eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you...

from my sermon on August 1, 2010, from Luke 12:13-21

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you....die. We get that common phrase from this bit of scripture we read. I would like to turn it around in a minute if you can stay with me. You see, I have been turned around. Cathy and I are just back from 4 weeks off on holiday in Australia and New Zealand and I'm still all turned around. We live in the Northern Hemisphere; they live in the ...Southern. Here it is summertime; there it is ....wintertime. Here we drive on the right side of the road; there they drive on the ....left..no the wrong side of the road. This messed me up more than anything else. For 11 days we had a rental can, and I got really turned around. Everytime we got in the car, Cathy would say, "remember to drive on the left side of the road." To make matters worse on the steering column, the turn signal and the windshield wiper controls were....turned around. Therefore, inevitably, in a time of great stress with Cathy screaming, "Left, turn left here, left," what you would see is this: the windshield wipers come on.


Jesus is on a journey. He is not on holiday. He is going to Jerusalem with all that city implies. Only Luke has this long travelogue. As he goes, he is trying to turn everything around, to turn things the right way for the kingdom of God. As he goes, a man from the crowd interrupts his journey with a demand: tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. I know that we don't have any family squabbles over wills, estates, inheritance. Oh, we do....maybe this story has some relevance even today. Now the Old Testament has guidelines on division of property and Moses evens sets an example, but Jesus refuses to get involved. As one of the commentaries I read says, when it comes to greed, who can says whose greed is more right? Jesus issues some warnings about greed and storing up of possessions.

And then Jesus tells a story, as I like to do. A man works hards, is carefuel, doesn't practice theft or graft. There is no history of mistreatment of employees. He has a bountiful harvest and gets rich. He seems to be the paradigm of American capitalism. So what is the problem? How many times does he use the pronoun "I?" Six. How many times does he use the pronoun "my?" Five. How many times does he reference God? Zero. How many times does he reference others? Zero. He lives for himself, talks to himself, plans for himself, and congratulates himself. The Lord comes and calls him "Fool." "This very night, your life is demanded of you." Do I need to remind you how fragile life is? You know about illness, about accident, about natural disaster. This man is so self-centered it is as if he is already dead.

Here's where I want to turn this sermon around. We have the communion table set today. I want you to hear Jesus say to you today, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for today you live." I believe some people around here are getting this message. You have heard youth give testimonies all summer long of going on mission trips. Why would they give up air conditioning, ipods, cell phones, etc., and go work in the hot sun doing home repairs. I think they have been feasting at this table and learned what life is about. It not about getting; it's about giving. Around this church we are learning that life is about "Following One, Serving All."

This morning I was blown away as I greeted a man in the pews just before the 9 a.m. service. "Help me with your name." He said, "I am Bob Bassett." Bob and I started Texas A & M together in 1971 and we were active in the Wesley Foundation there. Why would a bunch of Aggies get up early on Saturday morning and go out reroof little country churches, or paint them? I think it is because we feasted at this table. We learned to eat, drink, and be merry, and to live.

Jesus turns things around. I close with a story I got from Textweek.com.

Some years ago, a member gave me the following story, by Florence Ferrier about a social worker in poverty-stricken Appalachia. It's called "We Ain't Poor!
The Sheldons were a large family in severe financial distress after a series of misfortunes. The help they received was not adequate, yet they managed their meager income with ingenuity -- and without complaint.
One fall day I visited the Sheldons in the ramshackle rented house they lived in at the edge of the woods. Despite a painful physical handicap, Mr. Sheldon had shot and butchered a bear which strayed into their yard once too often. The meat had been processed into all the big canning jars they could find or swap for. There would be meat in their diet even during the worst of the winter when their fuel costs were high.
Mr. Sheldon offered me a jar of bear meat. I hesitated to accept it, but the giver met my unspoken resistance firmly. "Now you just have to take this. We want you to have it. We don't have much, that's a fact; but we ain't poor!"
I couldn't resist asking, "What's the difference?" His answer proved unforgettable.
"When you can give something away, even when you don't have much, then you ain't poor. When you don't feel easy giving something away even if you got more'n you need, then you're poor, whether you know it or not."
I accepted and enjoyed their gift and treasured that lesson in living. In time, I saw it as a spiritual lesson, too. Knowing that all we have is provided by the Father, it seems ungracious to doubt that our needs will be met without our clinging to every morsel.
When I feel myself resisting an urge to share what's mine -- or when I see someone sharing freely from the little he has -- I remember Mr. Sheldon saying, "We ain't poor!"

Jesus turns things around. We are rich. Come to the table today. Eat, drink, and be merry, for today you live. That's the good news I have to share with you.