The Heart of the Matter
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-22; Luke
12:32-49
Itís good to live in
It is ìback-to-schoolî season for many, and, as I pondered that fact
last week, I was reminded of a story of Will Willoman.
One August when Willoman was Dean of the Chapel at
The student went on to compliment the hostsí home saying, ìthis is a
really nice house. Does it ever trouble you as a Christian to live in such
affluence?î
To which Willoman responded, ìnow I remember
why we donít invite students into our home more often.î
Sometimes I feel the same way about Jesus, especially when he says
things like ìfrom everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.î
I read the gospel lesson for this morning, and I think, ìnow I
remember why I donít invite Jesus into my home more often!î
Last month on vacation I was at my parentsí home down in
When Iím in one of my Christian-socialist moods, I feel pretty good
sleeping under his watchful gaze. If Iíve been fretting over financial worries,
Iím not so sure. When Iíve just bought a new pair of running shoes that are
made in
Of course, when I do that I find myself facing a table where my mom
has placed a Bible. Marx to the left of me, Jesus to the right ñ or is it the
other way around. In any case, there are just some folks you donít want to
invite into your homes too often.
Now, donít go to work tomorrow telling folks that your pastor is some
leftist who compares Jesus with Karl Marx ñ although I suppose that is safer
these days than being known as a pacifist who wants gay folks to get married. But
still, I donít need to get on any more watch lists.
And, obviously, Marx was no Christian, although a cursory look at the
early church might give you the mistaken impression that the first Christians
were Marxists. As a young man in a restaurant line reminded me a couple of
weeks ago, several thousand years before the advent of Marxís economic theory,
those in the early church set aside absolute claims of private ownership of
property, held their possessions in common, sold their homes and land and
distributed the proceeds to the poor (Acts 4:32-35).
Still, it has always seemed to me ñ whether itís Marx or Milton
Friedman ñ economic theory misses the heart of the matter. And that is
precisely what concerns Jesus the most: the heart of the matter is the matter
of the heart.
Although this crucial section of Lukeís gospel is clearly concerned
with economic matters, even here ñ in a passage framed by the parable of the
rich fool and warnings about the time of judgment ñ Jesus is not so much
concerned with the thickness of your wallet, the number of places to the left
of the decimal point in your bank accounts, the value of your investments, the
worth of your house. Jesus is ultimately concerned with the effect that those
matters of your treasure have on your heart, for he understood so clearly that
ìwhere your treasure is, there also will be your heart.î
That line often gets misquoted as ìwhere your heart is, there will be
your treasure,î but Jesus knew better than that. We donít tend to invest our
treasures following our hearts nearly so much as we invest our hearts following
our treasure. Jesus might have said, ìshow me your checkbook ledger and I will
show you your values.î
In our passage from Luke this morning, Jesus is telling his followers
that whatever the measure of their treasure, if itís not being used for the
good of Godís creation, for the good of the community, then itís being wasted.
Worse than that, if your treasure is being walled off from the community, your
heart is being walled of from God. For, if your treasure is being kept back
from what is important in the heart of God, then your heart and Godís heart are
profoundly separated.
Now this is incredibly difficult terrain. Not only is it theologically
challenging to grasp and grapple with the scriptural witness around issues of
money, it is often socially unacceptable in our culture to speak of money
matters in public. Dana Jones, our pastor in
Nevertheless, until we are honest with ourselves about the role of
money in our own lives, in the life of the church, in the broader culture and
in its politics, then we might circle around a lot of more or less important
stuff, but we will not get to the heart of the matter.
I certainly wish I had this stuff figured out ñ in my own life, in the
life of the church, in the broader culture and in its politics. But I do not.
