Centering On the Spirit 

Luke 12:13-21, 13:22-24 

August 7, 2017 

Mark S. Bollwinkel

            In the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few” (7:13-14).

            The “broad way” is the way of conventional wisdom (note: Marcus J. Borg, Jesus A New Vision, Harper San Francisco, 1987, pp.104-ff).  In Jesus’ day it was conventional wisdom to place one’s security in your family’s name, in your wealth and possessions, in one’s honor in the eyes of others and especially in religion.

            Eternal salvation depended on following the details of religious rules and regulations. Those who went to the sacrifices in the Temple, those who paid their tithes to the priests, those who followed the 613 basic rules of orthodoxy were closer to heaven than those who didn’t.

            For Jesus, security in life could not be found in family name, wealth, honor or religious piety.  The only security in life was to be found in God.

            Is it so different today?

            The Broad Way is to trust that accomplishment and conformity will make us safe.  The Broad Way is to work 60 hours a week making money to pay the bills we stay up at night worrying about, while a “Born To Shop” sticker is glued to our car’s bumper.  The Broad Way is to think we are better than others because we live in America or because we are middleclass or because we are in church this morning.

            The Broad Way is the conventional wisdom that convinces us we can make this life secure with what we buy, through what we earn, by what others think.

            For Jesus, the only security in life is to be found in relationship to God.

            Before Jesus concludes “…enter through the narrow door…” in this morning’s scripture from the gospel of Luke, he tells the parable of the “rich fool” who builds bigger barns while investing little in his spirituality (12:13-21).  There Jesus warns, “Take care!  Be on guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

            He can’t be talking to us, can he?

            He is talking about a “rich man”.  Few of us consider ourselves “rich”.  The average medium annual income for an earthling is $1,250.   If we live on $ 34,000 or more a year, we are among the wealthiest 1% of the earth’s population (Daily Mail, 1/5/12). 2.8 billion people live on $2 or less per day. 

Let’s be honest, we’re “the rich”.

            Jesus is talking about people who believe that “when I earn enough money, when I pay off the bills, when I have enough saved, then I can sit back, relax and enjoy life.”

            Do you know any people like that?

            Jesus is talking about us!  And he is warning us that building bigger storehouses for our “stuff” cannot save one’s soul.

            The Broad Way is to live convinced that our efforts to earn money and the approval of others is the only way to make life worth living.  It is a life full of exhaustion and anxiety.

            The Narrow Way is to live convinced that the life worth living is a gift of God.

            Jack and Doris lived the Narrow Way.  Both were schoolteachers all of their lives, working with kids.  In spite of their modest incomes, they saved and invested most of what they earned.  By the time I met them in their retirement, their net worth was over a million dollars.  But you’d never know it by appearances.  They didn’t dress in fancy clothes or drive expensive cars.  Their house was small and a vacation for them was a trip to visit relatives in Texas.

            They were the largest donors to our small church in Reno.  They contributed thousands of dollars to other causes in their community.  They were active everyday, collecting food for the Food Bank, teaching English as a second language to refugees, working with a host of service organizations in the community.  Their home was full of friends and family.   Dinnertime was a joyous occasion.

            They were not prudes.  Neither were they pious, in the stuffy, self-righteous sense of the word.  They loved to argue politics, laugh at a good joke and sing the music of the church.

            Doris was diagnosed with cancer two years before anyone else knew.  It wasn’t that she was hiding anything.  Her family was aware of what was going on.  But this illness that would eventually take her life just was never as important as all the causes and friends and the church that she lived for.  She took her medicine and followed her doctors’ orders, but the cancer wasn't the first thing on her mind.  Serving others and her God was.

            The last six months of her life were painful and limited.  She died with Jack by her side, just after her pastor left with a prayer.  Her funeral filled the church and we cried and laughed and sang.  She will long be remembered by her students, her friends, that little church and me.

            Although materially comfortable, her life was not defined by her possessions.  Although open to tragedy and suffering, her life was not defined by her worries.

            Jack and Doris were people of the Narrow Way.  Not centered on what others thought of them or what they owned, but centered rather on the Spirit of the loving God.  And as such they were free to love and live as few of us do.

            We have folks just like Jack and Doris in this congregation, folks who follow the Narrow Way, folks who have learned that life is more than the “stuff” we accumulate and worry so much about.  They teach us by their examples.  They are teaching me.

            We will be receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion this morning.  In this worship we will be offered a tiny piece of bread and a swallow of grape juice.  It may not seem like much, but they are symbols of so much more.

            Of forgiveness.  Of a new chance in life.  Of the invitation to walk in the Narrow Way.

            Our lives need not be prisoner to the stress of anxiety over things we cannot control.  Our lives need not be limited by the illusion of “enough”.   Rather, our lives can be defined by the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, which simply calls us to find life’s meaning and purpose in love and compassion. 

Amen.