Christ is beginning and ending worlds, and we are too with small choices that actually are not so trivial. This story is not light fodder about social p’s and q’s, this is the kingdom itself. It is about love and its difficulties, and it is about our lives in this very world.
Embedded in the Sabbath is an emptiness, a stoppage, a non activity. And the religious leaders protested because they’d forgotten what the Sabbath was for. It’s a day empty of productivity so that we remember that we live by the grace and gift of God, not by what we’ve done ourselves.
The people longed for God to once again tend the vine. Perhaps they and we are also learning that we have a sacred responsibility to do everything we can to help God tend the vine.
It’s been said that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt. It’s certainty. The author of Hebrews would certainly agree. So, can you hear the good news that the uncertainty and blindness we live with are not failures of your faith, but the only context in which the faith Jesus said was such a powerful force for healing can take root? They may also make the space that love and risk and joy and friendship and all sorts of beautiful things need to breathe and come to be.
In many ways, this scripture passage is less about finances and more about coming to terms with our mortality. We are going to die. And we can’t take it, whatever it is, with us. The parable of the rich fool invites us to see that we have a finite opportunity to build and leave a legacy that is truly lasting in the economy of God and our neighbors.