Replacing greed with generosity (18 Sunday Ordinary time, year C)

Replacing greed with generosity

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, year C, Sunday July 31, 2022


Readings: Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23; Lk 12:13-21



The Rich Fool, Rembrant

The Gospel today shows us that generosity rather than greed brings peace in the midst of the insecurities and uncertainties of life.


Listen here:



There was once woman who was married to a greedy husband. During his life, he was only interested in collecting more and more money for himself. He avoided sharing what he had with everyone, his own wife included. Towards the end of his life, the husband made his wife promise to bury him with his money. He even told her friends to make sure that she buried him with his money. The man passed away and, on the day of the funeral, just before the coffin was about to be closed, the wife called out, “wait!” She then approached the coffin with a box, put the box in the coffin, and then gave the instruction for the coffin to be closed. Afterwards, one of the wife’s friends approached her and asked, “what did you put in the coffin? You didn’t really bury your greedy husband with his money, did you?” To this, the wife answered, “of course I did! I am a woman who keeps her promises. After my husband passed away, I sold all he had, and transferred all this money, along with the money he had in all his different back accounts into my bank account. I then wrote my husband a cheque for the full amount that belonged to him. I put the cheque in a box and put the boxed into his coffin so he would be buried with his money.”

 

In the Gospel today, Jesus warns us about the danger of greed. In response to an individual who demands that Jesus make sure an inheritance is divided properly, Jesus responds with a parable about a rich man who builds barns to save his excess crops in, thinking that this will provide him with security for years to come. This man is told by God that he will die that very day and these goods he had saved for himself will belong to others. In telling the parable, Jesus has a clear aim in mind. He wants us to guard ourselves from “all kinds of greed” (Lk 12:15). In the Greek original of this Gospel, the word for greed is pleoxenia. According to Plutarch, the philosopher who lived just after the time of Jesus (46 – 119 AD), pleoxenia describes a desire to constantly obtain more and more. This kind of greed was likened to someone who is thirsty and drinks salt water. The salt water does not quench your thirst, it just makes you more and more thirsty. We can be greedy for all kinds of things. We can be greedy with money or other possessions. We can be greedy with our time, never wanting to spare some time for those in need. We can also be greedy with our talents, never wanting to lend a hand to those we can help. Of course, we need to be prudent and ensure we have enough to live on and be realistic with our time and how much we can help others. Greed is another matter, however. Greed is the desire to obtain more and more while never being satisfied. The more we get, the more we want.

 

The first step in overcoming greed is realizing that the constant desire to obtain more and more, can never give us true peace and security. In the parable, the greedy rich man hoarded his crops because he felt that this would provide him with a sense of security. After he stored the crops in his expanded barns he said to himself: “you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” According to Jesus, at the root of the man’s greed was a desire for security in an uncertain world. Crops may fail; disasters may strike. Feeling that life is insecure or precarious is natural. The unpredictable nature of our existence is one of the main themes of the book of Qoheleth, from which the first reading today was taken. Qoheleth is one of the most fascinating books in the Bible. When we read it, we can be shocked by the pessimistic tone. I like the book because it is honest and realistic. Qoheleth points out the precarious nature of life. At times, we all feel that our existence is frail and insecure. This is how the man in the parable felt. Jesus is not criticizing him for feeling this way. He is pointing out that the solution the rich man sought – greed, storing food for himself – is not a real solution. The man still died at an unpredictable time. The goods he hoarded went to another. You cannot cash cheques after you die.

 

Jesus shows us that generosity rather than greed will provide the security we all seek. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus contrasts storing up treasures for ourselves with being “rich toward God”, the true way to find the peace amidst the fragility of life. Being “rich” in the eyes of God means acting in a way that is consistent with who God is. Jesus’ parable shows us that ultimately God is in control of our life. We are not. God gives us life as a gift. God is the generous giver of all that is good. We are rich before God when we generous just as God is generous. When we are generous with our time, talents, and treasure, we acknowledge that we have received these all from a God who will always care for us. When we live this way, we experience peace. Gaudium et Spes, one of the most important documents coming from the Second Vatican Council puts it this way. Human beings only truly find themselves when they make a sincere gift of themselves (paraphrase of GS #24). 

 

Echoing the message we heard in the Gospel, Pope Francis is fond of saying, “there are no pockets in a burial shroud.” In the face of the insecurities of life, generosity and not greed is the solution. The Gospel today calls us to ask ourselves a few questions. When it comes to my time, talents, and treasures, am I being greedy? How can I be more generous with those around me: my family, friends, coworkers, or parish community? As we consider these questions, let us keep in mind the saying made famous by the movie It’s a Wonderful Life: “All you can take with you is that which you have given away.”