Purses. I do not understand the big deal with them. I can hardly tell you the difference between Kate Spade, Coach, Dolce and Gabbana, or any of the others. All I know is cost. Those are some of the expensive brands of purses. Maybe the guys here are with me in their understanding of these things. But I do not understand the importance of these purses- I understand the functionality, but not the importance.
Recently, I updated my wallet because I wanted one that made sure that the cards with the new chip feature could not be captured- those chips have all of your information. So my new wallet blocks the RFID technology from getting to my info. To me that makes sense, it is black, and holds the basic things that I need to be held.
But purses, I’ll leave that one to the ladies.
Jesus must have known something about purses that we would need to understand. He says that we need purses that will not wear out. Wouldn’t that be great? Since I have been married, I have had three wallets. One of them completely wore out, and I replaced the last one with the one I have now.
But what Jesus is talking about is something that does not wear out, it can’t. Jesus is talking about heavenly treasures that are contained in the purses we call faith. In these purses, we have an unfailing heavenly treasure that never wears out. It can’t wear out because it is signed, sealed, and delivered to us by God himself, Jesus, who delivers to us the good gifts.
Why do we need to be reminded of these good heavenly treasures as often as we can? Because we so easily forget. We forget not out of desire to do so, but out of habit that causes us to get caught up in being worried, consumed, frustrated, and so on with the things of this world. We can get so angry with watching your favorite team perform so poorly. We can get so angry and upset over our politicians, like those striving for becoming our next president, with the things that they say. We can get so angry because we feel like we are losing control or we have lost our country or that there simply isn’t enough of something to meet our demands. (money, food, data…)
It is out of this habit, that gets us caught up with the cares of this world, we fall into the trap of sin. We sin when we care more about this world, than the world that is to come. We sin when we are more concerned with ourselves than our neighbor, even when that neighbor is our children, spouse, or parents. We have bowed down to the desires of this world and have decided that when things are culturally acceptable, the church needs to follow suit.
What Jesus says and what the church believes are only good enough when we feel that our needs are being met. Instead of calling a sin a sin, we have decided, culturally, “to each his own,” instead of being concerned about one’s salvation. We sin when we don’t love our neighbor and point them to the good gifts of God.
What we treasure points to what is in our hearts. It’s not to say that you cannot have a nice purse, healthy finances, or a nice home. But when that becomes our existence, it becomes our treasure, which points to who our God is.
In preparation for this sermon, a quote came in my mind, numerous times, as I read “Sell your possessions and give alms; make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, unfailing treasure in the heavens, there thief does not come near nor moth destroy; for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.” Let me give you a little background to this quote before I say it. First off, I love super hero movies. And between the two rival comic book companies, Marvel and DC, I have a character that I like from each of those companies. From Marvel, I enjoy Captain America. From DC, I enjoy Batman. I remember seeing my first Batman movie in 1989 when that movie came out. That being said, there’s a scene where the Joker is having a parade for Gotham’s anniversary, and in the middle of the celebrating, Jack Nicholson’s Joker says, “And now, folks, it’s time for “Who do you trust!” Hubba, hubba, hubba! Money, money, money! Who do you trust? Me? I’m giving away free money. And where is the Batman? He’s at home, washing his tights!”
Who do you trust? The devil who will entice you at any moment with free money? