Living Small
Luke 12:13-21
I was pursuing the newspaper this past week and saw a number of realtor ads for houses in this area. A moderate sized house with four bedrooms, 2 baths and roughly 2000 square feet seems to sell in the $350,000 - $400,000 range. A house in a neighboring town with seven bedrooms, 3 ½ baths and 4000 square feet is selling for $950,000. A mansion is described as a “dwelling with over 8000 square feet,” however The Breakers, which is one of the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island has 65,000 square feet of space.
Jay Shafer lives inside an 89 square foot house in Sebastopol, CA, and it is his full time residence. Eighty nine square feet is about the size of this chancel area. For ten years Shafer has lived in houses that are a 100 square feet or less, and now has a business that sells architectural plans and gives advice for building and living in tiny houses. His company is called Tumbleweed and it is a tiny house company. Tiny houses are between 65-140 square feet in size. Customers can buy the plans for a house, such as his, which sells for $19,950 or a readymade house for $45, 997. You can see a tour of his home on You Tube, complete with living room, fireplace, sink, double burner stove, a little refrigerator, toaster oven, bathroom with shower. There is a loft that can sleep two and has nooks and crannies around the walls for storage.
This is living small.
Think you could live your life within 89 square feet?
To live smaller in this fashion we would have to get rid of most of the “stuff” that we have accumulated over the years. For those who embrace “small living,” there is a small house society, which promotes living in tiny houses that can be placed on a piece of property, or towed around like a trailer. The “tiny house” movement is a growing one that urges us to live smaller, live lighter, have less impact on the environment and have less of everything to maintain.
Could you do it?
I don’t think I could do it. I need my space in order to live, rest, relax and create in the world and I am very grateful for the space that I have. However there are times that I think about all the “stuff” in my house and in my life, and I can’t believe what I have accumulated. I clean and get rid of things and make promises that I am going to stop shopping. A friend recently cleaned two of her children’s rooms and collected 9 trash bags and 6 supermarket bags of “stuff.” I imagine that we all have times that we stop, notice all that we have and try to find a balanced way to live smaller, and live as faithful stewards of all that we have been given. It is always a challenge in a society that tempts us to buy more, to live large, to add-on, to upsell and supersize everything from food to cars.
Jesus speaks about supersizing when he responds to a man in the crowd who is fighting with his brother over their inheritance. The lesson he offers reminds us to live smaller - but be rich towards God.
The story of the Rich Fool is framed with a question asked to Jesus from someone who was struggling with money matters. "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me,” and ends with Jesus saying, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Live smaller and be rich towards God.
The rest of the story is known as the parable of the Rich Fool. Apparently the man and his brother were fighting over money matters and the younger brother felt that he was not receiving his fair share. Everyone struggles with money matters and family at times.
Patricia Lull said that in Judaic tradition an inheritance between two brothers would have been divided with two thirds going to the older brother and one third to the younger. There is something about money that brings out the worst in people.
14Jesus replied, "who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my 2000 square foot barn and build a couple of 8000 square foot barns and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Jesus reminds us how important it is not to measure our life with the amount of possessions or stuff that we have. Be on guard, says Jesus, for all kinds of greed. Our “stuff” and the desire to purchase just one more thing – often makes us miss the beauty and blessing of the day we are already in.
“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:4)
Rejoice and live in this day with the beauty and the blessings that already surround us. Be careful because it may or may not be your last day on earth and so keep it in the day. Keep it simple and keep it in the day.
In the parable Jesus puts strong words in God’s mouth concerning greed. “You fool” says God in the story that Jesus is telling, “this very day may be your last.”
Instead this day, live small and be rich towards God.
The point of the lesson was the greed and the lack of faith. The man had no thought towards God or helping others. He was extremely self-centered. There is nothing wrong with building bigger barns when it is done in balance in faith and trusting God. The Bible has other examples where bigger barns are built to store and to provide in times of need. In Genesis Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream of seven years of abundance and seven years of famine, and comes up with a plan to save and store huge quantities of food - so much food that Genesis says it was “beyond measure.” It was used for the community during the seven years of famine. Joseph was faithful towards God and towards the larger community. And so we see – that it wasn’t the barns and the preparations – it was the greed, the attitude and the lack of faith and care for one’s neighbor that doomed the Rich Fool.
The parable reminds us to be grateful, not greedy and to be humble in all of our affairs. With gratitude and humility as our guiding principles - we can find a healthy balance in our living as people of faith in a supersized society.
Gratitude and humility require a transformation of heart which happens when we stay focused on Christ and his call to love God with heart, mind, soul and body and to love our neighbor as our self. We cultivate compassion in our daily living, in our care for ourselves, our family, friends and for the world.
This then always brings me to Martin Buber, theologian and philosopher, who developed a philosophy of relationships which helps us develop our relationships and our attitudes towards one another and I believe towards our possessions. Buber says there are two types of relationships...the “I-It” relationship and the “I-Thou” relationship.
If we live with an “I-It” attitude – we would only be concerned about ourselves. We would build the 8000 square foot barns with only ourselves in mind. Life is a monologue, and our actions revolve around ourselves and our own desires.
But, as Buber points out, if our philosophy of relationship and life is “I-Thou,” then we are uniquely concerned about the humanity and the personhood of others. We build bigger barns filled with gratitude, and seek ways to help not only ourselves, but our community. We love our neighbors as our self. Life is a dialogue and we see the “holiness” in every person whether they live in Littleton or half way across the world. In an “I-Thou” relationship there is a deep spiritual connection amongst one another and creation. We look at the day and all it brings with new eyes. It is all I and thou. Most importantly, God is not an object who is just out “there.” A divine relationship is established, a connection. Life is no longer a monologue with yourself but a dialogue with God. We live fully with faith - every day - with an “I and Thou” attitude.
Then at the end of the day, when our life is required of us, it can be said of us, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
This week may we seek to live in balance with one another and in God’s created world and may we be rich towards God by cultivating compassion, gratitude and humility - in the name of Jesus Christ who came to love us.
Amen
Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard
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