God’s Alchemy Turning Lead into Gold
9th Sun. of Luke Nov. 21, 2021 Luke 12: 16-21
In today’s short 6 verse Gospel we get a very direct lesson on what true wealth consists of. We learn the purpose of earthly temporal riches, and the great difference between self-focused living and kingdom of God living. The secret of turning lead into gold. What is a truly safe investment?
The set up for this parable of the rich man and his barns comes in the verse before where it plainly says: “…beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist of the things he possesses.” We get the answer to the question the parable is demonstrating right at the beginning. Possessions do not equal riches. So, the first question we need to consider is What are true riches? What is the value of material wealth?
The rich man who was blessed with bumper crops was right on track when he realized he had been blessed. For this man who already had more than enough of everything, the best value and least expensive solution to solve the problem of the bumper crop would have been to store it in the stomachs of the poor. That is an eternal investment that never loses value.
Stewardship begins with realizing that everything we have is a gift from God. It is a great responsibility to have wealth. All through history, wonderful churches have not been built with perogy suppers or even the faithful tithes of the poor and middle class, but through the wealth of Patrons. The ministry of the wealthy is always to provide for the poor and for the spreading of the kingdom of God. Dedicated intentional giving is a very good discipline for all of us, to keep us from the ravages of the demon of avarice, but great works of building churches and supporting significant Christian charity and missionary work is largely the very special calling of those whom God has blessed financially.
Orthodoxy is Paradoxy. Our task is to unlearn much of what has been drilled into us from our birth, especially from our North American marketing culture. Stive for a sumptuous life we are told, you deserve it! According to this wisdom, our rich farmer had arrived! “Soul you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God delivers His judgement of the farmers success, “FOOL, this night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” The wealthiest and most powerful will soon lie side by side in the grave with the poor and most destitute, and the actions of both will be all that matters. Yes, we have much to unlearn about what is of true value.
Should we flee from material possessions? Take our cue from the non-possessor monks and fling our gold coins into the river because they can burn us so easily? There have always been and are now a few Christian monks that are given God’s grace to choose this road to union with Christ. May they pray for us. However, for most of us living in this incredibly prosperous society that is the envy of most of the world, a proper understanding of the purpose of wealth can go a long way to keeping us on the Kingdom path. We have all around us the poor, they are a great gift, given to us to look after. They are our means of converting earthly wealth to heavenly riches. True alchemy! We have many stories of Alchemy in our culture; of the search to turn lead into gold. Gold being the most pure and perfected substance. Lead being quite molecularly similar but prone to killing us with lead poisoning. This is a great analogy for what we do when we take our God given material wealth – lead, and use this wealth to lock in eternal gold by investing it in helping the poor, supporting the mission of the Church, and in other God-pleasing endeavours. Turning earthly material lead into heavenly pure gold. If not used properly, our earthly wealth will simply erode and lay in a useless heap at our passing, all of its immense potential wasted. As our dear St. Tikhon, Enlightener of North America tells us, “Orthodox people, let us devote ourselves to the Orthodox faith, not in tongue only but in deed and truth.”
Listen to what our Lord tells us a little later in this 12th chapter of Luke. First, he encourages us not to worry or be anxious for the necessities of life, for God will provide for us as he does the birds, the flowers, and all of creation, for He loves and values us greatly. Seek rather the kingdom of God above all else and we will be in His constant care. Then He says (Luke 12:33) “Sell what you have and give alms, provide yourselves money bags that do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.” And still a little later Christ tells us (Luke 14:13) “But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” and (Luke 16:9) “And I say to you, make friends for yourself with unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” May we be blessed to have a large greeting party of those we helped while alive, meet us as our soul enters the home of the blessed. For as the Fathers tell us, when we are finished our earthly course, the only material thing we can take with us beyond the grave, is that which we have given away while alive.
I’m sure the rich man in today’s Gospel was respected and envied as someone who had “made it.” Probably had a sumptuous funeral like old “whatz his name,” the nameless rich man we met a few weeks ago who failed to take action to help Lazarus. But what matters is God’s opinion, and we see that “You fool” pretty much sums up His assessment of the man’s worldly achievements. This short gospel lesson should give us pause to ask ourselves, “Have we been gathering riches for our own use only, or are we using them wisely to invest generously for the work of kingdom of God, investing in our eternal heavenly account?
May God bless and bring us many opportunities to invest in the Kingdom of God, tuning worldly lead into heavenly gold this Nativity season! Glory to Jesus Christ!