August 3, 2025
Revised Common Lectionary
Hosea 11:1-11 or Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
Psalm 107:1-9, 43 or Psalm 49:1-12
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
Lectionary for Mass (RC)
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17 (1)
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21
The New Testament takes a generally dim view of wealth—the Gospel of Luke even more so. In the Canticle of Mary, we hear the praise of God “who has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (Lk 1:53). At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus announces that he has been sent “to bring good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18), and in his great Sermon on the Plain he declares, “Blessed are you poor” (Lk 6:20) and “woe to you who are rich” (Lk 6:24).
These teachings sit squarely at odds with attitudes toward wealth in most North American societies. Media and popular culture tend to glamorize the wealthy, presenting them as models to be admired and emulated. Our economic systems are based on accumulation of wealth, allowing individuals and corporations to amass large amounts of money while others struggle for bare necessities.
The scope of this disparity is staggering. In 2024, the number of billionaires in the world rose to 2,769 individuals whose combined wealth surged to $15 trillion—with 204 new billionaires minted in just one year, nearly four every week. The wealth gap is no less serious in North America. The top 1% of households in the United States holds over 40% of the nation’s wealth, while in Canada the top 1% control 26% of the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, Canada’s income inequality reached record levels in 2024, with a 47 percentage point gap between the richest and poorest households—the largest disparity ever recorded.
These current disparities in wealth, along with the teachings of Jesus in Luke, provide a backdrop for today’s Epistle and Gospel readings, which call attention to greed. Wealth is of course not an evil in itself, but the desire for riches can all too easily lead to resentment of others, like the person in the crowd who wanted Jesus to intervene in a family inheritance dispute (Lk 12:13).
Our society’s adulation of wealth can also foster an unhealthy obsession with money, investments, homes, cars, jewelry, or other kinds of possessions, much like the landowner who built bigger barns to hoard his grain and goods (Lk 12:16-21). The pronouns in this passage offer a telling glimpse into the landowner’s spiritual condition. He speaks only of I/me/my, and never of we/us/our. His entire world has shrunk to the boundaries of his own desires and possessions. Jesus finds fault not with his success, but with his desire to hold on to wealth without regard for others—without seeing himself as part of a larger human family. This self-centered focus is precisely what makes his greed so spiritually destructive.
Paul echoes this concern in today’s reading from Colossians, where he singles out greed in his list of “earthly” things that keep us from fully embracing our new life in Christ, with whom we have been “raised up.” Paul regards greed as a form of idolatry (Col 3:5), an unbridled quest for wealth that draws us away from allegiance to God. Like the rich fool’s obsession with “my crops” and “my barns,” greed turns our possessions into false gods that demand our ultimate loyalty.
Greed can likewise separate us from others. Rather than engaging in harmful “earthly” practices like hoarding wealth for ourselves, Paul urges us to embrace the renewal that brings people together in unity. We are to live as part of a body in which “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!” (Col 3:11).
The goods of the earth are a blessing entrusted to the human family for the benefit of all. How can Christians today bear witness to the reign of God, in which there is enough for everyone, where all have a decent place to live, where no one goes hungry, and where healthcare is treated as a right?
Being “rich toward God” (Lk 12:21) might look like a congregation that measures its success not by its building program but by how many families it helps avoid eviction. It might mean individuals who take seriously the call to live generously while still providing responsibly for their family’s needs. It could involve advocacy for policies that address systemic inequality, or simply the daily practice of seeing our resources as gifts to be shared rather than possessions to be hoarded.
In a society that places such a high value on wealth accumulation, the question Jesus poses remains as urgent today as it was two thousand years ago: How can we fulfill his teaching that we should be “rich toward God”? The answer may well determine not only our spiritual health, but the kind of society we build together.
A Hymn for Today: “Like a Mother Who Has Borne Us”
Hymn writer Daniel Bechtel was ordained to ministry in the United Church of Christ in 1958 and began teaching religion at Dickinson College in 1964. This hymn was first sung in the Dickinson College chapel in 1986. The first two stanzas beautifully portray God’s closeness to us as we were brought to life and nurtured. In the third stanza, we confess how we have wandered from God in the search for power and might, leaving others behind. In the final stanza, we are called to embrace love of neighbor through sharing, peace, and justice.
This text is an appropriate response to the Scripture readings we hear this Sunday. To hear the hymn with its lovely, gentle tune AUSTIN by William P. Rowan, click here.
Like a mother who has borne us,
held us close in her delight,
fed us freely from her body,
God has called us into life.
Life a father who has taught us,
grasped our hand and been our guide,
lifted us and healed our sorrows,
God has walked with us in life.
Though as children we have wandered,
placed our trust in power and might,
left behind our brothers, sisters,
God still calls us into life.
When we offer food and comfort,
grasp our neighbor’s hand in love,
tread the path of peace and justice,
God still walks with us in life.
Text: Daniel Bechtel, b. 1932, © 1986, Daniel R. Bechtel. Used by permission under OneLicense #A-729857
Tunes: AUSTIN, STUTTGART
Image Credit: Grain Fields, Edwin Evans, 1844-1923, Brigham Young University Museum of Art
“Word and Song: A Lectionary Reflection” is written by the Executive Director of The Hymn Society, Rev. Dr. Mike McMahon. For his full bio, click here and scroll down to the “staff” section.
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