Soul Food

Scripture: Luke 12.13-21; Colossians 3.1-11


A mafia godfather finds out that his bookkeeper has stolen 10 million dollars from him. The bookkeeper is deaf. It was the reason the bookkeeper got the job in the first place. The godfather figured that a deaf bookkeeper wouldn’t be able to hear any secrets that he could testify about later in court. When the godfather goes to shake down the deaf bookkeeper over the missing 10 million, he brings along his attorney, who knows sign language.

The godfather asks the bookkeeper, “Where is the 10 million you embezzled from me?”

The attorney signs the question to the bookkeeper. The bookkeeper signs back, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

The attorney tells the godfather, “He says he doesn’t know what you are talking about.”

That’s when the godfather pulls out a 9mm pistol, puts it to the bookkeeper’s head and says, “Ask him again!”

The attorney signs to the bookkeeper, “He’ll kill you for sure if you don’t tell him!”

The bookkeeper quickly signs, “Okay! You win. The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo’s backyard in Queens!”

The godfather asks the attorney, “Well, what’d he say?”

The attorney replies, “He says you don’t have the guts to pull the trigger.”

I knew I could count on you to get the humor. Everyone, at least in our culture, understands the allure of money and wealth. We understand it, because whether we admit it or not, we are wealthy people by almost any historical or contemporary standard.
According to a recently released report from the U.S., Census Bureau, a picture emerges of the typical American lifestyle:

We are media saturated. We spend almost 10 hours a day either watching television, surfing the Net, reading books or magazines, or listening to music. We are almost never quiet.

We are fat. Foreign travelers come to our country and are stunned at how out of shape most of us are. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight, one-third of whom are medically obese. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates that one third of the world is well fed, one-third is underfed, and one-third is starving.

We are rich. Half of U.S. households own stocks and bonds, which sounds normal until you realize that one in six people in the world live on less than a $1 a day. The average American’s net worth amounted to $144,000 in the year 2000, more than 100 times higher than the average Indian, whose assets totaled $1,100.

We are a culture of stuffed barns. Stuffed barns, where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, the parable:

A certain wealthy farmer produced a such a good crop that he didn’t know where to store it all. Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods.

The rich man thinks his problem, indeed, his problems, are all solved. He says, “There ya go Soul. You’re set. Let the happiness ensue!” He was, of course, mistaken.

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have saved for yourself?”

“You can’t take it with you,” is the truth that we glean from this fat story. There are no hearses pulling U-hauls, and the like. But if we stop with that truth and don’t continue then we miss what is the more important teaching that the Master wants us to hear. There is more meat on this parabolic bone.

I know Jesus is thinking about more important things with this parable because when he is asked to settle a family estate dispute, he answers, somewhat annoyed, “What has that to do with me?”

No. Jesus is thinking about our souls. He is thinking that while we get fatter, our souls are starving for some real food. In fact, the rich man in the parable thinks that by accumulating wealth he has, in some way, taken care of his soul, that maybe it can be bought, or peace for his soul can be.

The devil visits a lawyer’s office and makes the lawyer an offer. “I can arrange some thing for you,” the devil says. I’ll increase your income fivefold. Your partners will love you; your clients will respect you; you’ll have four months vacation each year and live to be a hundred. All I require in return is that your wife’s soul, your children’s souls and their children’s souls rot in hell for eternity.”

The lawyer thought for a moment then asked, “What’s the catch?”

Hey, if we’re honest we’ve all had those moments when we’ve thought, “If only I had this much, then I would be happy. I would be satisfied; even peaceful.”

Peace won’t, in fact cannot, be found with more money, a bigger house, a well, you fill in the blank ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________________.

What really feeds our souls and produces joy and peace is the food that comes from heaven. Be rich with the stuff that comes from heaven is what Jesus would advise.

Again, its not enough to recognize that we have to cut back. Start there, sure. So, if you have twenty pairs of shoes, maybe you can get by on ten. If you have four cars in the driveway, maybe only three are necessary. If you have to rental storage space, well. . .you know.

But that’s only half the battle. In his book, How To Be Good, Nick Hornby writes about a family that undergo a sort of spiritual conversion. Their eyes are opened to the selfishness and snobbery of their lives. To correct this, they take radical steps to change themselves and their community. They invite homeless kids to live with them. They give away most of their accumulated savings. They attempt to make amends with all whom they have wronged in the past. It’s all good stuff. But in the end, they feel like failures and phonies. Their hearts aren’t in it. They end up despising the ones they are trying to help. They find out that even good works, by themselves, leaves them feeling, well, starved and dying.

Jesus tells us to value God and God alone. Make Him your treasure. And God will take care of all those other things. He’ll teach you how to put food and clothes and possessions in proper perspective.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” is how the Apostle Paul phrased it. “Put on the clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. . .and above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3.2,12,14