I've commented twice that you are lucky this summer--hearing on these summer Sundays some of the best, most-beloved Scriptural readings of the year. Well, that seems not so today. These are difficult lessons, seeming perhaps even harsh. Jesus speaks a bit coldly perhaps to the young man, and gives a stern warning, and then the First Lesson declares that it is all pointless, and vain. But first impressions, the old cliché warns us, are deceiving, and so it is, I think, today. Jesus's comments are not a chilling look at the final disposition of the greedy--that is the point of the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Jesus is not saying that unless we choose him first, we will suffer miserably. He is saying, very directly, what we know ourselves to be true. Choose what is really, genuinely valuable, really worthwhile in life. Spend your time on things that matter, not on things that really don't. All secular wisdom has now caught up with Jesus' 2000 year old warning. We hear from all sources to beware and avoid that sadness of working so hard for great success that we miss our kids growing up, miss out on all the good and wonderful and ultimately more rewarding, more abundant, things in our lives. We ourselves wonder, probably, before we even think of Jesus' warning, we wonder and worry, "Is my life worthwhile, am I pursuing what I really want and enjoy and that bring me and those I love genuine happiness, real riches, abundant life?" Our Lord is not here in this passage demanding we agree that real contentment, real satisfaction, only comes from self-denial, self-sacrifice, constant and unending service to others, ignoring self. That is some weird self- loathing that has no place in Christ's words of grace and hope and healing. We are to enjoy things. True, his sad sorrow at the near-sighted commitment to simply, and only, eat, drink and be merry, taking your ease, is not a call, not even an invitation, to a self-deprivation so strict we end up disheartened. He knows we need to eat and drink -- he made bread and fish for thousands for no better reason than that they had sat and listened to him and were now hungry, and wanted dinner. He makes wine when wedding receptions run out of it too soon. He enjoys life, so enjoys it, that the Pharisees, the real kill-joys, accuse of him of being a drunkard and a glutton. I have no greater insight here than the obvious one you don't need to hear 'cause you already know it: Keep all things in perspective. This is a question of priorities, choosing wisely and well among the things you enjoy and not getting caught up in the pursuit of pleasure before all else. But yes, pleasures are good, they are to be enjoyed, we hope for, and are intended to choose, pleasures that really deliver, that in the end genuinely satisfy us and our families and friends. Ecclesiastes has great personal insight here that is heart-felt and searingly honest. He has himself chosen that route. He does not condemn that choice out of jealousy or envy, he has done it all magnificently. He has acquired it all, won all the toys. And he sadly finds and ever more poignantly notes that, in the end, it is all vain -- the trappings, the incidentals, the side-issues, the less important, the inconsequential, the worthless -- it is all a vanity, a chasing after the wind. Jesus is not criticizing the young man for showing understandable concern about his inheritance. But think of it: This young man is face to face with Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. What would you do, what would I do, with such a chance, such a gift, such an opportunity, his moment with the Messiah? The young man decides to ask Jesus to get involved in a greedy family squabble, and on the young man's behalf. Even being the sinner that I am, if I stood before the Savior, the Messiah, not in prayer, but in the flesh, what would I do with such a chance, such a moment? "Oh, thanks heavens I have met you in person, Lord -- please make my brother share Mom's life insurance policy pay-out more generously with me -- OK?" And Jesus says, as Jesus should: "You are wasting a very precious moment, you are wasting your time." And Jesus implies, as Jesus should, "and you are wasting mine." There is, as there should be, a note of disappointed impatience in Jesus' reply, but even then does not say: "Woe to you who think ...", but simply "Take heed, for a man's life, his happiness, his sense of meaning, does not consist of his possessions. Why would you think I should serve as the adjudicator of your parent's estate? Be less concerned with that, be far less concerned with that, and be concerned (which the young man seems not to be) with the inheritance that really counts, the things we all really need and that will bring real happiness, real riches, abundance of life. And what is this abundance of life we will find if we seek it, and do not choose to follow dead-end leads and silly short-term goals that cheat us out of the real joy and happiness and yes, the riches, the abundant life? There is the list in Colossians, in that Epistle of St. Paul's today: His advice to the Colossians and to us: Spend your time and your effort on living peaceably with all, content, happy, grateful, and appropriately satisfied -- showing compassion, kindness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and above all love, love, which provides for and enables us all to live together in harmony -- this is the abundant life, this is the life that is rich toward God, that is lived out laboring for the bread which shall endure, for the goals worth pursuing, for that way to spend, rather than waste, our time and effort, and our chance to be with Christ and to ask his help and support in the things that really matter. That, and only that. The rest, wisely, sadly notes Ecclesiastes, is just plain vain, and a striving ... after wind.