Resting Well
Today we have the one and only reading from Ecclesiastes in the entire lectionary for Sundays and Holy Days. Ecclesiastes represents the purgative way to God. That’s the path of letting go that we all have to travel. It asks many questions, but it provides no answers, except that everything is vanity. And what do we hear? We hear about a man who has worked wisely and intelligently and skillfully, but is burdened with sorrow and grief. He has done well, but he cannot rest.
Do you rest well?
A few innocent or oblivious souls might always rest well, and few blessed with young children or burdened with illness might never rest well. I think that most of us would fall somewhere in the middle.
I usually rest well. When I don’t rest well, it is because I’m worried about something. What worries you when you don’t rest well?
Jesus tells a parable today about a rich man. It says he had a very good harvest, and is thinking about building bigger barns to keep it safe. In the 21st century he might be up late surfing the internet to learn about why cryptocurrency is a scam and he should invest elsewhere, and shopping for the latest tractors and a new pickup truck. There’s nothing wrong with those things, but, did you notice? He is laying there awake at night, trying to decide what he is going to do with his great harvest. He isn’t resting. His mind is full of plans and worries.
The rich man is clinging to his wealth, and it is worry about how to keep it that keeps him awake at night. It is the things we chase and the things we cling to that rob us of rest.
There is nothing wrong, and much to be commended in laboring wisely and intelligently and skillfully. There is nothing wrong with leaving wealth to our children. There is nothing wrong with having a good harvest, and celebrating. There is nothing inherently wrong with a new tractor, a new pickup, and a fresh coat of paint in the kitchen.
But we cannot cling to those things. We cannot hold them so tightly that it is as if they hold us. None of those things will give us rest. Our life does not consist of possessions. Our life does not even consist of whatever legacy we can leave our children and grandchildren. Those are good things. Some of those things are even great and beautiful. But our rest… our life… is in Heaven… our rest… our life… is in Christ.
Jesus says all are fools who do not store up treasure in heaven. How is it we do that? How do we store up treasure in Heaven?
We see much of the answer when we look at what the rich man in the parable didn’t do. He did not ask himself how he could use his harvest to ease the suffering of the poor. He did not even ask himself how he could bless his family, his neighbors, his friends, or those who need work. He only sat up at night worried about how to keep his wealth.
We store up treasure in Heaven when we use what we have to help our neighbor.
This is true of us individually, and also of us as a Church. How are we using the time, talent, and treasure under our own personal stewardship? How are we using the time, talent, and treasure entrusted to Saint Joseph, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the Diocese of Lubbock? Are we using it to ease suffering and poverty?
And I do not mean that we should empty the Church accounts – the greatest treasure that the Church has is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Are we pouring out that treasure upon those who are spiritually destitute? As a community of faith, a family of faith, we are called to store up treasure in heaven by investing both our natural and our spiritual treasures in the service of our neighbors.
Saint Augustine famously said “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
We will never rest well until we come to recognize that the things of this world are unimportant, and even distractions. As it says in Ecclesiastes – they are vanity. We will never rest well until we release our grasp on those things and allow our heart and mind to be transformed to be like that of Christ so we can be perfectly united with him.
God is calling us to two things today.
First, let go. Let go of the things of this world, and let go of worry about those things. This is difficult. The purgative way is messy and painful. But it is worth it.
Having let go, we are called to cling instead to God, who is the giver of all that is good, and use both the natural and spiritual gifts we have received to store up treasure in heaven.
If we do these things, we will have rest.
