THE DEADLY SIN OF GREED

“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.”  Luke 12:15

It seems that the more we have, the more we want, the more we grasp – a closed circle. I saw a bumper sticker that read: "He who dies with the most toys wins."  We laugh at it, but we know it to be a declaration of the most esteemed value of our culture - and we believe it.  I know exactly what Jesus would say about it, "You fools, this very night your lives are being demanded of you! And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

I saw an article some time back in the paper entitled, "What's Important?"  The theme was that the more Americans consume and spend, the less satisfied we seem to be. Only 5% of those who earn more than $60,000/year say they are satisfied and have attained the American Dream. Even though we gobble up resources at an alarming rate, a rate 2 times greater than our closest rival, our life expectancy rates and our literacy rates are about the same as many countries whose economic standard of living is far less than ours!

You’ve heard the term "affluenza."   Many scoff at the term, but as I look at today’s gospel, it’s the perfect term to describe the man in Jesus’ parable.  It's a term that reveals that something is terribly wrong, and even sick, in this man’s life; that affluence led to a sickness of his soul.  The man in Jesus’ parable could conceive of nothing outside of building bigger barns to store his wealth. There were, of course, all sorts of places to “store” his wealth: the stomachs of the hungry for beginners, but he couldn’t conceive of anything outside of keeping it all for himself. That is a primary symptom of the disease of “affluenza.”  The other thing about it is that it’s a fatal disease – fatal to the soul. 

I had an interesting experience at 7-Eleven.  The man ahead of me in the check-out line spent $2.99. He presented the clerk with a credit card. The clerk ran the card, and after a few moments the clerk informed the man that his card had been "rejected!"  No problem, the man fished another card out of his wallet. The clerk ran the second card, and after a few moments, same thing, card "rejected." Again, no problem! The man produced a third card - same result - "rejected." Amazingly, he produced yet a fourth credit card. Not three and you're out for this guy! The fourth card was approved! I have no idea what the problem was, but it got me to thinking about how a piece of plastic has enabled us to instantly gratify our passions. No waiting! No planning, No budgeting, No working and saving! Your dreams, your desires, your passions can become an instant reality! 

 The ancient fathers and mothers of the Christian faith named greed (or avarice) as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The simplest definition of the deadly sin of greed is "excessive desire, selfishness out of control." You need not be rich at all! You need not have much at all, yet you can be controlled and consumed by the sin of greed, because greed is an inner attitude about outward things. Greed is about hoarding things that we don't really need; refusing to share. Greed is about desiring what other people have and you don't. Greed is about flaunting what you have before others in such a way as to make them feel less. Greed is never being satisfied.

 Fyodor Dostoevsky in his book The Brothers Karamasov tells a story called the Parable of the Onion. It's a convicting story of the destructiveness of greed out of control. He writes:

Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and she did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and threw her into the lake of fire. Her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell God; "She once pulled up an onion in her garden," said the angel, "and gave it to a beggar woman." And God answered, "You take that onion, hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is." Well the angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her: "Come," said the angel, "Catch hold and I'll pull you out." And he began to cautiously pull her out. He had almost pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her legs so as to be pulled out with her. But she began kicking them. "I'm to be pulled out, not you. It's my onion, not yours," she said. As soon as she said that, the onion broke, and the woman fell back into the lake of fire.

Greed’s world view is basically this:  "I am the ultimate reality. There is nothing else out there. I am the ultimate reality. So, I will eat, drink and be merry and store up my treasure for that's all there is!" (man in the parable)

I think the way greed influences most of us is around the issue, "How much is enough?" At what point do luxuries become necessities?  A couple of years ago I remember looking in my closet and I counted about 30 long sleeve shirts and a dozen sweaters – some unworn for years. I was ashamed! I had been ambushed by greed!  At what point do I stop my rationalization that certain luxuries are necessities? 

We live in a strange kind of culture, a culture of twisted, distorted, up-side down values. We live in a culture where a family of four might spend more going to one professional athletic event than they give to the church or any other worthwhile charity in the course of a year! We don’t bat an eye on the expense of the game, but might protest vigorously if the church or some other charity were to ask for the same amount.  Greed anesthetizes you to the needs of the people around you, puts you at the center and pushes every other consideration out and over the edge into non-existence. 

I've been a Star Trek fan for many years. If you are too, you know all about The Borg. The Borg are part humanoid and part machine. Their mission is to take over the galaxy and absorb all other races into themselves, transforming them into Borg. They are unrelenting in their mission and cold-hearted in their tactics. When they approach another race of beings they announce they are going to assimilate them and they postscript it by saying "Resistance is futile."

The Borg are a parody of greed. Greed is unrelenting in its mission and its inevitable result is to turn the heart cold towards others. That's why our early church parents named it as a deadly sin.  They knew that the latent power of greed is within all of us. They had the conviction that Christians are to be people who take seriously the deadly sin of greed; and not excuse it, rationalize it, or explain it away, but see for what it is and how it wishes to control and take over!  They knew that the things that we grasp can never make us rich in the kingdom of God; and conversely, the things that make us rich in the Kingdom of God can never be grasped.

God gives us an incredible gift in Jesus Christ. But, the very nature of Jesus Christ is to give himself away.  Grasping is not a Christian gesture, but rather the open and empty hand of giving.  You can't follow Jesus with one open hand, and also be grasping so tightly to your stuff with the other. You can't do it. The tension will tear you apart! Something will give.  Tragically what gives for most is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is challenging us to trust him; trust that the way of greed, even if it's ever so subtly expressed, is not the way to being filled; not the way to peace; not the way to joy and purpose. But rather it is found in his way; taking up our cross and following; loosening our grasp, using some of our resources to minister to others and build up the kingdom of God. It is perhaps the most gigantic shift in thinking and radical change of attitude that an American Christian, especially, can ever make, but yet it's a shift that leads to nowhere less than to the Kingdom of God - which is to say leads to a savior and a way of living that the world will never understand; but along the way you will experience the filling of God which is like nothing that the world can ever give – a rebirth of your life and soul.