Among the list of awkward gospels for middle class Americans, this has got to be near the top. I saw a cartoon recently about this text where the preacher says from the pulpit something along the lines of, “Let me tell you how Jesus means this metaphorically and not literally.” And the folks in the pews all have little thought bubbles saying “Phew!”.

As much as I believe in generosity and giving for the sake of others, I do also think this is metaphorical … but only to a degree. Afterall, we can’t ALL sell ALL our stuff to generate cash to give away. Someone has to buy it for this to work, right? So, there’s some logistical issues and so we need to look further.

However, I’m not sure what Jesus is telling us here is that much easier.

We all have our ideas about what makes us safe in the world and it generally involves stuff or assets of some kind. We focus much of our life’s energy on the acquisition of those assets for the sake of generating safety. Some extra-prepared folks may stash cash, jewels, or food and water. Or chocolate, coffee, and wine, if they’re smart, for potential earthquakes.

The man in this text strikes me as one of those very prepared folks. He’s already keeping all the law. He’s got his material wealth lined up. And now he’s wondering, “How do I get that next-level insurance policy?” He says, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He’s lining up all the ducks he can imagine in a row and now he’s asking Jesus how to get that final duck in its place.

Surprisingly, Jesus’ response is to get rid of all of it. Get rid of what you think will keep you safe. Get rid of all the firewalls you have so carefully put in place to protect you against reality, because shedding it might help you focus on what true safety is and where true life comes from.

We already know true safety and true living does not come from our stuff or bank accounts. Salvation does not come from having our ducks in a row. Regardless of what you own, reality still wins. Hurricanes come. Cancer comes. Deaths of loved ones come. Your money or any other way you protect yourself from reality will ultimately fail. And when they do, sometimes what happens is what is most important comes back into focus; things like love, connection, faith, integrity, and hope.

The tragedy is that people so often sacrifice these core values for the sake of stuff and money, for the sake of false security.

When our focus is on acquisition, we are indeed outside of God’s Kingdom. Afterall, Scrooge was not a happy man sitting alone in the cold with his money and ledgers on Christmas Eve.

So, it begs the question, what do you cling to? What do we, as a community, cling to? From where do we believe our help will come?

Money is not necessarily the problem. It is the meaning that we give to money that really matters. In our culture, we place money, assets, and stuff in the center of our lives for the most part. It is hard not to, to be fair to us. And yet we are called to put God in the center of our lives. To put generosity and love in the center. To put Jesus and all those he loves – the poor, the weak, the isolated and abused – in the center. Which, by the way, includes us and our tender hearts. Jesus looks into this man and loves him. This is not condemnation, but an invitation to a way of living that is loving to the rich man.

When we have a lot of assets, we can pretend that we don’t need others. We can buy the help we need when we need it. We deny our vulnerability. But when we don’t have any assets, we can’t pretend that we are self-sufficient. Our capacity to delude ourselves about how we don’t need anyone or anything melts in the face of poverty or other dire situations.

So, to sell everything and enter into intentional poverty might just be the “fast and easy” way to ensure we stay deeply aware of our vulnerability to reality, our need for people, and our need for God. Our supposed lack of vulnerability that can come with wealth is an illusion. With money and piles of stuff, we can be like Citizen Kane in our personal castles, but remember he also died alone, dreaming of Rosebud and his childhood.

If we don’t think we really need each other or God, our relationships can become shallow or slip away completely. The bounty of our lives empties out.

Amos preaches in our text, “you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.” We may have all the things like grand houses and vineyards, but without love, without vulnerability, where is the joy?

When natural disasters or some sort of massive disruption in our communities happen, there are always stories of people who feel like they are indeed living in the Kingdom even in the midst of devastation. Everything in terms of stuff may have been stripped from them, but what they gain is the opportunity to enter deeply into the lives of the people around them for the sake of helping others and to receive from others. They get the opportunity to be profoundly generous or to be the recipient of profound generosity. And in that sharing is the Kingdom of God.

Dorothy Day (who is awaiting canonization in the Catholic Church) was a child in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Her incredible faith was born in that catastrophe, because she saw the Kingdom of God open in the overwhelming generosity of strangers, all working to help each other through that massive devastation. Even as a child, she wondered why we couldn’t live like this all the time.

Indeed, it’s a good question. I wonder if it is a matter of what we place in the center of our lives. Are we prioritizing comfort, wealth, convenience, and control? Or are we centering Christ in each other and all creation?

This change of focus and change of heart is not easy. Perhaps that is particularly true for folks like the man in our text today who was so close to having all his ducks in a row. He was so close to controlling life to perfection. However, we know that our projects of controlling life will always fail. So, what do we do instead?

According to Jesus, we practice generosity. Through giving, we can soften our grip on our assets and shift our focus to God’s grace instead of our control. You will likely find, or already do find, that it feels amazing to be a donor to nonprofits and churches. The action of giving places who and what God loves (and therefore God) in the center of your life.  

It is a good and healing practice to give, to practice generosity as an expression of your love of others, love of Creation, and love of God. To give is to practice putting the Kingdom of God, however we best understand it, in the center of our lives in a tangible, practical, and generative way.  

Let me also acknowledge that doing so is hard, particularly if you have yet to build those muscles. Loosening our grip on the many ways of we construct safety is hard. Thankfully Jesus tells us today, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

So, let us pray for the courage and faith to trust our lives to God’s good hands. We pray for the courage and faith to lean into the vulnerability of knowing we need God and each other. And we pray for the courage to live into generosity for the sake others, God, and ultimately ourselves.

AMEN