IDOLS
Live Audio Version
11 Sunday of Luke, Dec. 3, 2023 Luke 18:18-27,
Today we again hear the story of the rich young man who has everything going for him as far as worldly wisdom would indicate. Clean living, respecting his parents, fabulously rich and even a ruler. In Mark we hear that Jesus, looking upon this young man “loved him” and then told him to “sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me.” What an opportunity! Yet all three Gospel writers conclude with the man going away sadly – the cost was just too much. Christ says“…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And in reply to the astonished Apostle’s resulting question “who then can be saved” comes the answer “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” We will not be saved through our own efforts alone. We all need to go through the eye of the needle for we all have sinned. It is by God’s power, grace and love for us that we are saved, and all things are possible for God!
In yesterday’s Gospel reading we heard Luke 12:32-34 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms, provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches not moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”This is the lesson that today’s gospel is teaching us.
We are given countless scriptural council regarding the dangers of the love of money that mirror today’s gospel lesson.
*Lazarus and the rich man – where the rich man would trade anything to get another chance to return and help Lazarus at his gate.
*The rich farmer determining to build bigger storage barns rather than share his wealth, who hears God say, “You fool; this day your soul is required of you,”
*The final judgement and the separation of the sheep and the goats where Christ tells us; “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did or did not feed, cloth, shelter or comfort the least of these, you did or did not do it to Me.”
Why is this such a common theme? Because all through history this is such a common problem. It is easy to track where we stand on this issue. We just need to get out our check books and our Visa statements and compare how much we spent last month on ourselves and those pleasures we have come to see ourselves as deserving, and how much we spent on furthering the kingdom of God, and on the homeless and destitute that live all around us.
We are very good at thinking too highly of ourselves. If we regularly give a little money to a good cause, we can consider ourselves to be quite exceptional and generous people. If we practice tithing, we may even start to think of ourselves as great philanthropists. Perhaps this rich young leader was a regular tither. But in today’s Gospel, Christ sees that he is caught in the snare of loving his wealth more than loving God. This a serious life-threatening affliction. Jesus offers him a quick and thorough solution. “Sell all that you have and follow Me.” We get quite uncomfortable when we hear what we consider to be such extreme requests. It is exactly to make us uncomfortable that the Church gives us such passages to consider. To shake us out of our deadly comfort zone. To wake us up to grasp the reality that “Where your treasure is your heart will be also” and force us to consider where our hearts truly are.
Getting too comfortable with our life here on this very short journey, means we have probably lost sight of our real purpose – to prepare to meet face to face with our God and Creator – where our every act and thought will be exposed, as all that can exist there is the love and light of God. Anything that becomes more important to us than Christ and the kingdom of God becomes an idol. Idols always separate us from truth and reality and take us out of communion with God and our brothers and sisters. It is a great irony that our precious icons which reveal to us the kingdom of God and draw us ever further into Christ are considered idols by many in our materialistic culture.
Wealth is not a problem in and of itself. Read the life of St. Basil, of St. Elizabeth the New Martyr, of the Virgin Mary’s grandparents, Joakim and Anna, for wonderful examples of using wealth as the blessing God intends it to be. It is a great blessing that enables us to live and to share in God’s work, when we use it to help the poor and build Christ’s Church. It is the selfish hoarding and obsessing of money and of “things” that is the problem. All things are created good, but anything possessed selfishly becomes an idol.
If we struggle with thinking this seems like an extreme request from Christ in today’s gospel, perhaps we too suffer from the same problem as the wealthy young man. Love of money – avarice – is undoubtedly the most common addiction in our prosperous culture. The pursuit of wealth is considered a noble quest, even the main mark of God’s blessing in some twisted versions of the prosperity gospel. As usual, Orthodoxy is Paradoxy. If the young man suffered from addiction to drugs, and Christ told him to completely give them up…or morbid obesity and Christ told him to just eat bread and water…or was addicted to pornography and prostitutes and Christ told him to become completely celibate… and come and follow Him, would we consider His request extreme? But somehow when we hear “sell ALL that you have, and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow Me.” we react differently. May God give us clarity and illumination to recognize our own idols and to do whatever it takes to always seek first the kingdom of God.
There are many stories of those throughout history who heard this passage and responded to it, and went on and became great saints. Early saints such as St. Anthony who ran to the dessert in the 4th Century, and modern saints such as St. Saint Gavrillia who always gave away any funds she was given immediately. She was glorified 2 months ago. We have a copy of her life story, “Ascetic of Love” in the library. St. Iakovos Tsalikis, glorified in 2018 was also known for giving away everything he received. He considered it a great waste if a day went by and he couldn’t give anything away. He kept a moneybag into which anything anyone gave him was put and he wouldn’t even look to see what was put in it.Since he had a reputation as a clear sited Elder, he had many visitors. Whenever anyone would ask, or when God would reveal to him that a visitor had a financial need, the Elder would reach into his moneybag and whatever his hand grabbed he would give to the visitor. The bag was never empty and the more he gave the more the bag was filled.
St. John of Kronstadt was talking with a large group and was handed a parcel of money as a gift. Another man in the crowd had his hand stretched out for alms. Without a pause, St. John gave the beggar the parcel of money. In shock the donor of the parcel of money said; “There are 1,000 rubles in that bag!” ($30,000 in today’s value). “Lucky man” said Saint John.
Today the rich young ruler asks Jesus “What do I still lack to inherit eternal life?” This is the primary question we all need to be asking ourselves. What is it that stands between us and truly following Christ with all our heart, soul and mind? Let us learn from the young rich man and not sorrowfully drift away from Christ, but choose to follow Christ and let nothing be more important.
Glory to Jesus Christ!