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This past Monday, I made a banana bread with the help of my Son. When we mixed all the ingredients we needed for the recipe, He asked me if he could add one more ingredient, orange juice, into the mix before it went into the oven. I told him no and explained to him that we do not need to add orange juice for this recipe because we do not want the wrong ingredient changing the taste of the banana bread. You are probably thinking to yourself, Why am I talking about baking and making banana bread with my son? For me, this moment was like a parable for the different ingredients that make up our lives.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is offering a warning to two brothers about the problem of allowing the wrong ingredients into their lives and relationships by telling them, “Be on guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The reason why Jesus is giving this warning to the brothers is that one brother wanted Jesus to tell the other to divide the family inheritance with him, and Jesus felt obligated to tell them I am not here to judge your relationship with money and family.
But I am here to teach. I am here to teach about the importance of preventing greed and possessions from ruining your relationship with God and others. And to make his point clear, Jesus began to tell the two brothers the parable of the “Rich fool”. The Rich Fool was a blessed man in his own eyes and the eyes of many others because his land produced abundantly, and he owned his own barn, where he could store all his grains. The production on his land was so plentiful that he even needed to construct a bigger barn to store all this grain. He said to himself ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry; I don’t think Jesus calls this man a fool because God blessed him with good productive land and with that wealth. But instead, Jesus is calling this rich man a fool because he has no gratitude for God. This man believes he receives all these resources and riches because he is so good and deserving. He feels that he does not need to be in a relationship with God, because he is already overly satisfied with his possessions. And because of that, he does not need God in his life.
Jesus also believes this is a foolish man because he shows no gratitude or mercy to the workers who are truly the ones taking care of his ripe land. These workers are the ones making sure that his crops are produced to keep him rich. The real problem with this man in the eyes of Jesus is that he is not allowing the ingredients of gratitude and selflessness toward God and others into his life. Only leaving room for the ingredients of selfishness and greed to be let in. He is not a fool because of his wealth. I do not believe Jesus has something against wealth. I do believe He has a problem with wealth and prosperity being taken for granted and intern not being used the right way. Now, just like in Jesus’ time. We know of someone suffering because they do not have access to resources. They do not have access to adequate health care. Or they cannot afford to feed their families or themselves. Even with the violence we see or hear about in our communities. All the troubles in our world, in some way or another, can be connected to the greed that can be allowed into our lives. Jesus is simply warning us against the ingredient of “greed”.
Jesus knows that we need help to prevent greed, and he wants to share with us the right ingredients that we need to cultivate in our lives. This is why he taught us two great commandments; the first is to love God with all our heart, and soul, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. How can we show that we are implementing his lesson?
First, God wants us to accept the invitation to be in relation with him, to be grateful for all the goods that God gives to all of us. God wants to remind us that Jesus came to share his identity with all of us and tell us that we are God’s beloved children. And as God’s Children, we need to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We need to share and be part of the mission of the Church by serving Christ in the best way we can. We need to share the goods we have with our brothers and sisters. Be there for one another in times of need, if that is all we can offer.
We need to remember that we, as God’s beloved, are told that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will bring freedom to the oppressed and together we will make a better community for all God’s people. May we always remember that Love is that ingredient that binds us together in perfect harmony.
