Speaker 1: Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Annunciation
Speaker 1: Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Anunciation is an
Speaker 1: old calendar Orthodox church sharing the faith of the Apostles
Speaker 1: and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,
Speaker 1: let's listen to this week's homily, Men of.
Speaker 2: The Father and Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen, Glory
Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ. I see it if you like, beloved
Speaker 2: in Christ. Today for our gospel reading, we heard the
Speaker 2: parable of the rich fool from the Gospel of Luke.
Speaker 2: This is a man so rich, so overflowing with blessings
Speaker 2: from God, that he imagines that he must tear down
Speaker 2: all his barns and storehouses to build bigger ones to
Speaker 2: contain his abundant holdies. His seems to be a prudent
Speaker 2: plan until he hears from God thou fool, this night,
Speaker 2: thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose things
Speaker 2: shall these be which thou hast provided? And the parable
Speaker 2: concludes with this warning from Christ. So is he that
Speaker 2: layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
Speaker 2: Now there are a number of different issues we could
Speaker 2: consider from this parable. It's a short reading, but the
Speaker 2: audacity of the rich fool is such that he leaves
Speaker 2: much for us to think about first, particularly in this
Speaker 2: country where we come from a background of rugged individualism.
Speaker 2: We come from a country where we prize honor and
Speaker 2: honor self sufficiency. The person, the person who can grow
Speaker 2: their own food or provide their own needs, can be
Speaker 2: off the grid and thriving. This is kind of a
Speaker 2: secular icon of our nation, and those abilities have as
Speaker 2: their underpinions a number of very commendable qualities. The person
Speaker 2: who reflects that ideal has a variety of talents that
Speaker 2: they can call on for their very survival and the
Speaker 2: provision defense of their family, and glory to God for that.
Speaker 2: But this is the problem with the rich food. Where
Speaker 2: does he put the glory? Because it's certainly not to God. Rather,
Speaker 2: he labors under this delusion of self sufficiency and forgetfulness
Speaker 2: of God. Listen to his own words, what shall I
Speaker 2: do because I have no room to bestow my fruits?
Speaker 2: I will pull down my barns and bill grater, and
Speaker 2: there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Speaker 2: He views all that is in his grasp as being
Speaker 2: of his own doing and of his own possession. He
Speaker 2: does not consider for a minute that without the provision
Speaker 2: of God, his own doing would have been futile. He
Speaker 2: sees his rewards as his entitlement and not as a
Speaker 2: blessing bestowed upon him. And I think that it is
Speaker 2: easy for us to do as well. When we work hard,
Speaker 2: when we taste success, when we begin to realize some
Speaker 2: of the fruits of that work, we can become very
Speaker 2: self congratulatory. We hear things that like you earned it,
Speaker 2: which swell our heads up. And that focus, which is
Speaker 2: very ingrained in our culture, is dangerous because it puts
Speaker 2: the focus on us and it omits any role for
Speaker 2: God in our blessings. Let us instead be very careful
Speaker 2: not to fall into the trap of attributing our accomplishments
Speaker 2: solely to personal effort. When we receive promotions or financial
Speaker 2: windfalls career success, we need to consciously pause to thank
Speaker 2: God and to recognize Him as the source of all
Speaker 2: blessings beginning ending each day, acknowledging God's providence and acknowledging
Speaker 2: Him in moments of achievement, audibly responding thanks to God
Speaker 2: when we receive congratulations, are making a practice say even
Speaker 2: to ourselves glory to God rather than I did it.
Speaker 2: Then we're showing some remembrance and placing the praise and
Speaker 2: the glory in the right place rather than leaving it
Speaker 2: when we walk away from the mirror. This parable also
Speaker 2: serves as an example of how greed is more than
Speaker 2: just simple avarice. Rather, it manifests itself in us, as
Speaker 2: it did with a rich fool, as spiritual blindness and
Speaker 2: even idolatry. When we hear this parable, we often forget
Speaker 2: that it's told in a specific context. Immediately before he
Speaker 2: tells the parable, a man has come to Christ to
Speaker 2: ask him to speak to his brother, to convince him
Speaker 2: to share his inheritance with him, and Christ decline, saying,
Speaker 2: who made me a judge or a divider over the two
Speaker 2: of you? And he warns them take heed and beware
Speaker 2: of covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the
Speaker 2: abundance of things which he possesses. And then he tells
Speaker 2: the parable of the rich fool. Say no, how, Saint
Speaker 2: Cyril of Alexandria explains that Jesus does not leave us
Speaker 2: without instruction because he's now found a good opportunity, and
Speaker 2: he makes a profitable and a saving speech. He shows
Speaker 2: that covetousness is a pitfall of the devil and hateful
Speaker 2: to God. Saint Cyril writes the wise Paul even calls
Speaker 2: it idolatry, perhaps being suitable for only those who do
Speaker 2: not know God. For this reason, he says, very correctly,
Speaker 2: take heed and keep yourselves from all greed, from great
Speaker 2: and small, and from defrauding anyone who may be the
Speaker 2: words of Paul say it. All the riches become the
Speaker 2: idol and they are not bad in themselves, but when
Speaker 2: they're placed in front of God, as the rich man did,
Speaker 2: then they become the object of his worship. And so
Speaker 2: too does he show this how it had led to
Speaker 2: spiritual blindness when he says it's found only in those
Speaker 2: who do not know God. And maybe it's maybe this
Speaker 2: parable has been put providentially before us today, immediately after
Speaker 2: Black Friday, when our cultural commitment to acquisitiveness is probably
Speaker 2: its greatest. But we can actively resist this consumerism of
Speaker 2: the season by practicing the very gratitude which the rich
Speaker 2: fool lacked, having gratitude for what we have and by
Speaker 2: choosing generosity. A few years ago, someone had the idea
Speaker 2: to follow Black Friday with Giving Monday. That's a nice idea.
