Where do you store up treasures?

This coming Sunday, August 1, in the gospel reading in the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells this parable -

"Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." ¹⁶Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' ¹⁸Then 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. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' ²⁰But 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?' ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

The cartoon here references different verses in Matthew, but perhaps is along the same lines. What do you think Jesus is saying about greed here?
It is such a deep question to me to consider - what would it look like to be rich toward God?
How do you feel about considering such biblical issues as wealth and poverty? Especially in Luke, Jesus is especially interested in having open, no-nonsense discussions of the reality of inequality and what God's kingdom will look like instead.
I had the opportunity to visit India on a seminary trip. We visited some tent villages/slums, and also some of the wealthiest corporations, malls, and other places. In this picture at left is the outskirts of Navi Mumbai (New Bombay), where in the background and really much closer all around, high rises - condos, office buildings, and malls are going up. But a large, large part of the population still lives like you see in the foreground, in this tent village. Many people live day-to-day, not storing up much of anything, as it makes me think of in the gospel text.


We know, of course, that we do not have to go to India to see such a disparity between the rich and the poor and a place to consider what Jesus talks about all through Luke. Do you feel the sense of urgency that God speaks of in Jesus' parable - that this very night your life is being demanded of you? Some would say that today's Christian church has lost that sense of urgency that might have been easier understood for the earliest Christians.

I preached on this text last November at my home congregation, Christ the King Lutheran in Richmond, Virginia. When I considered and preached on the text before, I thought a lot about what those barns are that the text talks about - what do we store up for ourselves and what does God do in response?
Now I am drawn much more to this question of human greed versus being rich toward God . . . what do you think?

Peace+

Vicar Brett