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Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
November 12, 2006 Sermon by The Rev. Bill Van Oss, Rector
Readings       

The Rich Man and the Cobbler

Once upon a time there were two men who lived in the same small town. One of the men was a very rich merchant, the other was a poor cobbler. Now the rich merchant had more money than anyone else in the town, and with his money he bought all the finest things. Yet, in spite of all he owned, he was never very happy. The rich merchant spent his days longing for the thing that would help him find happiness.

The poor cobbler had little money and very few possessions. He spent his days working in his cobbler shop, but in spite of what he lacked, he was a very happy man. People would stop in just to see the cobbler and talk with him because he always had a smile on his face and something nice to say.

One day, seeking the thing that would bring him the happiness he longed for, the rich man stopped into the cobbler’s shop. He had heard how happy the cobbler was, and he wanted to learn his secret. As the rich man walked through the door of the shop, he looked around, and in an instant he saw it: sitting there, on a shelf above the cobbler’s bench a PEARL as large as a man’s fist, and so bright it nearly blinded him. Now the rich man knew in an instant what brought the simple cobbler so much happiness: this pear, the likes of which there could be only one. The rich man knew he had to have it.

He pointed and said to the cobbler sitting at his bench: “I must have that pear, I’ll pay any price you want for it.”

The cobbler seemed surprised, and he looked from the treasure to the one who longed for it. “That?” he said, pointing to the shelf. “If you must have it, then it is yours” and he reached over and GAVE the rich man the pearl. The rich man was delighted, he snatched the pearl from its owner, and took it home knowing that he had found the secret to happiness.

About three weeks later, walking slowly with his eyes focused straight down, the rich man returned to the cobbler’s shop. He carried with him the pearl the cobbler had given him. When he handed it back to the cobbler across his bench, the cobbler looked surprised. “This pearl has not brought me the happiness I long for,” the rich man said in a slow, monotone voice. “What I really desire is what makes you able to give it away.”

Were the widows really poor? That’s a question we need to ask. I’m referring to the widows in today’s scripture readings. Certainly they lacked material things and they lacked money. The widow in the reading from First Kings lacked food, she had only a handful of meal and a little oil; the widow in the Gospel lacked money, she had only two tiny copper coins.

But were they poor?

The first widow seems to have no fear of death – she’s almost matter-of-fact about it: “I’m going to prepare a last supper for me and my son and then we will eat it and die” she says – almost casually.

There was a great famine in the land, and it’s likely many people were going to die. The widow had probably seen it before. But this widow is free – free of the fear of death – free enough, detached enough from the things of this world to be able to look death in the face and be at peace.

Was she poor? I’d say not. She was free, her life was properly ordered, in the proper perspective, so that she could view death as a part of life, confident that God would take care of her.

Was she poor? I think not.

Then there’s the widow in the Gospel, the one who offers the “widow’s mite”, a tiny sum, hardly anything at all, and it’s everything she has. But she’s free. Free enough to give it all away, free enough to trust that God would use her tiny offering.

Was she poor? I think not. She lacked money – no doubt about that. But she was free, free enough to trust God and give it all away – free from the relentless pressure to have “more, more, more” – free from an in satiable appetite for more money and more things and the inevitable worry that accompanies such appetites.

Now do not get me wrong. I am not glamorizing poverty, nor am I saying the poor should just accept their lot in life and be happy, nor am I letting people of means off the hook with our responsibility to reach out and care for the poor and less fortunate. But imagine living like these two widows. Imagine living free of the fear of death. Imagine living free of the relentless desire to have more: bigger bank accounts, bigger retirement accounts, more, new and better things.

These widows may have lacked but they were most certainly not poor and that’s why they are held up as models: living examples of the kind of life God calls us to live.

The cobbler wasn’t poor either. I named him that for the purposes of the story, but the cobbler was richer than the rich man. Because he was free, like the widows, free enough to give away the special pearl. He lived his life with an open hand instead of a tight fist and he was loved and happy.

Giving away the pearl gave him more satisfaction than the pearl itself. And for the rich man, having one more possession just intensified his sadness. Generosity leads to happiness, greed leads to sadness; it’s simple, but it’s true – were the two widows and the cobbler really poor?

I think not.

For they were free – free of fear, free of insatiable appetites, free to give it all away and trust God – free to really live.

They owned their possessions, their possessions did not own them – and they are held up for us, as model stewards.

Today is a good day for us to look inside ourselves, to examine our lives to see if we are living with an open hand or with a clenched fist: to see if we are living lives that are generous and free.

      
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