Homily For Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 3rd August, 2025

 

Reading: Eccl.1:2.2:21-23; Ps. 90; Col. 3:1-5.9-11; Luke 12:13-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

FOOL! THIS NIGHT DEMAND WILL BE MADE FOR YOUR SOUL. LIFE IS VANITY VANISHING WITHOUT GOD

There is no doubt that the material things of this passing world are so beautiful and captivating. Of course, they are gifts from God and he alone gives us the right to them. Hence, what we possess is meant to help us grow in our relationship with God and neighbours, not to separate us from them.

But if we are not careful, too much love for material possessions can be an obstacle on our way to God’s Kingdom. Little wonder Jesus, in our Gospel passage today, warns us against covetousness and excessive attachment to worldly possessions, which he greatly emphasised with the story of the rich man's Harvest.

In this story a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his farm, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I do not have enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night, the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?

Here, Jesus tells his disciples about the need to live a life of detachment. He used this story to teach his disciples and all of us about the futility of excessive worldly desires and it’s pursuits. Thereby showing us the foolishness of human greed, as well as pride and ego. For in this man we see the uselessness of human selfishness, covetousness and excess desire for worldly possessions.

This is because he constantly focused only on himself saying I will do this, I will do that, ‘my goods, my fruits, my barns, my soul, etc, without any interest or room for his neighbours or the poor. He has no thought of God, nor of his own servants. If he had looked a little beyond himself, he would have seen many places where he could have bestowed his crops. Thus, there is a need for us to constantly prune ourselves from excess love for material possessions of this passing world.

For we heard in our first reading that things of this passing world are vanity without God. That vanity of vanities. All is vanity! Since a man who has laboured wisely, skillfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all.

This, of course, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.

The fact remains that material possessions in themselves are good, for we would not survive for long without them, but excess attachment to them at the expense of eternal life is grade one suicide. No doubt, it is difficult to give out or share our possessions, but the ones who give up everything are the ones who receive more in this life as well as in heaven.

For we heard St. Paul in our second reading saying: Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God.

That is why we must kill everything in us that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge of the image of God.

Dear friends, what is the essence of our existence in this world? What does God really require from us in this life? Do you know that without God everything in life is vanity vanishing? So today Jesus addressed the very thing that most people are not ready to give up. Those things such as: money, houses, credentials, love of power, pride and wealth.

But, if we are honest enough, we will admit that we all have some things we would be very slow to let go if Jesus should make the demand of them. Those things we are so much attached to and would not like God to ask us to give them up for the sake of following him.

In fact, it might be a good thing today for us to ask ourselves what would be the most difficult thing for us to give up if Jesus should ask us to do so. It might be something we own, like our properties, treasures, fame, beauty, influence and power or our wealth; it may be a relationship, or our job, or our habits and attitudes.

So, whatever we possess that will separate us from our mission of following Jesus and loving our neighbours, today we are called to give them up and come follow the Lord, because in leaving them for the sake of Jesus, we actually gain all in abundance.

Therefore, detaching and sharing what we possess with others, especially the poor, is a sure way to find life, peace and happiness. And Jesus is telling us that it will be difficult for us to enter his kingdom when we choose to attach ourselves to the riches of this passing world. Though material possessions are gifts from God and he alone gives us the right to have them, what we possess is not meant to separate us from God; rather, they should help us to grow in our relationship with God and neighbours.

Hence, let us not be carried away by the beauty of the things of this passing world, for nothing lasts forever. Rather, we should remain steadfast in our faith in God, who has called us to love him and to love one another, for that is all that the Lord requires from us in this life.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are living in a world where materialism is the order of the day. Help us to learn how to live a life of detachment and keep us always from the sin of covetousness and pride. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed Sunday celebration.