Tenth Sunday after Pentecost: August 5, 2007
Preached at Kingston Road United Church by the Rev. Richard C. Choe
Preached at Kingston Road United Church by the Rev. Richard C. Choe
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Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 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.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 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. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 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?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
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How much is enough?
A farmer who was greedy for land was told by a landowner that the price for land is one thousand roubles a day. “A day? What do you mean,” the farmer asked the landowner.
“As much as you can go around on your feet in a day is yours, and the price is one thousand roubles a day. But there is one condition: if you don’t return on the same day to the spot whence you started, your money is lost.”
“But how am I to mark the way I have gone?” “Well, take a shovel with you. At every turning, dig a hole and pile up the turf; then afterwards we will go around with a plough from hole to hole. You may make as large a circuit as you please, but before the sun sets you must return to the place you started from. All the land you cover will be yours.”
The farmer was too excited to sleep. He figured that he could easily walk 35 miles a day. He was going to be rich! He got up before the sun rose and met the landowner at the hill top. “Start from here and return here again. All the land you go around will be yours.”
There was a vast stretch of land before him. The farmer began to walk toward the rising sun. He dug a hole at every 1000 yards. The weather was getting warmer as he covered more ground. He needed a rest but felt that he could walk more. He finally stopped, dug a hole, and drank, and then turned to the left. He walked on, and the weather was getting very hot.
The farmer was feeling tired: he looked at the sun and saw that it was noon. He took a quick bite and walked on. It was terribly hot and he was getting tired. “An hour to suffer, a life-time to live,” he muttered to himself as he walked on.
After a while, the farmer was about to turn left but saw a damp hollow: “It would be a pity to leave that out,” he thought. “Flax would do well there.” So he went on past the hollow, and dug a hole on the other side of it before he turned the corner.
The sun was now nearly half way to the horizon, and he realized that he had made the two sides too long. “I must make this side shorter,” the farmer decided. Then, he realized that he may not be able to get back to the hill in time. So, he gave up the idea of making a square. He hurriedly dug a hole and began to walk toward the hill.
He was now very tired. The sun is sinking lower and lower. “Oh dear,” he thought, “If only I have not spent so much time trying for too much! What if I am too late?”
He looked towards the hilltop and at the sun. He was still far from the starting place, and the sun was already near the horizon. He began to run, throwing down everything but the shovel.
His heart was beating like a hammer, and his legs were giving way as if they did not belong to him. As the sun went down, the farmer finally reached the hilltop, and lunged toward the spot where he started.
“You have gained much land!” the landowner exclaimed. People ran to the farmer to help him get up. As they were helping him up they saw blood flowing from the farmer’s mouth. He was dead.
The people picked up the man’s shovel and dug a grave long enough for the farmer to lie in, and buried him in it. Six feet from his head to his feet was all the land he needed.”
This is a condensed version of “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy. A very sobering view of life. This is a metaphor of life for many in our society.
Tolstoy was a Christian who believed in living out the principles of communalism Jesus taught. His thoughts on non-violent resistance influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
How much is enough?
A man complained to Jesus about an inheritance. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But Jesus turned this complaint into something very different. Jesus turned the question of fair sharing between blood relations into a question of fair sharing between humanity and God. When a man – someone who has enough money to argue over with his brother – seeks a fair share of his inheritance – Jesus raises the question of fair sharing with the rest of his neighbours.
“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Be rich towards God.” I interpret it as be rich toward your community.
The question posed to Jesus about fair sharing between two blood relations ended with Jesus posing a question about the care of the whole and those who were around him. How much is enough for some individuals if there are those in their community who are barely getting by?
How much is enough?
“How much is enough?” is the kind of question I am often confronted with whenever I hear and reflect on the stories of the deceased as I prepare for funerals.
Three individuals who have been part of Kingston Road United Church died within the last ten days. Doug Hussey, who is survived by his Dad, Bill Hussey, died on July 26. His funeral was on Monday. Pat Richmond died last week and her memorial service will be in Stony Creek. Pat’s daughter, Holly, told me that her Mom wished to have her ashes to be interred in England. Norm Clemens died on July 31 and his memorial service was on Friday.
Norman Albin Clemens died on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007, in his 98th year, surrounded by his family at Scarborough General Hospital. Norm was a devoted husband of Marion for almost 69 years. Even after 69 years of life together, Marion told me the evening before the funeral that it was such a short time to be together. Norm and Marion built and nurtured together a kind of love that will last beyond their lives.
As I was listening to the stories of Norm’s life – about how he overcame his health challenges, how he enjoyed meeting people, how he made his family his priority, how he lived out his faith through his ministry with KRU folks – I kept thinking about what people really remember about Norm after his death.
What the family and his friends remembered about Norm was the kindness and loving acts embodied through his life. Norm’s love shared with Marion, his partner of almost 69 years, was more than enough. His love for his children, Keith and Marilyn, was more than enough for them. How much is enough for the family and friends? In the end – Love and kindness.
It was same for Doug as well. His friends and sister remember his acts of kindness and generosity.
On the way to Norm’s funeral service, as I was remembering the stories I heard about Norm, I was listening to “Now and Forever” – a song Carole King wrote and sang for the movie “A League of Their Own” – a 1992 film which tells a fictionalized account of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
The song is played at the end of the movie as the old team mates, now late in their years, gather to celebrate their entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
We had a momentJust one momentThat will last beyond a dream, beyond a lifetime.We are the lucky onesSome people never get to doAll we got to do.Now and foreverI will always think of you.
Although we know our lives are lived only once, too often we forget that each moment of encounter is an opportunity for us to create a moment that will last beyond a dream and beyond a lifetime. It is more than enough to walk each day, sharing kindness and compassion with those we meet. It is more than enough to say “No” to our society’s compulsion to acquire, possess, and accumulate things that people will not remember once we are gone.
A fictional character in a book I read recently speaks of love this way:
“That is what redeems us; that is what makes our pain and sorrow bearable – this giving of love to others, this sharing of the heart.”[i]
How much is enough?
I dare say that God’s love for us which encourages us to be compassionate with one another is more than enough. Now and Forver.
Amen.
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[i] Alexander McCall Smith, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, (Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2006), p. 233.
In my grandmother’s kitchen, along the white door frame, are pencil marks where she would draw a line to mark how tall we were. As time went on, the lines got higher and higher. Sometimes, someone might comment on how tall you have grown, saying, “You are growing like a weed.” It sounds strange, but it’s meant to be a compliment.
God doesn’t care how tall we are or how short we are. In the Bible there are stories of both tall people and short people who do great things. God cares that we grow inside: that our hearts get bigger, and our minds get bigger, and our spirits get bigger. How can we help our hearts to grow? (by loving people, doing kind things, etc.) How can we help our minds grow bigger? (by learning about the world, learning about people, etc.) How can we help our spirits to grow? (by praying, listening to Jesus, learning about ourselves, etc.)
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