Do you ever look around and think, what is the point of all this? It seems like rich, greedy, power-hungry people keep winning while the poor, marginalized people continue to suffer. Well-meaning people keep yelling at each other and the world becomes more deeply divided.
What’s the point?!?
You are not alone.
This is the refrain of the texts in the Revised Common Lectionary this week. It is centered on Jesus’ parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21. A rich man allowed his wealth to inflate his ego to the point that he tore down his storehouses and built bigger ones. Instead of thinking, “You know, I have plenty, I should share my resources with those who are struggling,” he thought, “I deserve this wealth. It’s ALL MINE! Too bad losers!”
Then he died the next day.
The writer of Ecclesiastes has a word for this, hebel (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23). It is a Hebrew word that means vapor, breath, vanity. The wise, and seemingly cynical, “teacher” of Ecclesiastes observes the inequities of life, the strivings after success, money, power, pleasure, and concludes that everything done “under the sun” is hebel. The selected Psalms echo these feelings (Psalm 49:1-12).
The problem we face in the 21st century Western culture is that our modern, scientific mindset has told us that the only thing that actually exists is “under the sun” or the material world. There is no such thing as the spiritual, the ultimate, or the transcendent. Ultimately there is no meaning other than the meaning we make up for ourselves.
People want the spiritual (without the religion), but we struggle to find a framework in which to experience it. This can lead many to despair. “What’s the point?!?”
The teachings of Jesus offer us an alternative model. The RCL texts will allow the preacher the chance to speak of the Kin-dom of God that Jesus calls us to cherish. It is a not an other-worldly, escape-hatch spirituality that discards this material world. It is a life that sees the beauty and value of all things and seeks to treat everything with God’s Love.
For this week, the texts offer us a contrast of priorities. On the one hand, there is the self-centered pursuit of money and power, which will always lead to violence and death. On the other hand there is the beautiful portrait of new life in Christ that is painted in Colossians 3. I would suggest extending the reading to verse 17, so that we can contrast the destructive patterns of the world with the life-giving patterns of Jesus in which we are called to “above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Colossians 3:14).”
My prayer for us is that we can find meaning and hope for today and be a conduit of that hope to those who are struggling.
Every week I compile all the visual resources on cartoonistbible.com for the lectionary readings on both the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary. Get them in your inbox every Monday morning.
