Proper 13C

If you have Netflix,

you know a few months ago

"Tidying up with Marie Kondo"

became a huge hit.

So much so, people started using her name as a verb on Facebook.

People reported their adventures cleaning out their homes,

I saw posts such as this:

"I'm Marie Kondo-ing my closet and found this!"

with a picture of them holding up some long lost ridiculous Halloween costume they still had or something similar.

Of course, my Facebook feed also immediately erupted 

with scores of priests, ministers, and pastors 

saying they would never be able to only own 30 books at a time.

The whole idea which Marie Kondo proposes 

is that cleaning up, 

and cleaning out,

paring down the possessions you have,

leads to a more joy-filled life.

This idea is not a new one.

Or really a surprising one.

When our lives start to feel too cluttered,

when we have too many possessions we have to take care of,

we start to lose our joy in living,

our vision starts to close down

and we become boxed in by our so called "important things." 

Any of us who have downsized... as many do in our culture after they retire know the reality of the issue.

You can't take it all with you.

In fact, when we are talking about death,

we can't take any of it with us.

Though still, we get into a habit of building up more and more possessions

and being in the same predicament as the man with many barns

not enough space for all our stuff.

If you have driven out to Cranberry recently, 

you can see they are putting a new storage facility up.

Investing in the idea that we need more space to put our stuff. 

Indeed,

Jesus warned against having too many possessions many times in the Gospel stories.

Jesus told many different people that they should sell their possessions and follow him.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke,

Jesus tells people to stop prioritizing goods, money, and possessions

and focus on the more important aspects of life,

relationships and compassion.

Relationships with God, with others, with self,

and compassion for the poor and needy.

In today's gospel passage, we hear one of those stories.

Jesus tells the man who questioned him

to stay away from greed and not to store up possessions.

He shares the parable of the man with many barns

and reminds his followers to store up treasures in heaven,

not on Earth. 

For Jesus, it all comes down to what we value,

what we prioritize.

We want wealth,

we want fame

we want security and comfort.

We want life on this Earth with all its creature comforts.

We want wealth and God.

Yet, we cannot serve two masters. 

Jesus tells the man who questions him

to "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;"

and in thinking about that, it is kind of amazing how many different kinds of greed their are.

Greed comes in so many different types.

Some of us want possessions

some of us want money

some of us want supplies of food or something else which would make us feel more secure.

Some of us simply want all the things

because it seems we can never have too much.

Some of us want all of someone else's attention

or someone else's love.

Or power, over one person, or multiple people,

or simply power over every situation in their lives,

which is a greed type we see quite often in the world.

It is interesting that different personality types are prone to different kinds of greed.

Some of us would never consider being greedy in one way, 

while we are terribly greedy in another way.

Just goes to show you how different we all are.

I know my greedy tendencies, and I'm sure if you thought about them for a moment, you would be able to figure out your greedy tendencies.

Sometimes we try to justify them, with reasons that sound so bland and perfectly acceptable.

Those justifications are simply excuses and lies for us to feel better about our greed.

The truth is that most of us are not completely content with what we have

and we want more.

All these types of greed

keep us from focusing on what we do have,

and they keep us away from God.

Naturally, Jesus is all about bringing us closer to God.

Jesus wants us to build up our relationship with God

Jesus wants us to build up our relationships with others

Jesus wants us to build up our relationships with ourselves

in order to recognize, know, and receive the abundance 

which God has already given to us. 

The rich man who had no more places for his crops to go could have, 

perhaps should have, 

shared his abundance with others in his community.

He could have given away some of it to the poor

or to friends, family, and neighbors.

Then he would have built up relationships,

he would have cared about the things of God

and he would have riches beyond mere possessions.

Paul says later on in the New Testament that God's wisdom is human foolishness

and human priorities do come in conflict with God's priorities way too often.

We want to make ourselves safe and secure, 

build up treasures for ourselves here on Earth

and yet, God, through Jesus, consistently reminds us

that is not the point and meaning of our lives on this planet. 

We are not here to build up ourselves and our possessions.

We are here to care for the Earth, to care for each other,

to live in harmony with God's will and purposes for each of us.

Living simply also usually means living happier

living more fulfilled lives

because then our lives are filled with the real high value items

relationships, activities, community service

when we make a commitment to having less stuff

we have less stuff we have to take care of

and we have more time to do things in the community

with others and for others.

Jesus calls us to look at what we value in our lives

and bring our living into alignment with those values.

How can we make more space in our lives for the truly important things?

How can we let go of what we are not using

to make way for the rich life of what we do long for?

Jesus calls us to build up the real treasures:

caring about the things important to God,

caring for creation, for each other, and for those in need.

May God open our eyes this week

to what we need to let go of and what we need to build up.

Amen.