Affluence, Anxiety, and Depression - The Rich Fool

​Sunday December 5Sermon by Fr Nicholas Karipoff
Luke 12: 16 – 21 The Parable of the Rich Fool
 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s parable of the rich man with an abundant harvest, the Lord introduces a note of caution:  take heed and beware of covetousness and greed.  Our life is not about the abundance of things we possess; rather it has been said that what we possess really possesses us. Adam, tempted at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, became a possessor and a consumer. He was easily enslaved by the tempter, and this led to him having a deluded view about life.  Adam, and with him the whole human race, became delusional about the reality of life.
 
Now let’s think about Australia. Per capita, Australia is the richest country in the world.  It has a small population and is very rich in resources.  For over 70 years we have had no major wars, and no political or economic problems.  As I’ve been saying lately, we’ve had it too good for too long. When Covid began early last year, our Premier Dan Andrews said that life will never be the same as before.  He knows what he’s talking about… our life could become more and more regulated as it has been over the last two years, or it could go the other way with a breakdown in politics and economics leading to a more chaotic situation.   Either way, most of us will become poorer. 
 
Is that all bad? Well, let me quote somebody else.  And this person is not exactly a friend of God – Lenin.  He wrote that the worse it is, the better it is.  Let’s think about those words from a Christian point of view. God is love. He allows crises because crises are a dose of hell here on earth. He allows them to happen. They enable us human beings to think and realise, as Christ says, that life is not about possession. When we become possessed by materialism, we create our own hell. It’s not a secret for you that during the last decades, anxiety and depression have been on the rise in the affluent world. We have an abundance of everything - eat , drink and be merry,  just like this rich man in the parable.  And yet anxiety and depression are on the rise, in the midst of our affluence.  There is only one way out.  Know the truth and the truth will make you free. 
 
Like Pontius Pilate, the secular world throughout the ages has shrugged their shoulders and said, what is truth?  We Christians know that Jesus Christ is the Truth. So let us get to know Him.  Let us get to know Him properly.  Establish a relationship with Him.  Turn to Him in prayer.  As St Paul says, “be joyful always, pray without ceasing and thank God for everything.”  And you won’t get depressed.  You won’t be anxious.  He, Jesus Christ, will then free us from all fear, all anxiety, and all depression.  He will fill our life with real meaning that comes from the divine gift of life which is love.   Amen.