When people have idols, God ends up becoming the power they turn to to keep their idol going.
Jo recently started painting. She works in watercolor. She took it up so she would have a hobby after she retired. What she did not know is that watercolor was not just a hobby she could pick up and put down. It began to change her life. She saw things happening, not just on the paper but to her. Painting caused her to see the world differently.
Every evening, for years, Jo walked with her husband on a paved trail near their house. Now, however, those walks have changed. She sees the physical landscape differently. It is so vibrant with color. One time, she pulled a branch of honeysuckle close to look deep inside the flower. Rather than seeing an invasive plant that needed to be removed, she saw pale ivory, trumpeting down a blossom only to transform into a deep, yellow gold at the core. Beauty in a fragile flower.
“I have been given a different world to live in,” she says. Painting has given her eyes to see and changed the way she lives in the world.
In our reading this morning, this is what Jesus wants to do for us through His parable. He wants to change the way we live in the world by giving us eyes to see.
The text opens with a man whose life in this world has changed the way he sees God. But Jesus tells a parable to turn everything on its head. Instead of our life in the world changing the way we see God, Jesus wants our life with God to change the way we see and live in the world.
As the text opens, we have a man approaching Jesus. The man says, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (verse 13). Notice how the man does not ask Jesus to answer a question. He does not ask Jesus to discern the God-pleasing way to go about dividing an inheritance. Instead, he simply wants Jesus to enforce the way he has already decided it should be. Whether he is relying on custom or established law, the man is boxing Jesus in. There is an action he wants fulfilled and he is only turning to Jesus in order to bring about that action. The way he looks at the world has changed the way he sees God. God is there to enforce what this man knows needs to be done. God is there to guarantee that this man has the kind of life he desires.
It is interesting, is it not, that when people talk about idolatry, they act as if God is not around. That is, idolatry is seen as replacing God with something else. If money becomes your god, then God disappears. Money alone rules your life. But that is not the way it is. When you have an idol, God does not disappear. He is just demoted. He has a room, but it is in the servant’s quarters.
When you have an idol, God does not disappear. He is just demoted. He has a room, but it is in the servant’s quarters.
When people have idols, God ends up becoming the power they turn to to keep their idol going. God is present in their lives but not as Lord of all things. No, God is the one we turn towards to keep our idols going.
For this man, his idol was possessions. He believed that an abundance of possessions would bring fulfillment to his life. But that did not mean this man had no use for Jesus. It simply meant he knew what he wanted Jesus to do. He wanted Jesus to enforce the laws of inheritance in a way that would give him more possessions. Jesus had become a servant to this man’s idol and a means to an end of having a life filled with an abundance of possessions.
This can happen to us as well. We tend to make idols out of the good things of God and then we turn to God to keep our idols going. You have made your family into an idol. You measure your worth by the uprightness of your family, the holiness of your household, and you turn to God to keep your idol going. When one of your children begins to stray, you are less concerned about your child’s life itself and more concerned about what this does to the family. You turn to God to enforce the rules you have put in place to make your family the center of your life.
It might not be your family. It could be your job, your group of friends, or your physical training at the gym. Anything can become an idol and, when it does, it changes the way we see God. It causes us to look at God as one who is there to enforce our laws, to give us strength to succeed, so we can live the life we have decided will make us happy.
Into this dark realm of devilish deception, Jesus brings the light of God. He tells a parable. In the parable, we see a picture of an abundant life. It looks good. But looks can be deceiving. In the midst of all this abundance, there is a profound emptiness, a complete lack of knowledge or trust in the one true God. As the man’s possessions grow and as the man’s confidence in having achieved the purpose of life expands, suddenly, God comes out of the shadows in the figure of death. That night, the man’s soul is required of him. That night, God, the giver of life, comes to take it back. All this man thought was life has faded away and, instead, he is confronted with his own emptiness in the presence of the One who has made and given all things.
Through this parable, Jesus invites us to meet God, the God who rules over all things. This God is not the great enforcer of the laws we believe will make our lives happy. No, this God is the Lord of Life, true life, life given as a gift to be enjoyed in this world and into eternity.
Jesus came to call our attention to this life. He did it by revealing our idols and the way our idols cause us to see God. When we try to use God, we will end up condemned and forsaken. Yet, on the cross, Jesus entered into the loneliness of being forsaken by God so we might be forgiven for forsaking our Creator. Then, Jesus rose to reveal the true gift of life for those who believe. This death and resurrection cause us to see the world differently. God has not called us into this world to possess it, but out of this world and into His Kingdom where we are possessed by the One who loves us and invites us to share that love with others through every gift we have been given in this world.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Luke 12:13–21.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Luke 12:13–21.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
