Chapter Twelve of Luke in my Bible runs red with the words of Christ. He is speaking. I want to listen.
In South Asia things burn. Garbage in the winter burns. The smell of plastic sticks to your clothes, hovers in the air, permeates through the cold. Fires burn in homes. Many women cook on the floor of their homes over a live flame. I cooked over a two coil gas burner for my entire time in India. Live flame. Many women have burnt skin. The heat of live flames in small mud ovens fueled by water buffalo dung starts early heating the road side chai stalls getting ready to serve to the masses their sweet chai coupled with the morning news served through the medium of the newspaper. India sells more newspapers than all other nations barring China and Japan. As the second most populated country in the world this may come as no surprise. All those newspapers eventually burn. Often on the street.
How about burning people? In our city you could walk from our home to the ghats. Through the streets where garbage burned, a medley of smells from a plethora of trash, you would walk, past the burning cow poop warming milk and water for chai, past the smell of burning incense tucked in the corner of trees worshiped. Past the burning smell of artisans working on their crafts with fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Burning. We walk straight to where Ballooning Feet protrude from a bier.
I think in the West we seldom see our garbage We just drag our trash to the end of our road where a big truck picks it up. We don't watch it burn, or sit and fester, and pile up, or get riffled through by barefoot toddlers being drug along by their young siblings. And I think in that we miss part of what Jesus is talking about. We miss the parable of the Rich Fool. We miss his selfishness because the blatant need that truly surrounds us in this world is often hidden. Because the obvious excess revealed in our trash is carted away from us without effort or pain on our part. We miss the Rich Man's selfishness because we don't see how so much of our things just burn. We miss his self sufficiency and the danger of it because deep down we see him as wise, prudent and self sufficient.
This is a hard word for us as Westerners. A very hard word. "for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Jesus said it.
He also says be ready for His return in this very chapter. I think we can hold onto things in hope of being ready to use those things at a later date. Hmmmmm. I don't think saving something back is going to aid our salvation on that day. Self-sufficiency kills humility and relationship with our Savior. Danger alert here folks. One that I need to heed in this world where laundry, dishes and floors get cleaned with lightening speed (except of course my kitchen floor, any takers for a stop by cleaning?).
This is a difficult chapter and difficult to look at during this Christmas season that in many ways has become about accumulating. How do we guard against this? Well here is my simple idea for you. Take a favorite book, or a piece of clothing and burn it. Just go outside and burn it. Watch it burn. Not for some destructive pleasure but as a reminder of what happens to most of your stuff.
Of course this is not Jesus' advice which is much more productive in both Western and Eastern culture. Jesus says in verse 33, "Sell all your possessions, and give to the needy."
I think I'm gonna think on that one! There is no precedence for that in any culture other than plain plumb crazy. But I want to live more crazy and a little less safe. A little closer to the Heavenly Fire of the Holy Spirit moving in me to live in the cradle of His arms supplying.
We should be saying to our souls this season, "Soul, you have Christ. Fret not. How can I lay up treasurers in heaven today." Let us not find ourselves sitting back like the Rich Fool selfishly making merry in the contentment of his own making. Instead let us be celebrating in the warm contentment of the countenance of our Heavenly Father because we are living more full of Him than full of things!
In South Asia things burn. Garbage in the winter burns. The smell of plastic sticks to your clothes, hovers in the air, permeates through the cold. Fires burn in homes. Many women cook on the floor of their homes over a live flame. I cooked over a two coil gas burner for my entire time in India. Live flame. Many women have burnt skin. The heat of live flames in small mud ovens fueled by water buffalo dung starts early heating the road side chai stalls getting ready to serve to the masses their sweet chai coupled with the morning news served through the medium of the newspaper. India sells more newspapers than all other nations barring China and Japan. As the second most populated country in the world this may come as no surprise. All those newspapers eventually burn. Often on the street.
How about burning people? In our city you could walk from our home to the ghats. Through the streets where garbage burned, a medley of smells from a plethora of trash, you would walk, past the burning cow poop warming milk and water for chai, past the smell of burning incense tucked in the corner of trees worshiped. Past the burning smell of artisans working on their crafts with fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Burning. We walk straight to where Ballooning Feet protrude from a bier.
I think in the West we seldom see our garbage We just drag our trash to the end of our road where a big truck picks it up. We don't watch it burn, or sit and fester, and pile up, or get riffled through by barefoot toddlers being drug along by their young siblings. And I think in that we miss part of what Jesus is talking about. We miss the parable of the Rich Fool. We miss his selfishness because the blatant need that truly surrounds us in this world is often hidden. Because the obvious excess revealed in our trash is carted away from us without effort or pain on our part. We miss the Rich Man's selfishness because we don't see how so much of our things just burn. We miss his self sufficiency and the danger of it because deep down we see him as wise, prudent and self sufficient.
This is a hard word for us as Westerners. A very hard word. "for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Jesus said it.
He also says be ready for His return in this very chapter. I think we can hold onto things in hope of being ready to use those things at a later date. Hmmmmm. I don't think saving something back is going to aid our salvation on that day. Self-sufficiency kills humility and relationship with our Savior. Danger alert here folks. One that I need to heed in this world where laundry, dishes and floors get cleaned with lightening speed (except of course my kitchen floor, any takers for a stop by cleaning?).
This is a difficult chapter and difficult to look at during this Christmas season that in many ways has become about accumulating. How do we guard against this? Well here is my simple idea for you. Take a favorite book, or a piece of clothing and burn it. Just go outside and burn it. Watch it burn. Not for some destructive pleasure but as a reminder of what happens to most of your stuff.
Of course this is not Jesus' advice which is much more productive in both Western and Eastern culture. Jesus says in verse 33, "Sell all your possessions, and give to the needy."
I think I'm gonna think on that one! There is no precedence for that in any culture other than plain plumb crazy. But I want to live more crazy and a little less safe. A little closer to the Heavenly Fire of the Holy Spirit moving in me to live in the cradle of His arms supplying.
We should be saying to our souls this season, "Soul, you have Christ. Fret not. How can I lay up treasurers in heaven today." Let us not find ourselves sitting back like the Rich Fool selfishly making merry in the contentment of his own making. Instead let us be celebrating in the warm contentment of the countenance of our Heavenly Father because we are living more full of Him than full of things!
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