Less, Not More

A Reflection on the Gospel for July 31st, 2022:
​Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Luke 
12.13-21

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But Jesus said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”

And Jesus said to the crowd, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Then Jesus told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

It seems to me that if we have to be ready to go at any time, we’d be better off with less to carry, not more.

It’s so easy for me to slip into this mindset of “more is more.” I love being comfortable, and I associate that with accumulating stuff. After a recent apartment move that coincided with some personal turmoil, I found myself trying to deal with the stress and discomfort by scouring furniture websites for the perfect items. If I could just have that couch, this rug, and those matching table lamps, I was convinced that I’d feel better – at rest, comfortable, and finally able to relax.

Having an abundance of possessions was supposed to make me feel at ease. Instead, I found that once I’d decked out my apartment with new furniture, I wasn’t content. I started searching again. This time, if I could only have the perfect assortment of houseplants to complement the new couch, I’d finally be able to rest easy…

You get the picture. There really is no end to accumulation…no “perfect” state where I’ll feel exactly comfortable. There’s only “more and more and more” and an increasing state of dissatisfaction as the end-goal – perfect comfort, security and ease – always slips one step further away. 

God’s words have an urgency. “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you” (italics mine). Our call to go, in whatever way, shape, or form, could be as soon as tonight, not some far-off day in the future. And my sense is that greed and accumulation of wealth and possessions not only makes it difficult for us to drop everything and go, but also difficult to hear God’s call. Complicating things, we live in a world of easy greed – we’re encouraged to build larger barns and lay up ample goods for many years, and it’s easy to do (especially with the siren call of online shopping). It makes sense that movements like minimalism are rising up in response to this oversaturation of superficial abundance. If God’s call to me is a final one, obviously I won’t be able to carry physical possessions. But even if it’s a vocational or spiritual call, I’ll still be better served – and better able to serve – if my only attachments are to my Lord, rather than my couch and my table lamps. 

I need to be ready to travel lightly. That means learning to live with discomfort and uncertainty — yes, to tolerate not knowing, and not being fully in control of my life and my surroundings. Only in God will I find the perfect comfort, security, and peace that I strive so desperately to create in my life. And God will provide. I need only trust, and be ready.




Kim Tan

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