As someone who speaks a different language I have good experience with translation. I have spent several years speaking little or no English. In Serbia I would often find an old movie new transfixed by the sub titles telling an entirely different movie. I felt really accomplished when I was able to do this in the Cyrillic alphabet.
Learning Cyrillic wasn't that difficult as I had spent a number of years in Bosnia where people spoke the same language and wrote mostly in the Latin alphabet. When I arrived in Serbia I quickly saw that the signs through out the City were the same with just a different alphabet. People still had cameras and needed to develop film. It was the f from from the word foto that got me started. It is a capitol I with a circle. Was funny to me not a ph, but a f. Reminiscent of a Celtic cross.
It helped that the language was phonetic, by which I mean you didn't need to learn how to pronounce anything because the letters always said the same thing. English is one of the hardest languages to learn because of that layer of learning needed. Writing and talking like too different skills.
They called it our language. My father made an attempt to learn the language till he saw there were no pronunciation guide for each word in the Serbian side of his Serbian English dictionary. He didn't want to hear why. To be fair there were many other foreign elements. The words had gender which many languages do.
It was very funny to watch my friends translate. Often four or five very bright people would not agree on how best to translate something. There was something of the Balkan. People would have what seemed to be limitlessness suggestions. This was a language I wanted to learn.
It was a slow process and I came to realize there was a new body language involved. Not everything just enough to confound. I remember people most who told me their secrets. Things I wasn't by right supposed to know. There where many people. It is easy for me to idealize my experiences, but I would be hard pressed to tell you the worst thing that has happened to me.
Oh sure many times I thought things were the worst only to see they were fine. I've been in more than one war. First thing you realize how big it is. So translation becomes this life and death thing your attention is what teaches you. You understand there isn't one translation. As there isn't one movie. Culture is context and context is where a story starts. It is what it ultimately tells.
Where ever you look you see what you want to see. Well this word want.
We are our stories and everything is processed from a point of view. There isn't any pure art. To me it is very gritty, involved, connected, and most of all human. Like us alive. A good story works in more than one context. It is with this idea that I approach our scripture in Luke today chapter 12 verses 13 through 21.
Luke 12:13-21 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Covetousness Denounced
13 Someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over [the two of] you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.”
16 Then He told them a parable, saying, “There was a rich man whose land was very fertile and productive. 17 And he began thinking to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place [large enough in which] to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually).”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own all the things you have prepared?’ 21 So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward God.”
to quote my grandfather:
"The gospel writers show us Jesus, the Son of God, as preacher, teacher and healer. In every story or incident that we see Him in the Bible we find Him teaching a Lesson. He came to proclaim God's love for us, He provided a way of salvation for us, He died that we might live, he overcame the grave to show forth God's sovereignty, because He lives we live."
We must be students to understand the message. Jesus says in so many words, friend who appointed me to judge. This is not something we generally think of Jesus saying. We seek in the church order, power, comfort and so many other things. We find in Jesus a man with a very simple message that no one wants to hear.
Certainly in the context of the holy land and that biblical time there are nuances in the use of language and people of different times and places might not understand every detail. I think to answer the question Jesus asks with the simplest answer there is: me.
This for me puts me there. I have my reaction and context to this scripture. I think as well, I will say to my soul. There was a rich man who did not see the connection of the fertile and productive land to God. Hoarding made his relationship to God not rich. Here we find the futility of greed in the end. The man said to his soul, "Soul, you have many good things stored."
Regardless of the context the truth is that most people do not want to hear the message. All the things we prepare. Always be prepared was one of the first things I was taught. Life always brought conflicting messages. These words we must put meaning to. Before you have read them they could say anything. Faith isn't about what people tell you but what they show you.
I often quote my grandfather here in the pulpit. I have preached a number of his sermons, but I have never said much about him. The sermons he wrote which I have mostly from the 1960s capture a time and place I am glad to find him.
When I think of Bill Morgan leads me to think of the Road Runner. Leads me to think of that coyote chasing that road runner. You remember if your my age and probably seen if your younger those cartoons. All those packages from ACME. See back then when they made those cartoons there was a company National ACME who were the miracle workers of those days and they were based right here in Cleveland.
Those packages came from them because it resonated. Back in those cartoons there wasn't much reality. When we run off a cliff it doesn't really matter if we notice; we fall anyways. But everything has some reality involved. And in those cartoons there was just a touch of reality in the name stamped on all those packages.
When Wiley Coyote called in his order; it was to the experimental department at ACME if you ever saw the cartoon you will agree. Who would answer the phone when he called in those crazy contraptions? It was my grandfather he would talk to; he was the manager of the experimental division and the lead engineer. He was one of a kind: everyone else was one or the other; you had management, engineers and Bill Morgan. There was only one mistake coyote made: he should have just told him he wanted to catch a roadrunner. But he never did.