Speaker 2: Face with abundance rather than focusing on the next purchase
Speaker 2: or the next president under tree, we can ask who
Speaker 2: needs this more than I do? We can feed, We
Speaker 2: can feed the hungry, we can support the church, We
Speaker 2: can help struggling families. Every windfall becomes an opportunity for
Speaker 2: almsgiving rather than for hoarding. And the blindness of our
Speaker 2: spiritual eyes will be lifted when our focus becomes not
Speaker 2: on the gifts and the purchases that are laid before us,
Speaker 2: but on the one who has permitted them to become hearts.
Speaker 2: And finally, let us consider and heed the closing caution
Speaker 2: of our Lord. So is he that layeth up treasure
Speaker 2: for himself and is not rich toward God? If this
Speaker 2: is the example of what laying up treasure for ourselves
Speaker 2: leads to, let us ask what we must do to
Speaker 2: be rich toward God. For the reward of the rich
Speaker 2: fool is not to be envy. He labored and labored
Speaker 2: to acquire all that he desired, and he planned his
Speaker 2: final great building projects so that he could now take
Speaker 2: his leave and rest and be married. But that treasures
Speaker 2: that he worked so many years to acquire availed him
Speaker 2: not another day, for that night his soul was to
Speaker 2: be required of him. We truly don't know the day
Speaker 2: or the hour when our soul will be called for.
Speaker 2: The rotting grain in the storehouse has become the memorial
Speaker 2: of this rich man's life. He chose to live for
Speaker 2: the temporal, not for the eternal kingdom, and so it
Speaker 2: is for he that is not rich toward God. Saint
Speaker 2: Gregory Paul Moss points out how damning this failure to
Speaker 2: be rich toward God can be using the very example
Speaker 2: of the rich fool. Saint Gregory points out nothing in
Speaker 2: this parable suggests that this fool acquired his goods by
Speaker 2: sinful means. He didn't seem to steal them. He didn't
Speaker 2: cheat or swindle anyone. He just labored. But his acquisition
Speaker 2: was not without sin. His sin was his self centered
Speaker 2: self satisfaction, which resulted in his heart being hardened against
Speaker 2: the needy and his mind being forgetful of God. Saint
Speaker 2: Gregory says, because he did not make good use of
Speaker 2: the abundance he resis from God and was not rich
Speaker 2: towards him. Through being generous, he made himself deserving of
Speaker 2: death and gain nothing from all his wealth. So one
Speaker 2: way we can be rich toward God is by being generous.
Speaker 2: But what else shows that we are rich toward God?
Speaker 2: The Saint Cyril of Alexandria says that the man who
Speaker 2: is rich toward God is evidently one who does not
Speaker 2: love wealth, but rather loves virtue, to whom few things
Speaker 2: are sufficient. It is one whose hand is open to
Speaker 2: the needs of the poor, comforting the sorrows of those
Speaker 2: in poverty. According to his means and the utmost of
Speaker 2: his power, he gathers in the storehouses that are above,
Speaker 2: and waves up treasures in heaven. So, whether we are
Speaker 2: rich or poor, we can be rich toward God when
Speaker 2: we serve those in need as our means permit, and
Speaker 2: to the greatest extent we're able. Take the widow's might.
Speaker 2: The widow's might was within the means of both the
Speaker 2: widow and the rich man, but it was her utmost
Speaker 2: power to give just that, while for the rich man
Speaker 2: it would be such a trifle as to almost be
Speaker 2: insulting if that were all he gave. So give as
Speaker 2: we can, as much as we can. This is one
Speaker 2: who is rich toward God and this is our challenge
Speaker 2: in uncertain times. As we begin this Nativity Fast, let
Speaker 2: us take a moment to give ourselves a quick spiritual
Speaker 2: audit and ask ourselves what are we truly investing in?
Speaker 2: Is our time spend in prayer scripture? Are we losing
Speaker 2: ourselves in carnal entertainment? Is our treasure given to charity
Speaker 2: here we spending it on luxuries? Have we focused our
Speaker 2: talents on our family and our community? Are we solely
Speaker 2: furthering our own desires? And let us take that audit
Speaker 2: and practically commit to increase all areas that are deficient
Speaker 2: to add a spiritual discipline during this fast, whether that's
Speaker 2: more daily prayer, coming to more services, setting aside alms
Speaker 2: specifically for those in need during the season. Brothers and sisters,
Speaker 2: the rich Fool was a worldly success, but his time
Speaker 2: in the world was short. Let us learn from his
Speaker 2: example and not revel in abundance and look instead to
Speaker 2: find our storehouses in the bellies of the poor, our
Speaker 2: treasuries in the pockets of the needy, And let us
Speaker 2: make merry in the joy of the Lord rather than
Speaker 2: our owned indulgences. For the prayers early Father's Lord Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: our God, have mercys and save us. Amen.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Hill Country homilies. For more information,
Speaker 1: visit Holy Nunciation Orthodox Church at www dot Denunciation, tx
Speaker 1: dot com and please join us again next week