Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Year C (9-28-25)

How much is enough? Do you have a number in mind? Or maybe a vision of a certain lifestyle? Or, is that an irrelevant question - is there no such thing as enough?

How much is enough?

You may have heard it said that Jesus talked about the subject of money more than anything else. And while this actually untrue, it is curious how Jesus seems laser focused on issues of wealth and poverty. And it is notable that he uses the concept of money as an illustration in nearly a third of his parables.

Regardless of if - or whether - Jesus is trying to say anything about money itself, it's clear he knows that money is real. And that it has a real influence on us, and more importantly on our hearts... and maybe our souls.

"There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment" says today's letter to Timothy, "for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it". SO THAT we can take nothing out of it. Who knew? Who knew the whole "you can't take it with you" line comes straight from the Bible!

So, if money is such a risk, and we're not intended to take it with us - what's the point of it? What is money really for in a life walking alongside Jesus - a poor, simple woodworker, who was often homeless and who relied on the kindness of others to survive?

I recently came across an essay by someone named Evy McDonald[1]. Evy is the co-founder of an organization that helps people shift to low-consumption lifestyles. She believes it's a critical part of Christian living - living simply and consuming responsively - but her journey toward that belief was a long and harrowing one.

You see, Evy wanted to become the youngest hospital administrator in the history of the field - quite a specific goal, if you ask me. And she studied, and clawed, and climbed, and networked, and over-worked to find herself right on track to achieving that very goal. She was making the money she'd wanted to make, driving the cars she'd wanted to drive, and self-admittedly regularly buying a pair of shoes when she felt a little down. She had a lot of shoes. Her potential - endless. Her ascent to wealthy living - assured. Her life and livelihood - well under her control.

That is until one fateful day in 1980. The roles had been reversed and now she was lying on the hospital bed. A doctor walked in and coolly delivered the blow; that she had about a year to live, and that no treatment existed for her condition. Shortly after, her boss called and asked if she would return to work soon - having been away for these tests. When Evy said she was doubtful she'd return soon they let her go, right then and there. Later that day, Evy's housemate called and asked if she carried homeowners insurance, because their place had been burgled and most of her valuable possessions stolen.

Evy's writes: "In the course of twelve hours I had lost almost everything I identified with. Gone was the dream...Gone were the material possessions...Gone was the sense of success...Gone were my 'idols'." And after that day a passage from Proverbs began to occupy Evy's mind:

Give me neither riches nor poverty,
let me be fed with the food that is needful for me.
Lest I be full and deny you and say, Who is the Lord?
Lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Prov 30:8-9)

How much is enough, the Spirit asked Evy. And the Spirit continues to ask us today.

Isn't it strange how we often see that while the poor rarely have enough for themselves, they seem to have enough to give? I think this might have something to do with Jesus' preference for the poor over the rich. It's not simply a game of pity, but an acknowledgement of a right relationship to money. Even if they would be better off with a little more of it.

Jesus does not want us to be poor. He never wished that upon anyone. But at the same time, he warned us about the dangers of wealth - the dangers of the worship of Mammon overshadowing an inescapable dependence on God's provision. The danger of finding identity in wealth or consumption or status or security,  instead of aligning our identity with the one who brought us into this world with nothing and who will gladly welcome us home with nothing other than a heart of faith and gratitude.

But we still haven't answered the question: what's the point of money? What am I to do with the wealth I am given by God, material or otherwise? Again, Timothy's letter gives us a clue:

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

The treasure of a good foundation for the future... My oh my have we strayed far from that command. Instead, today wealth is used mainly to produce more wealth - much of which is made by undeniably diabolical means. By the selling of bombs to carry out genocide in Gaza and numerous conflicts elsewhere. By the poisoning of entire communities who are poor and overwhelmingly communities of color in order to produce goods that we enjoy at great cost to our planet and our fellow creatures. By the squeezing of the good Earth's resources - a undeniable gift from God - with absolutely no concern for the future - let alone a good foundation for it. By the profit wrought from guns increasingly used to spread vengeance, and terror, and hate, and hopelessness - which ironically enough are the same death-dealing expressions of fear that keep this whole machine running. The machine which insists that there's no such thing as enough -  and damn the costs.

But we worship a God of the living, not the dead. We follow a savior who speaks The Good News of freedom and healing, not the lies of power and ill-gotten advantage. And as long as we look to that God, there is hope.

How much is enough? It starts right there. And it is a decision that you and only you can make with God, and only God. Oh, and Evy McDonald? Her mystery illness was Lou Gehrig's disease (or ALS) which only has a 10% survival rate after 10 years. Well, 45 years later she's still alive. In fact, she's said to be the first person to completely recover from ALS, which until then was thought to be impossible.

Given that, I'll leave you with a few more words from her:

"In defining how much was enough for me, I found time for serving, reading, watching sunsets, singing, going for a walk with friends, enjoying a concert, and listening in silent prayer. In short, a life of immeasurable wealth."

Amen.

[1] All references to Evy McDonald's story and quotations of her words were taken from her essay, "Spending Money as if Life Really Mattered" found in Simpler Living, Compassionate Life, ed. Michael Schut (2002).