Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            A saying, and an anecdote, of the Desert Fathers:

“It is impossible for you to live a godly life if you love pleasure and money” (The Book of Elders. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Isidore 3).

A brother asked Abba Serapion, ‘Utter a saying for me.’ The elder said, ‘What am I going to say to you? That you took the goods of widows and orphans and set them in this hole?’–for he saw that it was full of books” (The Book of Elders. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Serapion 2).

Brethren, we are now in the midst of the fast. Not long in the midst, but we are here. For those of us who are now accustomed to these seasons, hopefully, they are becoming more welcome, more routine, more joyful. It is a strange thing, isn’t it, that we can experience a season of sacrifice and willful deprivation and nonetheless count it a joy? Whether we realize it or not, this is an underlying, spiritual theme—a motivation—of the fast itself: contentment, joy, satisfaction in less. The Psalmist writes,

“Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Ps 16:11).

In God, there is life, “fullness of joy,” and “pleasure forevermore.” In God. Our Lord echoes this sentiment in St. Luke’s Gospel when he says,

“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Can we enjoy things? Sure, of course we can! And the Scriptures are full of instances which detail God’s innumerable blessings—material blessings!—upon man: sunshine, rain, food, drink, friendship, marriage, children. The whole earth has been given to man for his enjoyment! But in our sin, we have abused these great gifts. Man sees, and wants, and gets, and has… and then he wants more. Fasting, in effect, is to return us to a place of regularity, of moderation. In the fast, we do not despise meat, cheese, ice cream, beer. Far from it! But in fasting, we learn and experience a very simple truth: “I could live without it, and in fact, most of the time, I probably live with too much of it,” for,

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).

Our joy, our peace, our satisfaction, is not derived from food, buildings, gold, toys, sex, alcohol. These are enjoyable things, to be sure. But even without these things, or at least, with a more moderated consumption of these things, there is joy to be had. “Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye upright of heart!” (Ps 32:11, italics mine).

            On the Sunday following the beginning of the Advent Fast, brethren, the Church always hears this parable of our Lord:

“The ground of a rich man yielded plentifully. And [the rich man] thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So, he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul: “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God” (Luke 12:16-21).

Can you imagine why we hear this, now at Advent? Right before this parable, we hear the warning of our Lord already quoted above:

“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

We could just as easily substitute “abundance of possessions” with “abundance of food,” “abundance of drink,” “a good’s night rest,” “a sculpted physique,” “fame and fortune,” “worldly esteem,” an “abundance of accolades.” Put succinctly: “The glory of man does not consist in stuff (‘food stuff,’ ‘money stuff,’ ‘credentials,’ ‘praise,’ ‘pleasure’). The glory of man is the glory of God, given to us freely through the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord—through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Food sustains us, but it is not our glory. Wealth aids us, but it is not our glory. Knowledge guides us, but it is not our glory.

            In my opinion, brethren, what is most commonly misunderstood about this parable of our Lord is that there is no outright condemnation of things. Said again: our Lord nowhere condemns things. Nor does he condemn the possession of things. Rather, he condemns covetousness. He condemns greed. He condemns the equating of the value of a man’s life with things. Everybody has stuff. I got stuff. You got stuff. We have houses. We have cars. We have wardrobes. We have stocked pantries. We have stocked deep-freezers. We have basements and attics (… most of us probably wish we had less well-stocked basements and attics…). We have bank accounts. We have retirement accounts (… most of us probably wish we had better-stocked retirement accounts…). Everybody has stuff. People need stuff to keep on livin’. Man can go a very long time without food, but he can’t go forever without food. Man go awhile without water, but he can’t go very long at all without water. “Man shall not live by bread alone…” but, I mean, he’s going to need to eat some bread, sometime, right?

            Our Lord, brethren, and his Church, has never condemned possessions. Our Church is incarnational, and our Church—the Orthodox Church—probably has a greater affection for material things than many other Christian denominations (not an unhealthy affection, mind you, but we take very seriously the formative value and the beauty and the God-given goodness of material things). We have icons—which we kiss—and temples—which we beautify. Is it possible to go beyond reason, to be excessive, in this beautification? Of course! But, to quote John Calvin, do “four bare walls and a sermon” any more accurately reflect the beautiful, biblical vision of the Kingdom of God? No, I think not.

            Once more: our Lord, brethren, has never condemned possessions. Rather, he condemns the equating of the value of a man’s life with possessions. He condemns excess. He condemns greed. He condemns envy and covetousness. All of these vices take possessions as their seedbed, unfortunately. But they are not one and the same. You will notice in today’s parable a very important point:

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully” [we may say, ‘Thanks be to God!’, but our Lord continues…], so [the rich man] said, ‘Ah, I will do this: I will pull down my barns [already well-stocked] and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my good’” (Luke 12:16, 18).

Take note, brethren: our Lord never says, “There once was a rich man who had a fertile farm and full storehouses… shame on him!” The condemnation of wealth, of goods, even of stores of goods is NOT the thrust of the parable. Rather, it is the condemnation of discontentment, a condemnation of greed. “You had full storehouses; you had abundance, and you needed more?!” Now we may say, with our Lord, “Shame on you.”

            In this season of the fast, brethren, it is my prayer for all of us that we would use this time to reflect on our abundance. In this season of deprivation, let us reflect on just how good the Lord has been to us. Let us give thanks for meats, and cheeses, and oils, and wines, in a time when we have elected to have none. Let us remember that the glory of man is not in stuff. Stuff is good; matter is good. Material things can bring much pleasure—godly pleasure, even! Material things may be for us a blessing. But good stewardship, godly stewardship, biblical stewardship always requires a measure of moderation. You can have a 401K, and you can give cheerfully and abundantly to Christ and to his Church (cf. 2 Cor 9:7). You can have a home, but maybe not a mansion. You can have a storehouse, … but maybe not two storehouses. In conclusion, a third quotation from the Desert Fathers:

“An inexperienced monk consulted a certain insightful elder regarding what rule of fasting he should follow. ‘Avoid excesses, my child,’ he advised him. ‘Many have tried to fast beyond their powers [to fast! beyond their powers] and did not endure for very long’” (Evergentinos, Section 7).

“For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15), or the lack of his possessions. A man’s life does not consist in big storehouses, or no storehouses. A man’s life does not consist in eating meat and cheese or in abstaining from meat and cheese.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things… where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. … For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3: 1, 3-4).   

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. 

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!