Sermon for 9/17/2023 16 Pentecost, Proper 19
Sometimes it is amazing how the Scriptures can capture the spirit of humans who have succumbed to the power of greed. Entitlement has to be one of the other most egregious characteristics that exist in human relationships as well. I heard another story that I think captures this a little more. God appeared to this farmer and granted him three wishes, but with the condition that whatever God did for the farmer would be given double to his neighbor. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for a hundred cattle. Immediately he received a hundred cattle and he was overjoyed until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred. So he wished for a hundred acres of land, and again he was filled with joy until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred acres of land. Rather than celebrating God’s goodness, the farmer could not escape feeling jealous and slighted because his neighbor had received more than he. Finally, he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye.