Christ the King Epiphany Church, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

August 3, 2025 / Eighth Sunday after Pentecost / Lectionary 18C

Luke 12:13-21

Dr. Susan Fleming McGurgan is a Roman Catholic homiletics and pastoral theology professor.  She authored this parable as a modern parallel to the parable we’ve just heard from Jesus.

“She felt as if her life had become nothing more than an endless search for the perfect box.  She dreamed about warehouses filled with boxes – boxes with tape and bubble wrap and lids – and all of them strong enough and big enough to hold the accumulated debris of two middle-aged adults, three active children, one pampered cat, and two geriatric gerbils.  

“These days, she scanned the wine section for boxes rather than Bordeaux, searching for that holy grail of storage:  the empty wine case with removable dividers.   She put “dibs” on all of the boxes coming into her office, and prayed that her colleagues would use a ream of paper per person, per day for the rest of the month.  (Just think of all the lovely boxes with handles!)  After she almost crashed the van stopping to pick up a beautiful box by the side of the road, she thought about placing an “I Brake for Boxes” sign on her back bumper and then undergoing some intensive therapy when the move was complete.  

“She sat each evening, surrounded by legos, hockey sticks, college yearbooks, orphan socks, outgrown soccer shoes, that half-finished quilt from 1983, old bank statements, plastic Halloween pumpkins, clothes she wished she could still wear, books she ought to have read, craft projects she might want to complete, and mystery items that frankly, she wasn’t entirely convinced were hers, (despite the fact that they lived at the bottom of her closet.) 

“She no longer remembered WHY they were moving, but she assumed it must have been a good idea at some point along the way.  She had never considered her family to be acquisitive, greedy, spoiled, wealthy, worldly, consumer-oriented, or even very fortunate.  But now, buried by toys her children couldn’t remember and surrounded by tools her husband never used, she felt a sudden shiver of shame.  Sometimes, she wished they could live more simply.  Sometimes, she wished that she had the courage to just give it all away – to start over – to remember how it feels to want something, and do without.   

“But deep down inside, she was afraid of empty closets and barren shelves.  She was afraid that without her “things,” her life might unravel – or even worse, be unrecognizable.  After all, their belongings defined who they were, what they valued, how they lived . . ..   

“Simplicity was probably over-rated and anyway, doesn’t nature abhor a vacuum?  If she scooped it out the door with a shovel, it would probably just ooze back in through the window. 

“She sighed, and crammed a one-eyed teddy bear back into an over-stuffed bag.  ‘What I really need is more storage … bigger closets … a larger garage … more shelves ….  That would really make me happy!’” 

That’s what the rich man thought in the parable that Jesus told, too – that more storage would make him happy.  And secure.  To which, Jesus said that God responded in the parable:  “You can’t take it with you when you go.”  Well, that’s not exactly what he said.  But pretty close.  What he said was actually less whimsical, more harsh:  “You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”  You can’t take it with you when you go.  Or as I once heard someone say even more colorfully:  You never see a U-haul behind a hearse.

But what’s perhaps even more foolish than acquiring stuff and trusting it to keep us secure is believing that our stuff defines us.  Do you remember what the woman in the modern parable said?  She said that “their belongings defined who they were, what they valued, how they lived.”  Holding onto stuff isn’t just a hoarding or greed issue, nor is it just a trust or control issue, though it is all of the above.  But over-valuing our stuff is also an identity issue.  Even though it is true that the things we own do demonstrate our values and our life-choices, still they do not define who we are at our deepest core.  It seems like identity issues were an underlying problem with the guy in Jesus’ original parable, as well.  If you note, he never mentions any relationships with anyone other than himself.  It’s his actions, his barns, his goods.  He apparently doesn’t consult or even think about any other family member, any other friend, any other human being.  Nor does he mention (or consult or apparently even think about) God in his discernment of what to do with his surplus.  He is very much alone.

Yet it is in our relationships that we find our true identity.  

Our relationships with one another say much more about us than our belongings.  Lavish gifts for loved ones might make them happy for a while, but they don’t really make those relationships stronger.  Strength of relationships comes through time and talking, through loyalty and love.  Friendship is not for sale at WalMart – and yet there’s not a one of us here who would deny the irreplaceable value of a trusted and true friend.  You can’t purchase a subscription for community support online – and yet we all know how priceless the prayer and support of a faith community is.  It is the people in our lives who are our treasures, not the balance in our bank book nor the strength of our stock portfolios nor the contents of our attics, garages, basements, or storage units.

Our relationships with one another do more to define us than any things we can hold onto, but our relationship with God is really the key to our identity.  It is God who gives true value to our lives.  Our relationship with God is, after all, something that we do take with us when we go.  Our connection to God started when we were baptized, it sustains us our whole life long, and it carries us into the next life.  We belong to God and God loves us.  That is our true identity.  That is who we are:  unendingly, immeasurably, unfathomably loved, not because of what we have, not even because of who we are in our relationships with one another or what we do, but because of who God is.

And because we are so loved, we don’t really need to worry about the things of this world, the stuff we accumulate, the earthly means to our security.  And no one could say that better than Jesus does in the verses that follow today’s Gospel lesson.  And so to finish, I’d like to read a little further in the Gospel.  

22 [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith! 29 And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Why will our Father give us all that we need?  Because of who we are:  God’s beloved children.  That is our true treasure.  Thanks be to God.