Scared

Is Luke 12:13-21 proposing a theology of fear?

Huge signs are all over the Alabama highways. I think they are produced by one Christian group or another, but I have neglected actually calling the numbers or visiting the websites. Some of them have pictures of a Cross, while others possess a stark, black background with bright white letters, and still others feature a heartbeat reading on them (like the one above). These billboards generally say that each of us has a choice about what will happen when we die. Will we choose Jesus and heaven or instead choose hell? All of these signs, I believe, are meant to do only one thing: scare us.

The prevalence of these signs does in fact scare me, but not in the desired way of those who pay for them to hang over the federal interstate system. I am scared of the way that people see Christians as a result of these signs. The implied belief is that God is a being that sits up in the clouds, stroking his long white beard, and watching as our heartbeats slow to make sure that at the moment of death we do indeed choose Jesus and heaven. Fear-based theology can be traced to a thread of the Christian tradition; however, the Good News of Christ Jesus, the work of the Spirit, and the community in which I have learned about God seem so completely opposed to this way of interpreting what awaits us at death. Also, and this seems obvious, who would actually choose eternal damnation over eternal life and who would worship a God who is so petty that He (and in this view God is definitely a he) cannot love us if we do not make the right choice?

In this coming Sunday’s Gospel lesson (Luke 12:13-21) Jesus speaks with a man who was concerned that he was being cheated out of his inheritance by his brother. At first, Jesus shot down the idea that he would serve as a judge in this matter, then he went further in explaining this sibling rivalry. He told the story of a rich man who had a great year in farming. The man contemplated ripping down his current silos, so that he could store up the abundance of crops. This was and still is wise farming. I run by the Alabama Farmer’s Co-op at least once a week and I imagine if the farming partners produced more they would build even bigger storage containers than the massive ones that already exist. The dilemma with this rich man was not in his agricultural practice, but his intention behind the farming.

While thinking of building a bigger barn the man said to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax, eat, drink, be merry.” The response of God comes off sounding like the scary billboards along our interstates: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.” If we stopped reading here, then we could very easily buy into the fear-mongering that is so pervasive in conservative Christianity, American politics, and the entire world at the moment. We could put that phrase up on a roadside sign and believe that we are actually doing the Lord’s work by scaring someone into believing in some perverted view of the divine. God though does not stop here, and God does not leave us scared.

Right after God said, “This very night your life is being demanded of you,” God continued, “And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The trajectory of Jesus’ parable leads us to wonder not so much about some reward, which we get at the end of life if we made the right choices, but rather to ponder what am I building up in this life, why am I storing it up, and where is my treasure? This passage, then comes off not as a way of startling us into making a choice because we are stuck in traffic and see something on the side of the road, but rather, this passage points to wondering, “Am I rich toward God?”

Rather than attempting to force people to choose God, a tactic that rarely works on a deep level and often does not actually coerce people to follow God at all but quite the opposite, I wonder what would happen if we tried to help one another build up spiritual riches. The grace—that wonderful gift of everlasting life that each of us is given freely by God—allows us not to worry about the results; however, if we dedicated our lives to serving others, sharing how we touch, taste, smell, hear, and see God within our lives, and putting ourselves in contact with diverse parts of the Body of Christ don’t you think that we would all be richer toward God? The billboards are correct about something, you do have a choice. You may choose to live in fear believing that your eternal existence boils down to saying a prayer, believing a certain way, and avoiding a list of sinful behaviors. And, actually this sounds like barricading oneself off from the world like a silo full of treasure. Or, you may choose to reach out and share the riches of grace with all those whom you meet allowing God’s abundance to make all of us rich toward God.

Don’t be scared, be rich toward God instead.