were thriving.

I remember one woman lamenting about the way things were.

She said, “We used to have security, but we had no freedom.  Now we have freedom, but we have no security.  So what good is it?”

***

Freedom can be a tricky thing.

Sometimes we find that we do not have enough opportunities or resources, and we suffer because we have very little freedom as a result.

At other times, we have great opportunities and resources, and we still may suffer because it can be hard to choose when we have so many choices.

My father has coined a phrase that I think is apt.  There is a thing called the “phobia of missed opportunity.”

Think about it.  Do you ever suffer anxiety when you sense that an opportunity is about to be missed.

But sometimes we have to say No to one thing in order to say Yes to the thing that matters more.

We have to choose how to spend our money.  And we have to choose how to spend an even more precious commodity—our time.

Having freedom means to have a choice.  With freedom comes a burden.

***

The first lesson we heard this morning is about an ancient real estate transaction.

It takes place nearly 2600 years ago, while the army of Babylon is besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet is confined by the King of Judah within the palace.

At this time the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and says, You are going to have an opportunity to buy a field from your cousin.

Soon after, the opportunity arises in just the way the Lord has described.

The Lord has specified in great detail how the transaction is to be processed.  There are witnesses, and a specific amount of silver for the purchase, and there are two deeds.  One is sealed and the other is open, and both are kept in an earthenware jar where they will last for a long time.

Why all the trouble?  What is the point, especially as the man who is buying the field does not even have the freedom to leave his imprisonment in the palace?

The point is that this real estate transaction is a sign of encouragement to a people who are in the middle of being overtaken by the Babylonians.  God gives them hope, showing them that one day fields and homes and vineyards in their land will be bought and sold again when the present strife comes to an end.  It is a message of hope to a people who are about to go into a very serious period of exile

Interesting, isn’t it, that God uses the power to buy and sell as a symbol of hope to his people when they are in the midst of a crisis.

***

Money comes up again in the Gospel reading, a parable about a rich man and a poor man.

The poor man is named Lazarus.A side note here is that this Lazarus is not to be confused with the other Lazarus in the New Testament, whom Jesus brought back to life.  Remember, this Lazarus did not really exist except in a story.

Also, this happens to be the sole instance where a character in one of Jesus’ parables has a proper name.  Lazarus was a common name at that time, and it means: “the one whom God has helped.

This Lazarus is a beggar, and in spite of his name, he seems to have a pretty terrible life.

The other character is a rich man.  Over the years he has come to be known as “Dives” but this is not really a name but the word for “rich” in Latin.

This rich man—the so-called Dives—dressed in purple and finery, and he feasted all the time.  Meanwhile, the poor beggar Lazarus lay at his gate.  He was so pitiful that the dogs licked his many wounds.  Lazarus would have been happy to get whatever fell from the rich man’s table, but apparently very little ever came his way.

Both characters soon die, and while the poor Lazarus is taken up into the arms of Abraham in heaven, Dives descends to Hades where he finds nothing but torment.

One meaning of the parable could be: those who enjoy good things in this life suffer in the life to come.  But is this really Christ’s own theology?

Didn’t Jesus encourage people to live good lives, which are joyful lives, today?  For instance, didn’t he spend a lot of time celebrating at table with his friends?

Jesus never wanted us to be miserable.  Rather, the type of good life that you enjoy might be what makes all the difference.

Having a selfish good time is very different from having the kind of goodness and joy in your life that comes from connecting to others by service, fellowship, generosity, caring, or any of the other fruits of love.

The question is: in your life do you have only a good time, or do you have goodness?  One is richer than the other.

***

There is a scene in a movie where a soldier has just returned home.

He had been in some of the most dangerous situations imaginable where every decision was life or death.

At war, his life was terribly limited, but he had purpose.  Every decision mattered.

When he gets home, he finds himself with his wife and little child in a grocery store somewhere in the suburbs.  No longer a soldier, he is now a bit aimless.  No longer in harms way, he now has more freedom to live comfortably, with many more decisions to be made.

But these millions of decisions now to be made each mean a lot less.

In the gigantic grocery store, his wife asks him to go get some cereal, and he goes off alone to find the cereal aisle.

And when he gets there he stands in front of a wall of boxes.  You can see in his heavy, pained expression that he does not know where to start.

Do we really need 64 different kinds of cereals?

Having so many choices is a certain kind of freedom.

But what good is freedom without purpose?

Dives’ problem was maybe not that he was rich, but that he had never found his purpose in living.

***

A Christian life must be an intentional life.

If we open our eyes to the truth that Jesus wants us to see, we will discover a deeper meaning to our existence than mere contentment.  We will find the purpose that will give our lives direction.

Freedom alone gives us very little.

Our goal should not be freedom, but truth.

We find our purpose when we discover this Truth with a capital “T”, this deeper meaning which God wants for each of our lives.

This is the Truth that tells us our place in the universe.

This is the Truth that reveals the immeasurable worth of every human being in the eyes of God.

This is the Truth that reveals the love and commitment that God has for each of us as well.

This is the Truth that will set us free.

—Amen.