The Burden of Stuff and the Rich Young Man

Going through all the junk in our bedroom

The stress of getting rid of all of our stuff apparently took its toll on me. Soon after we came to Florida, I had dreams about us going back to our house and finding piles and piles of stuff that had been forgotten about and left there, and I'm frantic trying to figure out how to get rid of it all. In one of my dreams, I opened a door to discover shelves and shelves of towels and bedding set up like a Home Goods store. I thought about taking a picture of it to post on Facebook and on this blog to say, “Look at all this stuff we still have to get rid of!!! It's practically a store!!” Later in the dream I was relieved when I realized it actually was a store, and I decided to put all of our stuff in boxes outside of it for people to take.

Getting "organized" for the garage sale.  Stuff was everywhere!!

Since we've been here, we've gone through the boxes of clothes, books, toys, electronics, sentimentals, and other things that we brought down here to organize it better, and we still had more to purge. We had five big bins just of shoes!

I didn't realize just how overwhelming it was going to be to go through all of our belongings and get rid of it all. Through this process, the very thought of all of the stuff we've accumulated over the years has been a mental burden. What do we need to keep? How are we going to get through all of this stuff? What are we going do to with the stuff that doesn't sell?

We spent countless hours going through every thing we owned, had the garage sale, brought stuff to consignment stores, donated truck-full after truck-full of stuff, and gave a bunch of it away to family and friends. Even then, in the last days before our move, we still had so much stuff left that we resorted to filling up huge garbage bags to just throw it all away, including a hefty pile of big items for the garbage man to pick up and haul away for us. It killed me that we had to pay someone to get rid of our stuff!

I've been thinking again about the burden of our stuff with the gospel readings from the beginning of this week about the rich young man in Matthew 19. Jesus invited him to “sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (v. 21) but the young man walked away sad because he had many possessions. Jesus then tells His disciples that “it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven,” (v. 23) which is difficult for them to understand. 

This was one of the readings that spoke powerfully to me while I was praying about whether God was calling us to do foreign mission work. While we have never been rich by American standards, we truly are considering how most of the people live in the rest of the world. We've never gone hungry for lack of food, never gone thirsty for lack of clean water, never been cold for lack of clothes. Not only have we had all of our human needs met at every moment, but an overabundance of stuff that filled our house.

Check out the Pew Research Center statistics on the world population by income.  Most Americans are part of the 7% of the richest people in the world, living on more than $50 a day. Meanwhile, 71% of the global population lives on less than $10 a day (15% on $2 or less). A person considered “low income” (not even “poor”) would have had to work 15-75 days to earn the amount of money we paid

someone to haul our leftover junk to the garbage dump.  While we think nothing of spending an extra $20 at the store on frivolous stuff we don't really need, people all over the world go without the basic necessities of life. Is this “just the way it is?” Is this excusable in the eyes of God?

Although God doesn't call everyone to sell all of their stuff in the way that we did, all are called to be detached of material things and give generously to those in need. Consider these verses in Scripture:

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” 1 John 3:17

South Sudan

“For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” 1 Timothy 6:7-10

“Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19

These are some quotes taken from the catechism that challenge the American idea that God has blessed us with material wealth for our own use without taking into consideration on how we're supposed to use our wealth:

House in the Philippines

Living the American Dream

“In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world's goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord...” Paragraph 2407

“St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: 'Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs. The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity.” Paragraph 2446

“How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable (Luke 17:19-31), in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay? How can we fail to hear Jesus: 'As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.'” (Mt 25:45)? Paragraph 2463.

India

I think it's safe to say almost every American falls into the consumerist mentality of our society, where we find happiness and pleasure in buying things, even when our houses get filled up with more than we actually need, even when we buy beyond our means. The focus on ourselves and our own wants blinds us to the needs of the poor around us, whether they be in our own city or in a far away country. All people everywhere are our neighbors, as Jesus teaches in the parable of the Good Samaritan. I challenge you today to open up your Bible and read the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30. Ask the Holy Spirit, “What do you want to say to me through this reading?” Is your heart stirred by a certain sentence? Stay there and reflect on it. What do you sense the Lord saying to you, personally?