Nobody will ever come to me for financial advice. After all, when Cheryl and I
moved from
I do, however, think I have some small purchase on what Jesus was
pointing toward. In charging his disciples to make ìan unfailing treasure in
heaven,î Jesus invites us to lift our lives to a higher plane and to
participate in what we might call the ìkingdom economy.î
Laying up treasure in heaven does not mean to be spiritual at the
expense of the earth and all those that on earth do dwell. Indeed, as Wendell Berry
says, ìit means exactly the opposite: do not desecrate or depreciate these
gifts [of earth and body], which take part with us in the being of God, by
turning them into worldly ìtreasureî; do not reduce life to money or to any
other mere quantity.î[1]
No, the heart of the matter for Jesus is not turning away from the
world toward some pious life of other-worldly spirituality. Jesus is concerned
with the very worldly question of how our various economies function. And, as
If the standard of moral judgment on our various economies is the
health, the well being, the shalom of all that belongs to God ñ which is to say
the earth and all that is in it ñ then the question becomes how do we construct
a moral economy? How do we construct a moral home economy? How do we construct
a moral church economy? How do we construct a moral national economy? How do we
construct a moral political economy?
This is incredibly difficult stuff, and we will barely begin this
morning to lift up what might be said of it. But, if we are to be at all
serious in calling ourselves followers of Jesus, if we are to be at all honest
in proclaiming him Lord of our lives, then we must admit, to begin with, that
he is lord of our economic lives as well as our social lives, our lives lived
out in the marketplace as well as our private lives.
In our home economics this means inviting Jesus over more often, and
bringing him along as we shop, as we make decisions about jobs, about
investments, and about giving from our abundance for the good of the community.
In church it means much the same thing. You would think it goes
without saying, but many a church board could stand to invite Jesus into budget
considerations.
On a broader scale, a moral national economy must, at the very least,
confess that the market was made for human beings, not human beings for the
market. Thus it is the responsibility of the community to create a moral
economy that reaches out to those left behind by the market.
It is not partisan politics to observe that the gospels do not propose
or endorse free-market economics. Indeed, if we are to invite Jesus into the
political economy we must admit that Jesus is neither a Democrat nor a
Republican, neither a liberal nor a conservative, neither a free-market
libertarian nor a welfare-state New Dealer.
If youíre a Christian who happens to be a Republican these days, shame
your party into renewed concern for the least of these. Remind Congressional
leaders that budgets are moral documents. If youíre a Christian who happens to
be a Democrat, remind your party before it panders once more to the middle
class of its historical and moral responsibility to the poor. And, no matter
what party claims your support, remind all of our leaders that we learn much
more about the character of a nation from how it treats its most vulnerable
citizens than from the size and strength of its military.
This stuff is not easy, no matter which level you focus on. Fortunately,
our texts for this morning help out. As a starting place to considering our
home, church, national and political economies, what would it look like if we
took seriously the first words that Jesus utters in the passage from Luke?
ìDo not be afraid! Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your
Fatherís good pleasure to give you the kingdom.î You see, God has it all and it
gives God pleasure to give it away. Thereís a lesson in that for those of us
who want to cling desperately and fearfully to the stuff of our lives. Whatís
the worst thing that might happen if we let go?
If, as has often been said, the opposite of faith is fear, then Jesus
is saying here, ìbe faithful. Trust God, and find the abundant, joyful life that
comes to those who live faithfully. ëConsider the liliesí and know that if God
clothes them in such exuberant abundance ñ those things that are swept away
with tomorrowís wind ñ how much more so will God dress you in abundance.î
Such living will empower you. Thatís the message in the familiar words
from Hebrews. What we typically read as ìfaith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seenî might better be translated as ìfaith is
the reality of things hoped for and
the proof of things not seen.î In
other words, in faith we participate in the emerging reality of what is hoped
for. Indeed, faith itself moves us in that direction. Thus, rather than
offering an obvious if elegant platitude about faith, the author of Hebrews,
instead, makes a bold claim: faith has power.[3]
That crucial assurance makes all the difference as we struggle with
the difficult challenge of allowing God to rule our economic lives, as we
struggle to create moral economic orders in our households, our church, our
nation and its politics. Moving boldly with faith, we can invite Jesus into
each of these realms of our lives knowing that his deepest concern is for the
health of our hearts. Amen.
Rev. Dr. David E. Ensign
[1] Wendell Berry, What Are People For? (New York: North Pointe Press, 1990), 99.
[2] Ibid., 100.
[3] Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, J. Clinton McCann, James D. Newsome, Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV ñ Year C (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994) 465.