The Ninth Sunday after Trinity

1^st August 2010 8:00am

Preacher: Frankie Lee Minor

Readings: Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14; 2:18-23 ; Colossians 3:1-11 ; Luke 12:13-21

May I speak in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In today’s Gospel story, we hear the parable of the rich fool. Why is he a fool I wonder? I think he is a fool not because he is wealthy financially or that he is making good plan in organizing his goods. He is a fool because he is self-centred.

In the parable, the man frequently uses the words ‘I’ and ‘my’—‘my crops’, ‘my grains’, ‘my goods’, “What shall ‘I’ do?”, “‘I’ have no place”, and so on. The rich man is all self-centred; his focus is to himself alone. He has no incentive to give thanks to God, who gives the rain and good weather for his farm and the harvest he has got. He has forgotten to thank God and indeed he has no time or thought for his brothers and sisters who may be living under poverty, hunger or any other needs.

Rather than being the owner of possession, this rich fool has been possessed by his possession. Because he is self-centred, his desire (his greed) for more and more wealth is un-ending, and he will never gain true satisfaction and true happiness. He has no time for family, for friends, for neighbours, and for fun. All that he is interested is wealth and possession. Indeed, his identity, his status and indeed his worth are all based on what he has, which is very much what we are taught in today’s secular world, especially in our financial City of Hong Kong. Our identity and worth are often based on how much we can spend, how much we earn, how big a house we have, how much we possess…

As Christians, however, we tell a different story—the story of a servant king, a suffering lord. Jesus is the king and lord of all, yet because of God’s love for us, He comes down and dwells among us. He suffers for our sake. He is humiliated and is crucified for our salvation. All this is because of God’s love for us. God’s love is so great that His love cannot be only towards God himself, i.e. self-centred. God’s love is so great that He has to love us, to a point even to send His only Son to us, to die and to rise for us. This is why we glorify the Jesus on the cross, as we can see on the window at the East End of the church. We do not worship a king who is all powerful and full of wealth, who has no interest for His creation. But we worship our king who is love, who suffers for us, who is a servant.

As Christians, we know we are a blessed people. We are a wealthy people here at St John’s. We know we will have lunch (and food) to eat after the service; we know we have clothes to wear; we know we have clean water to drink; and we have friends and families to share our joy and sorrow. And above all, we are wealthy and have abundant of life because we have Jesus as our saviour. We know that we are loved, and we are a ‘loving people’. We have a Gospel of love to proclaim.

But, can we keep this ‘wealth’ to ourselves? NO

We know that, as Christians, when one of our brother or sister suffers, we suffer also. When we have food, we remember and try our best to help and serve those without food. And I can assure you that there are millions across the Globe who experience hunger daily, who live without clean water, who live without shelter.

Here at St John’s, because of our love for God and for our neighbour, we have to offer them our help and support. We do not do this because we are told to do, but like God, we know we have so much that we cannot but to passionately share with others. Here at St John’s, we offer ministries to those who suffer from HIV/AIDS, all those who suffer from domestic abuse. We believe that one of our brothers or our sisters suffers, we suffer also. So we believe it is our call to serve them and all those in need. We strive for justice and peace for God’s world. We speak for those who are voiceless, and we seek to bring freedom to the oppressed and marginalised. We have indeed the Gospel of Love, of forgiveness, of reconciliation and of peace to proclaim.

Unlike the rich fool in the parable, we don’t keep this love, this joy and this peace to ourselves, but (like Jesus) we will go out into the world and seek out our brothers and sisters, and share with them this Good News. Let us be on our guard not to fall into the trap the rich fool has gone into.

Let us show forth our love and share our joy and peace and resources with all our brothers and sisters (our neighbours) with our words, our deeds and above all our lives which reflects God’s unfailing love for all.

Thanks be to God.