In Doublefudge, by Judy Blume, five-year-old Fudge becomes obsessed with money. Fudge’s older brother, Peter, narrates the story.
In the elevator, [Fudge] asked [Peter’s classmate] Sheila Tubman, “How much money do you have, Sheila?” “That’s not a polite question, Fudgie,” she told him. “Nice people don’t talk about their money, especially in these times.” “I’m nice,” Fudge said, “and I like to talk about money. You want to know how much I have?” “No,” Sheila told him. “It’s nobody’s business but yours.” He told her anyway. I knew he would. “I have fourteen dollars and seventy-four cents. I mise my money every night before I go to sleep.” “You mise your money?” Sheila asked. Then she shook her head at me like it’s my fault he thinks mise is a word. Henry, who runs the elevator in our building, laughed. “Nothing like having a miser in the family.” (pp. 5–6)
Fudge’s miserliness soon takes over his life to ridiculous extent. He begins to make his own currency he calls “Fudge bucks.” He insists that ATMs should provide limitless cash. He demands that his dad pay him for passing the salt. He chooses a new best friend solely on the basis of his name, “Richie.” It all culminates with a strange plan cooked up by Fudge’s Grandma, to cure him of his problem by taking him on a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in Washington, DC. You can imagine how well that went.
Fudge’s fixation on “the green stuff” is funny, and yet makes a serious point about the absurdity of our society’s priorities. The fact is, we often act as if money is our most valuable resource. Now, economics is at the heart of Jesus’ teachings, especially in the Gospel of Luke. Today’s verses address practical, relational, and spiritual dimensions of our lives with money and material things. “Do not be afraid, little flock, “For it is the Mother/Father God’s good pleasure to give you the kin-dom. Sell your possessions and give alms.” Drawing on the imagery of the sheep and shepherd, Jesus reminds his disciples that trying to be self-reliant brings anxiety, whereas belonging to a flock offers security. The kin-dom of God is life in a flock, life in community. It is a new reality, a different way of being together. In the kin-dom, we recognize the futility of possessing. We use what we need to live and we don’t hoard extra. “Almsgiving” in this context is not charity. It is power-shifting, a return to right relationship.
“Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I’m pretty sure that Jesus isn’t saying we have to wait to receive the good stuff until after we die and go to heaven. I think he’s talking about a heavenly quality of life we can experience together here and now. The kin-dom is our treasure. The kin-dom is a community that shares resources and power, that engages in mutual care, that respects creation’s own balance. The kin-dom is a way of life that allows us to inhabit this beautiful earth with harmony.
Both Shannon Voelkel and Kathy Haskins recently traveled to Arizona to be part of a ceremony for the protection of Oak Flat. Shannon is going to share more with us about this experience after church today. A writer for the National Wildlife Federation, describes the treasure that is Oak Flat:
Visitors love the scenic views of towering rocks, oak trees, and flowing water. Locals love hosting family time and special events here, or just stopping by to pray for a while. Environmentalists love the unique plants, wildlife and endangered species that make a home here. Rock climbers love scaling the beautiful boulders steeped with deep red and orange hues. And Indigenous peoples of the area love Oak Flat as a part of themselves. Naelyn Pike, member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, explains: “I look at Oak Flat as a major organ in the body, you can’t function without it. . . . Without Oak Flat, we couldn’t be who we are.”[1]
Unfortunately, Resolution Copper, a joint venture of two Australian Mining companies, BHP and Rio Tinto, is on the cusp of building a massive mine that will destroy this sacred land. The mine will open up a crater 1.8 miles wide and 1,000 feet deep, which will result in the collapse of Oak Flat and its ecosystem. The mining operation will pollute a precious and limited water supply, and create large amounts of toxic waste. The message of those protecting Oak Flat is that humanity need not take this extractive posture toward our planet’s life support system—if we are willing to change the way we think, the way we pray, and the way we live. The earth that sustains us is our true treasure. This interdependent community of life literally makes us who we are.
There are some tensions in today’s text, some both/ands that are important. Jesus reassures us there is nothing we need to do to earn the kin-dom; it’s a freely and joyfully given gift. At the same time, he makes it clear that God’s gift cannot come to fullness in the world without our active participation in it. The little parable that comes after Jesus’ words about treasure, the one about the slaves and the master is, on the one hand, distressing. The institution of slavery is just something Jesus assumes. He does not directly challenge the practice here or elsewhere in his teachings. On the other hand, there’s something very subversive in this little story. Jesus says that when the master returns and finds his slaves ready—dressed for action, with lamps lit, and awaiting a knock on the door—he will reverse roles with them. He will sit his slaves down at the table put on an apron and serve them dinner. The master has been away at the wedding banquet, which is a symbol, in all of scripture, of the coming day of God’s kin-dom, of the world transformed according to God’s values.
The final section of today’s text is another metaphor that urges followers of Jesus to cultivate readiness. There’s a twist here, too, though. Comparing Jesus to a thief breaking in suggests that the deep changes the kin-dom requires will be challenging and disruptive even if they are also joyous and liberating. Friends, let us be vigilant, that we might, in each moment of our lives, be prepared to welcome and participate in God’s transformational new reality. May we not be miserly, seeking security in money and possessing, but let us find our security in God’s gift of community. May our hearts treasure this life that we share with all creation, just as the poet Li-Young Lee describes:
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days . . .
Amen.
[1] https://blog.nwf.org/2024/08/protect-oak-flat-understanding-whats-at-stake/