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I’m sure you have all heard the expression, “We don’t fully appreciate what we have until it’s gone.” Or, as Benjamin Franklin said, “We will not appreciate water until the well runs dry.” The three scripture readings, we have today, are basically saying, “You don’t have to wait for that day; start appreciating things and cherishing people now!” To put it another way, “Don’t lose sight of what’s really important in life.”

The author of that first reading we had, the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes starts off very negatively. He has lost sight of what is really important. He says everything is vain, everything is pointless, everything is meaningless, everything is futile. He says, for example, you can work hard for something, all your life, and you don’t get to enjoy the fruit of your labour. (Think of how many people died before they got to enjoy their retirement). And somebody else come, who did not toil for it, and they get to enjoy it. And then he asks, “What does a person get from all their toil?” He answers his own question by saying, “Nothing. A person gets nothing. It’s all vanity.” The first chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes starts of with a person who has lost sight of what’s really important in life.

In the gospel passage we just heard, there is somebody else who has lost sight of what is really important; it’s a guy who feels his brother is not dividing the family inheritance to his satisfaction. An inheritance, as I understand it, is not something you worked for; it’s something your parents worked for and you are receiving it as a gift. This guy is ticked off because he feels he deserves a bigger portion of the gift. I can understand the complaint of the guy in Ecclesiastes who never got to enjoy the fruits of his labour, while those who came after him did. But this guy in the gospel, worked for nothing and is complaining about the inheritance, the fruits of his parents’ labour.

We’re now going from bad to worse when it comes to people losing sight of what is really important in life. This guy feels cheated. He wants Jesus to straighten out his brother, who—in his mind—is clearly in the wrong. Jesus says, “Who made me a referee between you and your brother?” This guy wants to forsake the relationship with his brother for the cash, and Jesus will not let him do it. If Jesus came primarily to be a referee, an arbitrator, or a judge then one party will love him as long as he judges in their favor, and the other party will hate him because he didn’t side with them. The result is always the same—division. Jesus did not come to divide; he came to unite. The parable of the farmer and his barns is for both brothers to hear. And if it’s for them, it’s also for us. Jesus comes from God for whom all loses, all divisions—no matter how small—are totally unacceptable. In today’s terminology we would have to label God as obsessive compulsive. When one coin out of ten is lost, Jesus tells us that God is like a woman who turns the house upside down until she finds it and then throws a party. When one sheep out of a hundred goes missing, Jesus tells us that God is like a shepherd who will not stop searching until he finds the missing sheep and then throws a party. When one son or daughter out of two goes missing (out of their own selfishness and stupidity, I might add) Jesus tells us that God is like a restless father who cannot sit still until his wayward child is home and then throws a party.

Jesus tells the guy, in today’s gospel, the parable of the farmer who became greedy. He keeps tearing down barns and building bigger ones to store his fortune. His possessions are more important than people. Perhaps, we need to ask ourselves from time to time, especially when we feel cheated: “Do you want to be happy, or do you want to be right?” The complaining man clearly wants to be right. And he wants Jesus to grant him a favorable judgment over his brother, so he can prove to his brother that he was right all along. Jesus will not do this, because he knows this will not make the man any happier than the greedy farmer in the parable. Losing the relationship with his brother for the sake of the cash will not make him happy.

It reminds me of the classic story of Silas Marner written back in 1861 by a female author, Mary Ann Evans. She went by the penname of George Eliot. Unfortunately, many women of her time had to choose male names in order to get published.

Anyways, the story goes that Silas Marner had his gold, and he loved his gold, and he was robbed of his gold. And everyday he waited and schemed on how he could get back the gold that was taken from him. But one day, what arrived at his doorstep was a golden-haired, little girl. He did not want a golden-haired, little girl; he wanted real gold. But he took her in. After awhile, he realized it was what he wanted all along. He didn’t want the coldness of the gold. He wanted a relationship where there was love, but he didn’t know it until the girl came. And when she came, he knew it was what he wanted all along.

When you’re having a bad day, or you feel cheated, or you start hating yourself, ask yourself: WHO AM I? Let the answer come from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, today’s second reading, “I am hidden with Christ in God.” Repeat it over and over and over to yourself, until it becomes a mantra. If we do that, will never lose sight of what is really important. Barns will fall down without any drive in us to build bigger ones. We will know that who we are and what we have is more than enough. The scales will fall from our eyes, and we will see everyone as our brother and sister. It won’t matter who is right and who is wrong, because finally we will be happy.  

Fr. Phil Mulligan