READINGS

Luke 12:13-21
Exodus 18:13-27
Four references to throat (napshâ) in the Aramaic version
v 17 "he thought to himself" = he began to reflect in this throat
v 19 "I will say to my throat, "throat"..."
v 20 "this very night your throat is required of you

HOMILY

This week we jump almost a chapter from 11:14 to 12:13 in St Luke's Gospel.

I think the reason is that the parts in between come in Mark and Matthew as well, so we get to read them during different years, whereas today's Gospel is only to be found in Luke.

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus:

Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.

But Jesus said to him:

Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?

Actually, the word is not friend, but anthrōpe, literally - human.

In favour of translating it friend rather than man - if we address someone as a man or human, that's too pompous, but a friend is not what it says, but it's probably more like a dude, it's probably more like the informal way of referring.

It's how for instance when St Peter was accused of being close to Jesus when he was in the High Priest's courtyard, his response to the people who accused him was: Dude, I'm not that guy.

That's the kind of language that was being used.

Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that the word 'human' here suggests that there might be a rather stronger meaning to what's going to come next than is apparent.

"Dude (or human), who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?"

Well, this is a good question because the principal arbiter, a judge or arbitrator over the people of Israel was Moses.

And strangely, no one appointed Moses to be judge or arbitrator over the people of Israel.

The tale is actually told very nicely in the Book of Exodus where Jethro notices that Moses has got himself sucked into being arbitrator and judge for all the people - Jethro, that's Moses's father-in-law - and persuades him to have a change of practice.

"Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people and said: what is this that you're doing for the people? 

Why do you sit alone while all the people stand around you from morning till evening? 

Moses said to his father-in-law: Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 

When they have a dispute they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God."

Anyhow, Jethro quite rightly says:

That's going to wear you out. 

Give it up, divide the task, and let other people do that for the lower-down things. 

You just dedicate yourself to telling people about God.

So what's in the background here: Jesus is actually reminding that the whole idea of being an arbitrator or judge over people is a bad idea, and he refuses to be it.

It's one of the key factors actually in Christianity that there is no overseeing judge amongst us.

The only judge is Jesus as crucified and risen Lord, that there's no arbitrator over and above any of us.

The only way that squabbles can be sorted out is between us.

So by saying "Oh human, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" - Jesus is actually making the absolutely key point:

I refuse to become a religiously decisive figure over you. The only learning about God will be between you.

And then he gets to the heart of the matter because what was the problem which the lad, the dude had?

He had a problem with his brother, and it was about dividing the family inheritance.

In fact, it's the classic problem from the beginning which comes again in parable after parable, and story after story how is the inheritance going to be divided.

But there is an inheritance, there is something to divide... so Jesus says to them - it's clear, at this point, he turns to the crowd and says:

take care beyond your guard against all kinds of greed, avarice, covetousness, pleonexia, fullness of desire. 

For one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

And that's the key thing which he's now going to fill out.

He's saying to the people:

you're going to have to work out between yourself what is good and where your abundance comes from.

So then he tells them a parable.

And I'm going to ask you to excuse me, I'm going to use silly language once again because I think that this is rather a comic parable.

I think its comic nature is somewhat disguised by our translations, but it is hinted at in the Greek and becomes even clearer in the Aramaic, which I should say I come across secondhand; not firsthand because it brings out how much Jesus is caricaturing certain psychology.

So if you'll excuse me I'm going to use slightly not suitable for work language to engage in the characterizing of the psychology.

So here our translation says:

the land of a rich man produced abundantly.

It's interesting it begins with the land.

It doesn't begin with a rich man, it doesn't say: behold, there was a rich man whose land.

It talks about the land of a rich man produced abundantly.

And apparently, in the Aramaic, it's the land of a rich man by himself, that which in Greek comes as a certain rich man. In Aramaic is by himself.

It indicates this is a person without family, without descendants, he's just a single rich man.

And his land has produced abundantly.

Now, and apparently again the language behind the abundance in Aramaic suggests a three-fold super harvest, a bumper harvest, three times more than normal.

If you're a rich man and have a three times normal, a larger than normal harvest, the first thing you know is that the price is going to go down.

There are so much that the price everywhere is going to be much cheaper this year because there's much more supply than there is demand.

Sort of basic farming economy 101. So what does he do? Does he make the abundance available at a cheaper price so that more people have it more easily?

No, he says - and here it says:

he thought to himself.

Well, this is the first time that we get the word which in Greek is soul or life, and in Aramaic is nafta, which is the neck.

The Aramaic world exteriorized the active sensitive part of their discerning life to the neck, the throat quite literally.

And I suspect because it was also the place where the lifeblood could come out if the throat was cut.

This was your throat that's on the line, whereas - my knowledge of America suggests - that it's your ass on the line.

