Luke 12:13-21
What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?
What should I do? I know that many of you have heard this passage before, perhaps many times. And it can be hard to hear familiar passages with fresh ears and open minds. And because that’s true, I have this fantasy: I would love to have everyone read through an entire Gospel, say Luke’s Gospel that we hear from today, and do so with one specific question in mind: “What should I do to be happy?” The Greek word that is often translated as “blessed” — macarios — literally means “happy.” If we were to read through a Gospel with that one question in mind, to see the text as a guide to happiness, it might read quite differently for us. We would, of course, hear about sharing in the kingdom of God, about loving and being loved, as essential components of our happiness. But we would also hear an awful lot about money and possessions. And that’s because Jesus knows how much money affects the quality of our lives, for good and for ill. He is very interested in our relationship with wealth and how that impacts our happiness.
But if we can’t read through a whole Gospel, we can at least look at this passage with that question, that focus in mind: “What should I do to be happy?” It begins with an unhappy person complaining to Jesus because he’s fighting with his brother over an inheritance. And in reply, Jesus tells him this parable about a rich man. And right off the bat, we can see that wealth itself is not the problem. It is not a bad thing that this man’s land has produced abundantly and made him rich. Jesus doesn’t criticize him for being successful. But it does paint the picture of a man who does not enjoy his wealth. He accumulates and he accumulates, leading him to ponder: What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops? So he decides he has to build even bigger barns. He thinks that someday he will finally be able to relax and enjoy the riches he has built up, someday his wealth will make him happy — and then he dies before that can happen. Not a happy story. We could say that at least someone else will inherit all his wealth, but that’s not an unambiguously good thing: remember, the whole passage begins with people fighting over an inheritance. So much stuff, so little happiness. Why?
Jesus addresses this on two levels. First, and most obvious, he says this: Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Greed, the itching need to accumulate more and more money and possessions, will not lead to happiness. While it is good to have things we need and things we delight in, just amassing more stuff will not in and of itself satisfy or fulfill us. We need to be careful, Jesus says, not to fall into the trap of thinking it will. But that just begs a further question: what about the stuff we do have, the money and possessions we already own? What should our relationship with our wealth be? And Jesus touches on this at the very end of the passage, when he says, So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.
Rich toward God? I don’t think that means just giving money to the church. I’m very glad people support the church — please keep doing it — but I’m pretty sure that Jesus is not only talking about religious fundraising here. He is talking about how we can use our money in ways that lead to happiness. And while it may seem odd to do so, I’m going to draw some theological insights from none other than The Harvard Business Review. That journal is published by Harvard Business School, which is in the business of helping people make lots of money. Two years ago, they published an article entitled, “Does More Money Really Make Us More Happy?” The article includes insights from a variety of different studies, and the short answer the authors give to the question the title raises is “not necessarily.” But they do identify three ways in which money can and does significantly contribute to people’s happiness. I’ll sum them up briefly. One, spending money on experiences and not things. Various studies reveal that people who tend to spend their money more on experiences with others like going on vacation with families, attending concerts, or eating out with friends report higher levels of happiness than people who tend to spend their money more on things like iPhones, shoes, and cars. Two, buying time. People who prioritize time over money tend to be happier than people who prioritize money over time. So people who shop at stores closer to them even when they’re more expensive or hire others to mow their lawns or use their money in any way to free up more time report being happier than those who don’t. They have more time to spend with the people they love and do the things they love. Three, investing in others. Study after study shows that people who make a point of using their money to help others are happier than those who don’t. What ties those three points together is that they all involve people using money to build relationships and foster community. Money is a great contributor to happiness when we use it to reach beyond ourselves and connect in meaningful ways with the people and the world around us.
I am convinced that this is the kind of thing Jesus means when he talks about being rich towards God, because those points in that article basically reflect the values of God’s kingdom. God wants us to thrive, which means living in loving communion with God, other people, and all of creation. And to the extent that we use our wealth to do that, our wealth is a blessing that will increase our own happiness and the happiness of others.
So think about our resources in light of
Jesus’ teaching. Are we giving way to greed and just accumulating more stuff
because we think that’s the thing to do? Or are we using our wealth in ways
that deepen our relationship with God and others, ways that build up human
community? Are we being generous and open-handed? Is our wealth making us
happier people? Is it making the world a happier place? If so, give thanks. And
if not, the question stands: What should I do to be happy?
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