He called and asked for the rocket propelled skates and they were dutifully delivered. Most people know the rest; it never worked to catch a roadrunner. But they always worked as designed.
This Bill Morgan had his greatest impact on turning compressed air into functional work. There hasn't been a factory on the planet in the last fifty years not impacted by his work. He never made billions, because to him it was just his work. He took his pension and twenty years spent his golden years in the bosom of his family and his church.
Some people make and some people take. My family has great riches so vast as to be uncountable. Everything he did he did on his terms which were God's terms. The innovations he brought into the world continue to pay rich dividends.
Sometime History and the world bring everything to your door step. Sometimes you simply make the world a better place and move on. Not because your better, but because you value thing differently. You don't need to crush the competition to do good. You just go home at the end of the day and do good.
It takes all kinds I am sure, but some are more replaceable then others. I see these billionaires smiling as they swim through my history. I smile because they are only people and it is only money. I value things differently; that is my wealth.
Is Warren Buffet the smartest man alive; if he failed tomorrow you wouldn't think so. Yet we are at a point were most believe this to be true. Whatever he does is perceived to be ahead of others. Why is this? Because that is what is perceived.
At the end of the day we need to count and be counted for our own reasons. The world doesn't need saving we do. There is only one truth and no man has a patent on it. What does anyone need a billion dollar for? It not a question; they don't need it.
You say they create wealth, OK but don't they stifle something? Doesn't really matter because there is only one truth. Can you hear the air compressors across this planet? Shh, bshht, drshh, gooosh. What you gonna replace them with? I'm sure they'll figure something out and it will probably be created by a man like Bill Morgan.
My grandfather made a billion positive impacts on the world around him. He was on the cover of trade magazines. National ACME in the end was too slow to remain the miracle workers they once certainly were. It is a great loss, but we have not seen the end of their impact.
the next part of Luke continues:
22 Jesus said to His disciples, “For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; or about your body, as to what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the crop]; they have no storehouse or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by worrying can add one hour to his life’s span? 26 So if you are not even able to do a very little thing [such as that], why are you worried about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies and wildflowers, how they grow [in the open field]. They neither labor nor spin [wool to make clothing]; yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these. 28 But if this is how God clothes the grass which is in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You of little faith! 29 So as for you, do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink; nor have an anxious and unsettled mind. 30 For all the [pagan] nations of the world greedily seek these things; and your [heavenly] Father [already] knows that you need them.31 But [strive for and actively] seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 Do not be afraid and anxious, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
As we step back from the scripture new things appear. We find even the rich man who hoards and tears down his small barns to hoard even more, God speaks to him, You Fool! Now who will own all the things you have prepared.
Jesus is teaching us. Jesus asks who appointed me over you. And tells a story of God asking a man who will own all the things he has prepared. We learn quite clearly it is your fathers good pleasure.
What should people do who have so much that they need to build new storehouses?
Commentary, Luke 12:13-21, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.
"The rich farmer is a fool not because he is wealthy or because he saves for the future, but because he appears to live only for himself, and because he believes that he can secure his life with his abundant possessions."
I wouldn't argue against that, but at the same time it isn't the movie I see.
Trapped by Trappings," Christopher Burkett, Preacher Rhetorica, 2013.
"The rich farmer made the mistake of believing that he really possessed his great wealth – stuff love – although Jesus said that the reality was that it possessed him."
Here I find something closer to my heart. The diversity of opinion like the biodiversity of the rain forest.
Celebrate continually we can all point a finger at. This is the amplified translation "be merry (celebrate continually)." If nothing else we know it is impossible to celebrate continually. This fool spent so much time gathering things so he would not have to gather. We find him alone in the parable with God. And his ambition to celebrate what he has done continually. Would it matter if his soul was required in seven years or seven days or seven hours. Do all people who hoard and are greedy are their souls always required of them so fast. Clearly this doesn't seem to be the case in our context.
We gather and plan and wonder why we find difficulty. We are in contradiction most of our waking hours.
So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward God.”
If you are able to trust you will find no reason to worry.
We find it hard to trust and even harder not to worry. We must plan right? Not according to God. God plans who will own all that we prepare. Will you appoint Jesus today? Tomorrow? Everyday?
Let us pray......
Our dear Heavenly Father--- Father of all creation, whose being is from the beginning of time, speak to us. Raise us above the storms of our generation and above the barriers with which we seek to surround ourselves. Fill us with the love and understanding that embraces all people and is not bound by nation, race, or creed. Forgive us our little goals and narrow visions. Lead us to dedicate ourselves to the work of thy kingdom. Make us willing to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Though our minds cannot fully grasp His Call to us give us the will to follow Him, accepting Him as the Savior of man and the hope of the world.
Amen......
Nottingham 8/4/2019
