Rev. Dr. E. Scott Winnette
A Sermon Preached by: E. Scott Winnette
Preventing Rot
September 30, 2007
Sharing is one of the most important lessons in scripture. God teaches us the good of sharing. Preaching professor Tom Long shared this story ---
A student of mine went jogging with his father in their urban neighborhood. As they ran, the son shared what he was learning in seminary about urban ministry, and the father, an inner city pastor, related experiences of his own. At the halfway point in their jog, they decided to phone ahead for a home-delivered pizza. As they headed for the phone, however, a homeless man approached them, asking for spare change. The father reached into the pockets of his sweat pants and pulled out two handfuls of coins. "Here," he said to the homeless man. "Take what you need."
The homeless man, hardly believing his good fortune, said, "I'll take it all," scooped the coins into his own hands, and went on his way.
It only took a second for the father to realize that he now had no change for the phone. "Pardon me," he beckoned to the homeless man. "I need to make a call. Can you spare some change?"
The homeless man turned and held out the two handfuls of coins. "Here," he said. "Take what you need."[1]
Had the father refused to help the homeless man, I believe based on our scripture stories today, that the handfuls of coins would have rotten in his sweat pants. Had the homeless man refused to assist, they would have produced a rotten scent too. The antithesis lesson of the good of sharing in scripture is the rotting danger of greed. There is a stench related to selfishness and greed, a stench of fear and distrust. A rotting stench rises when we distrust God and neighbor.
The manna story is a primary story of our faith about sharing and about not hoarding. It reveals God’s idealism for humanity, God’s hope for us to be a people of trust, a people of hope, a people who share. It shows that God wants children who are not competing for the resources of the world but working instead to share them.
After the miracle of their exodus freedom from Egypt, during the miracle of God providing for them in the desert this manna from heaven --- there were those who still wanted to collect more than they needed. There were those who longed to create a zone of self-sufficiency. They just could not stand the vulnerability of lives of equity with neighbors and they collected more than they needed. WHAT HAPPENED to the extra manna? It rotted. We still live in a world of plenty, with the miracle of manna abundance. How might we prevent its rotting?
In high school I worked at a Bojangles baking their biscuits, cinnamon twists and frying chicken. One day I realized that the manager had ordered too much chicken. There was no way we could use it all. I wondered what to do with the extra and suggested we fry the chicken and give it away to a shelter in Nashville. Without even considering it he said, “no way.” About fifty chickens rotted. I threw them out. Could the rot have been prevented?
Dives, or the rich man in our Gospel story smelled a good bit. His stockpiles of extra stuff was rotting. Hiding behind his gate, like Dicken’s Scrooge character maybe counting his money he appears to have rotted a bit too. The story today tells of an amazing reversal of fortune. The man with too much, dies and thirsts for a bit of water and the man with not enough dies and through the justice of God, finally has enough.
Now - I preached last year on this passage and declared that it is not a user’s guide to Heaven and Hell. It is not a description of the furniture of heaven. It is not about afterlife blessings and curses. IT is about Jesus teaching a correction. He is correcting a religious notion that wealth is an indication of God’s approval and blessing. He is correcting a religious notion that poverty is an indication of God’s disapproval. He is teaching an old notion of Moses and the prophets that sharing is God’s desire, that we are directed as God’s children to ensure that all people have enough. We are to pass on the blessings.
The man with more than enough was spoiled rotten. In as much as our television reflects our country’s appetites – our nation seems addicted to the lives of those with more than enough. I must say I really don’t care about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s relationship. I have never seen the show the Simple Life with spoiled Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie as they make fun of working people. I heard on NPR this week that many new network shows are about the decadent lives of the wealthy. I do remember my parent’s loving Dynasty and Dallas. I remember my own fascination with the Beverly Hillbillies and how they negotiate their newfound wealth. Why are we fascinated with those who have too much? Why are so many American’s hoping to be spoiled rotten?
Ted Hamilton with a month under his belt in Manila would surely share that many Americans already live lives with more than enough. And yet we want more, fear more, distrust more. There is a stench of rot rising from our self-serving stockpiles of more than enough.
The man with too much spoiled behind his fabulous gate while Lazarus lay on his doorstep hungry, ill and alone. How could the man have prevented the rot? All he had to do was invite Lazarus in and share a meal, bind his wounds, befriend him. It would have been easy to share some bread and water.
Do the scriptures reveal a God who is anti-wealth - yes, anti-wealthy - no, anti-comfort - no, anti-leisure - no, anti-happiness. NO! They reveal a God who is very pro-poor, pro-sharing, pro-trusting, pro-enough for everyone, pro-community, pro-justice, and pro-joy .
I love that Lydia the well-to-do merchant of purple was a disciple of Jesus. She opened her home sharing her wealth of space with the early church. One of my favorite spiritual books, The Way of the Pilgrim tells the story of a man on a spiritual journey. He encounters a wealthy couple who are deeply faithful. They opened their home to the poor and the hungry pilgrims. They shared their wealth wisely.
The injury of the man in the story of Lazarus is that he allowed his wealth to build a chasm of separation from Lazarus. When we separate ourselves from the poor, we separate ourselves from God. Rather than seeing his bounty as an opportunity and responsibility he used the resources to provide more and more privilege for himself. He collected them and closeted them away in stockpiles inviting rot.
Rot sets in when we hold onto blessings too long. It sets in when we save and contain more than enough because of our fears for tomorrow.
How do we prevent rot? We share. We keep the goodness of the world in the light not gathering it in closets or banks to be hoarded. We keep the goodness of the world moving in the fresh air moving to feed as many as possible.
I close sharing a story told by preacher Barbara Lundblad.
"What would you do if you won the lottery?" The pastor asked the question to a group of mothers in a church basement in Detroit. She had been their pastor for several years, living next door to the church in a neighborhood that was poorer by far than any place she had ever lived. Once a week, she met with this group of women. Some were raising their children alone, working if they could find jobs and help with the kids. Some depended on welfare to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They doubled up in apartments with relatives when they had to; they passed on clothes from child to child. They shared many things in common; they were all Christians, and they were all poor. "What would I do if I won the lottery?" one woman repeated the question, then thought of an answer that made her face light up. "I’d buy easy chairs for the Laundromat - enough chairs so everybody could sit down and take a load off. All they’ve got is three old chairs and two have broken seat- and the one that’s not broken is so hard you’d rather sit on a dryer and burn your —you know what I mean, Pastor." She laughed again knowing there was not much she could say anymore that would shock her pastor.
"That’s it?" asked the pastor. She had expected other answers; a move to a bigger apartment, an exotic vacation, new furniture, perhaps a car. "It was just like them to think of the easy chairs," she told me later. "They didn’t even consider something just for themselves- they thought of all those women trudging into that grimy laundromat with no place to flop down and rest. I hear about poor women spending their money on fancy clothes or steaks, but I don’t know any. The women I know would be grateful for a comfortable chair in the laundromat."[2]
So if you have been blessed with any of the lottery boons of our culture, share. Let us the Church of Jesus Christ keep teaching the world to share, to trust, to hope. Share the blessings. Trust in God and neighbor. Hope in the future. Let go the anxiety. Let go the stockpiles. Let go the fear. Let go today, we can gather more tomorrow. AMEN.
[1]Surprise party.(parable of the Prodigal Son”, The Christian Century. Date: 3/14/2001. LONG, THOMAS G.
