If Life Isn't about Our Stuff...

Luke 12:14

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you're okay
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team

"Money" by Roger Waters recorded by Pink Floyd from "Dark Side of the Moon"

Hasn't anybody figured out yet that the love of money is the root of all evil. It isn't money itself, it's loving money above everything else. There's a theological word for that, its idolatry. Idol-a-try. When we put money, when we love money more than we love God, the we to quote another Pink Floyd song, are skating on the thin ice of hot life.

Jesus warns us, be on guard against all kinds of greed. Then Roger Waters gives us a primer on conspicuous consumption, and he does it with a look at wealth and poverty. Beware, watch out. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.

But look in your garage... A good part of my garage is filled with the things that don't go in the house. America has actually created a business where we have invented a place where we can rent an extra garage! Some people put extra cars there. Others put their boats there. Some have recreational vehicles there. Others use it as a spare garage. I know I did.

So, if life doesn't consist of our stuff, then what? Take a moment, look around and see. Your family? Your Lord? Even your dog! Life is built around relationships, that's what makes life. Wanting a relationship with a jet ski is the most pathetic thing I could imagine. No, it's people. It's friends. It's even that black lab who barks at strangers (when I wish he wouldn't).

I can't possess them. Or their love. Or their time. Those things are given, freely. Just as God gives and gives freely. Just as God in Christ gave himself freely on the cross so that we may have what does not spoil or rust, life eternal. Life to spend with family, friends, the dog, and of course God's own self.

That's better than anything money can buy.

Wanted Dead

1Samuel 18:8-11

Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?” So Saul eyed David from that day on.

The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; and Saul threw the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive.

"Wanted Dead or Alive" recorded by Bon Jovi on "Slippery When Wet" written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora

The price on your head, it doesn't really matter how much because as long as someone is willing to pay, someone will be willing to collect. In old Westerns some outlaw might be offended, saying the price is too low. If there is someone intent on collecting, what happens next is bloody. No telling whose blood, but it will still be bloody.

Saul and David had just fought and defeated the Philistines, in fact, David had just killed Goliath in the biggest upset since the Rhonda Rousey loss? Or maybe the Holly Holm loss after that? At any rate King Saul is upset because David is getting all the attention. Suddenly the subject is the talk of the town, not the king. Jealous much? Yes.

So the spirit of jealousy and anger enter Saul and he plots against David. Never mind "Dead or Alive," Saul wanted David dead. He threw a spear at David not once but twice. Who lets a spear be thrown at you twice? David, that's who. Why? God knows, but David knows Saul is king and Saul's son Jonathan is like a brother, so maybe you let the first one slide. Especially since it missed.

We talk about evil spirits and we talk about spiritual warfare like they are distant and strange things. They aren't. The agents that work against the Kingdom of God are simple. They are things like envy, anger, jealousy, and hate. They take simple slights and amplify them beyond their meaning. They take one thing and make them a focus of all things.

In the end, it's like taking one beam of sunshine through a magnifying glass on an ant. It gives light, but when the light stays too long the ant burns. Saul took a slight and eventually it became his downfall, and the downfall of his son Jonathan too. Beware the evil spirits, especially the ones that seem so petty because they can be brought down like a sunbeam on an ant.

To paraphrase the words of Ruth, we are all of one God. Even when we disagree, even when we have a grievance, we are still of the one true God.

The Strangle of Greed

Monday after Easter


Matthew 27:4-5

He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But [the Chief Priests] said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The road I cruise is a bitch now
Ya know ya can't turn me round
And if a house gets in my way
Ya know I'll burn it down

You ran the night that you left me
You put me in my place
I got you in a stranglehold baby
That night I crushed your face

"Stranglehold" From 1975's "Ted Nugent"

If you want to peg one of the seven deadly sins on Judas Iscariot, it would be impossible. Everyone on earth has been hooked by all seven of them at one time or another, and Judas' sins are probably the most public of sin since the Original. Was he deceived by envy? Was he prideful? Was he greedy? Scripture certainly pins greed squarely upon his chest.

Judas took thirty pieces of silver to betray the Lord and he did it with a kiss. It didn't take long for "Judas Kiss" to enter the language as a term of betrayal.

Forgiveness comes from the Lord. If no sin is unforgivable, then this sin wouldn't be unforgivable. What scripture tells us is that Judas did not even seek forgiveness from God. Instead he went to the temple elite. The same men who paid him to betray Jesus would not offer him absolution from the sin they asked him to commit. Pilate washed his hands of Jesus' death, but it was the temple leadership that washed their hands of Judas.

Sin had a stranglehold on Judas, and on the leaders who exploited him. Judas was not able to live with his sin. Based on the silence of scripture, evidently the leaders were. Judas tried to receive absolution by returning the payment for his betrayal. The leaders were not willing to take it back, afterall, it was blood money.

They provided the silver that fed his sin, but were not willing to accept his repentance. Of course, they weren't able to either.

Pardon my French, but let's just say the road Judas cruised was a bitch. His own sin and the sin of the men who tempted him put him in his place. In the end it was sin's stranglehold that took Judas to the noose.

What if Judas had sought forgiveness from the Lord instead of the temple elite? Sure, he wouldn't have been worthy but none of us are worthy. Would it have changed Judas' life? I have to believe that yes, it would have changed his life. I believe that absolution is as close as the kiss from Jesus, but most of us wallow in our own version of the Judas kiss. If Judas can find absolution in God, then who are we to say our sins are too big?

I would like to imagine when Judas received his eternal reward, Jesus kissed him again. Jesus forgives. Jesus knows what happened and why it happened. Sin had a stranglehold on Judas, strangling that ultimately went to his throat. It is the Lord who releases the hold of sin on our lives, even the life of Judas.

Ted sings, "Some people think they're gonna die someday, I got some news you never gotta go." Here's what's funny, Jesus proved that even God can die. He also proved that God can overcome death. When death is defeated, all other bets are off. So while Ted may be right, we know that only with God, all things are possible.