First, we had some technical issues this week, so the beginning of the sermon is missing.

In a world where acquisition and material excess are endemic, the question of when is enough, enough? is not a particularly popular question. When so many people have had such wild success at acquiring staggering amounts of personal wealth, it is easy to feel entitled to getting a taste for ourselves. Why shouldn’t we. We justify this mindset by thinking that we are entitled to it, or that we have earned it.

Our Scripture text for this week has very clearly teaching on this matter. And yet, the clarity of the text, interpreted in incomplete ways can skew the teaching. Jesus’ thought is more expansive than something we do, like a task. The teaching is also more than a simple dollars and cents economic calculation.  When he encourages his disciples to be “rich toward/with God” he is describing a relationship. The deeper question this begs is: do we see our lives, who we are and what we have as gifts from God? If we are growing in our ability to see our life as a gift from God, it will influence how we see our material wealth and how we respond when we unexpectedly receive more.

With all that is happening around wealth and equity in our world today, this conversation is critically important.