Treasure Trust

A Reflection on the Gospel for August 4th, 2019:
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

​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.”

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It always amazes me how smart God is. This gospel came to me at a time when my husband Phil and I were looking at our financial future, aka “building new barns”.

Just as we are preparing to sit down with a financial planner I am asked to reflect on this gospel passage. It’s what I call a God-incidence and I want to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving that it all went rather smoothly.

Finances is a tough topic for most couples. It’s one that Phil and I have been muddling through for 25 years. At first it was easy because we didn’t have any treasure to store up. For many years we lived paycheck to paycheck. But as our company grew, things changed for us financially and we found ourselves needing to take a step back and look at our treasure in a different way.
What is our treasure? How important is our financial comfort to us? When does it cross the line from storing fiscally to hoarding in bigger barns? Are we taking too much control and not trusting God to look after us? These are questions that we have had to ask ourselves on a regular basis.

"I have come to realize that our fiscal treasures are a gift from God to be returned to Him."

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I have come to realize that our fiscal treasures are a gift from God to be returned to Him. It’s ok to store some treasure if that allows us the freedom to give back to the Kingdom when God calls us to.
 
“So it is for those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.” (Luke 12:21)

These are the key words in this scripture passage for me. Counting our blessings everyday, keeping things in perspective, and giving back whenever He asks is how we are rich towards God. And if tomorrow He decides to take it all away, then so be it. I will trust in the treasures that He gives me for today.

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​Maxine Brown

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