Keep the Faith: Storing up our treasure

There is a parable of Jesus told that seems to me quite appropriate for Thanksgiving. A large part of the Thanksgiving message is about keeping the things of this life in perspective, and learning how to give thanks always, and for everything. This parable is aimed at these very points.

Jesus was teaching a large gathering and someone from among the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Jesus responds by asking why he should be the arbiter. Then Jesus says to him: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” The he proceeded to tell them all this story.

The parable itself is rather straightforward, even predictable. There was a certain wealthy person, presumably after a life’s worth of work, who finally had the kind of harvest that would set him up for his retirement. Not having the possibility of a 401k, he decided to build bigger barns in order to store the bumper crop. This would be his retirement income. Then he man says to himself: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” He simply wanted to be comfortable. He thinks that this is his due. He has accumulated all of this wealth, and now will be able to live off of it for a long time. And this is a reasonable expectation, except that he doesn’t consider his own mortality.

Jesus continues. But God says to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you And the things you have prepared whose will they be?” He concludes the story with this admonition: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

At first, we are struck by the most obvious point of the parable: our own mortality and the unpredictability of death. But if we look a little more closely, we can see that Jesus is saying much more than just “you can’t take it with you.” He is saying that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” There is more to life — our life — than what we might accumulate, or at least there should be.

Ponder for a moment the last sentence of the parable. “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” It is greed and selfishness that he is warning us against. This man was thinking only of himself, not of others. He was not intending to share the wealth he had accumulated. He says to his soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” However, the wealth of one’s soul is measured in good deeds, not in material possessions. Even more, what we give to others can never be lost or stolen. The generosity of the gift remains forever.

And as we reflect on this parable, we are reminded of another of Jesus’ sayings: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We have been gathering with family and friends to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. As we share the joy of being together, we might want to ask ourselves: Where is our heart? That is to say, what do we value more than anything else? Our tables may be laden down with all good things, but are we rich in the eyes of God? If our lives were required of us this very night, and we stood before the Judge, which way would the scale tip?

There has always been the pull of material wealth. Ours seems to be a time when that pull is greater than usual. However, if we give pause to considered life from a spiritual perspective, we might appreciate the need to keep the things of this earthly life in proper perspective. The old adage is true: you cannot buy happiness. The happy person is the one with a generous and gentle heart.

We live in a land of abundance, but so many go hungry around us. We try to make ourselves comfortable with the fading things of this life, while so many live in squalor. If we have been given much, then we need to share. If we share, Thanksgiving will truly fill our hearts. We will be rich, in God’s eyes, and in our own as well.

Fr. Nicholas Apostola is Administrative Vicar of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, and former parish priest of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Shrewsbury.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: The true measure of the wealth of our souls