That's because it's considered to be an area that's threatened in some way, since people are not predictably frightened of penetration.

Here it was the throat that was the decisive thing that was on the line.

We're going to see that the throat makes four appearances here, so I'm going to ask you to translate that as ass each time just because that brings out the comic element in what Jesus is talking about.

So here we have: this is a single man and his land is produced abundantly, so he consults his throat - he says to his ass:

What should I do? 

For I have no place to store my crops.

In other words, if I sell them to everybody, I get a low price.

I need to store them so that I can save them for a poor harvest year and then I can get bumper money.

So then he says:

I will do this, I will pull down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And the grain - and in the Greek, it is also fruits - so it's not just grain, it's grain and all the other kinds of fruit that have also come in abundantly: dried beans et cetera et cetera many of the other things that go alongside in a good farm.

And so he's going to pull down his barns and build bigger ones, and raise up the... again, the Aramaic suggests raising up to heaven.

It's rather a little hint of the tower of Babel there - the the pointless tower of Babel which didn't get anywhere.

I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my throat - I'll say to my ass: Ass, you have ample goods laid up for many years; throat, you have ample goods laid up for many years! - Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said to him:

You, short-sighted guy.

That's apparently what the Aramaic means: you, a short-sighted person, the Greek is anthrōpe - you fool.

It doesn't seem good that we have Jesus calling someone a fool given what he says about fools in the earlier passages, but the short-sighted guy.

We would say, in America: you ass - but that's the other meaning of the word ass - God said:

you ass, this very night your ass is being required of you.

Again it's the same way: your throat is being required.

That's why you get the four mentions of the throat.

And the things you have prepared - whose will they be?

So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.

Why the four times of the throat - the four times of the ass?

Because it shows that this person by himself is in a purely solitary bubble, everything is concerned with his throat - his ass - it's the only thing that matters.

He doesn't seem to be aware that the land giving abundantly is already God-giving abundantly, and if God gives abundantly, maybe what God wants is that he should be a good administrator, and be able to give more things to the poor people, so that they are able to get food at cheaper prices this year because of the abundance, that they should share in the abundance.

But now his thinking is entirely based on how's this going to work out for me.

And this brings us back to the question of inheritance. The presupposition is that there is an abundance, there is an inheritance, there is an abundance of a harvest.

What is it going to look like not to have someone decide for us who to give what?

That's a question of clash of rights impossible to work out, especially amongst brothers: who is going to get with the program of sharing abundance, who is going to rather than storing up treasures for themselves which leads nothing at all - because their ass can be required of them at any moment - who it is who are able to use what they've been given, to spread God's generosity.

That's the only question that you say.

So this is part of the transformation of desire which is so much part of St Luke's Gospel.

It suggests that there's always something prior to us, there's always an abundance.

And it's never self-starting, it never starts with my throat - my ass - it's always: someone has given something to me, how am I going to share it, how am I going to spread it out.

Being rich towards God means allowing myself to become the channel for God's riches to reach others.

SUMMARY

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

First of all, Jesus is actually reminding that the whole idea of being an arbitrator or judge over people is a bad idea, and he refuses to be it.

It is one of the key factors in Chrstianity that there is no overseeing judge amongst us.

The only judge is Jesus as crucified and risen Lord.

The only way that squabbles can be sorted out is between us.

You're going to have to work out between yourself what is good and where your abundance comes from.

In the original Greek/Aramaic, Jesus is caricaturing certain psychology.

The man have a super-harvest (3 fold). This means the price is going to go down. Does he make the abundance available at a cheaper price so taht more people have it more easily? No!

Nafta -> Throat in aramaic (similiar to american slang 'ass')

This is a single man and his land has produced abundantly, so he consults his 'nafta' - what should I do? For I have no place to store my produce. He says this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones.

And I will say to my 'nafta' - Nafta, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.

But God said to him: You fool. This very night your 'nafta' is being required of you. The things you have prepared, whose will it be?

Why the four times of the 'nafta/throat/ass'? Because it shows that this person by himself is in a purely solitary bubble, everything is concerned with his throat/ass, it's the only thing that matters.

He doesn't seem to be aware that the land giving abundantly is already God-giving abundantly, and if God gives abundantly, maybe what God wants is that he should be a good administrator, and be able to give more thing to the poor people, so that they are able to get food at cheaper prices this year.

This goes back to the question of inheritance: there is abundance. What is it going to look like not to have someone decide for us who to give what? Who it is who are able to use what they've been given, to spread God's generosity.

This is part of the transformation of desire which is so much part of St Luke's Gospel.

It suggests that there's always something prior to us, there's always an abundance. It's never self-starting, it never starts with my 'nafta'.

Someone has given something to me. How am I going to share it, how am I going to spread it out? Being rich towards God means allowing muself to become the channel of God's riches to reach others.