Transcript
When my wife and I would leave our children in the care of a babysitter, my youngest child would clutch his favourite little pillow. Standing there, fighting back tears, waving goodbye to us, clutching that pillow; his “security blanket,” something tangible to hold on to during anxious times. Today’s Gospel asks us what is our security blanket? A couple of brothers are feuding over the family inheritance, perhaps anxious about their wealth and survival and want Jesus to adjudicate between their claims. Jesus tells them a story of a rich farmer. The rich farmer had so much he could pull down his barns to build even bigger ones. He thought he had it made. His possessions were his security blanket. When God finally speaks in the gospel story, note that the rich man has done most of the talking up to this point, talking to himself, God’s words seem harsh and cold. “Fool, this night you will die. And all these things, whose are they now?” But are these words harsh, cold, or merely the facts of life? Our lives do not go on forever. Each of us is terminal. Life doesn’t consist in the abundance of our possessions. So, in what does life consist? The one who tells the parable, Jesus, is also the parable’s answer. During this National Vocation week, the parable invites us to ask, ‘What is our security blanket?’ Our possessions or Jesus?