18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily (2025)
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17 (95:8)
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21
August 3, 2025
Are you attached to worldly things and/or activities? Does your attachment to them dictate what you do?
A person comes to Jesus wanting him to get their brother to “share the inheritance” with them.
We are not told any details. It seems one of the siblings is being greedy. They are concerned with earthly inheritance. Jesus is not.
Jesus has no interest in being “judge and arbitrator” of earthly affairs However, He does use the request as a teaching opportunity. He responds, “Take care to guard against all greed for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
We have legitimate earthly concern to have food, clothing, and a place to live. The need for these things is real but they are not the sum measure of who we are. Concern over inheritance can be real but it should not be what is most importance to us.
How do you measure success? What does prosperity mean to you?
Jesus tells a parable of “a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.” What does the man choose to do with the harvest?
When a harvest come one is wise to set aside in their barns enough to last to the next harvest. Enjoying a bountiful harvest, the man has more than he needs. In fact, the harvest is so abundant that it won’t fit in his barns.
What does he do with the extra?
Does he give it to the poor? No. He doesn’t even sell it to others. He tears down his old barns to build bigger ones so he can keep it all for himself.
We call this greed. It is one of the seven deadly sins. If we keep for ourselves what we do not need but others do, we are not following the spirit of the Seventh Commandment, thou shall not steal.
What good does building bigger barns do the man? He stored up earthly treasures for himself but what good will this be when he dies?
You can’t take it with you. Ecclesiastes speaks of how much one might labor to accomplish possessions but what good are the treasures when one dies. What profit is there in having so many possessions? We worry and cause ourselves anxiety trying to accumulate more possessions. What good does this do us?
Even if we have many possessions, we can still feel empty if we “are not rich in what matters to God.”
We need to “think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”
We need to let go of our desire for possessions to die to things of this world in favor of what is above.
We need to put greed to death for it consumes our heart.
We need to let go of impurity for lust is also one of the seven deadly sins. Jesus himself teaches us that lust violates the Sixth Commandment (see Matthew 5:27-30), thou shall not commit adultery.
We need to let go of passion and evil desire. Here I remind you that anger and envy are also counted among the seven deadly sins. Jesus places anger under the Fifth Commandment, thou shall not kill (see Matthew 5:21-26).
There are those who say anger is natural. There are things that go on the world that should upset us but we must never let the anger control us.
There are those who think lustful thoughts are not an issue. When you have lustful thoughts, do you see the person as an object of pleasure or as a person?
Oh, and Paul also says, “stop lying.” This falls under the Eighth Commandment, thou shall not bear false witness.” Do you lie? Why? How often do you lie to cover up other sins?
We need to let go of our attachment to earthly things and activities.
We need to “seek what is above,” not “what is on earth.”
We need to take off our “old self” with its earthly ways and “put on the new self,” conforming ourselves to Jesus Christ.
What earthly attachments do you have that stand in the way of your personal relationship with Jesus?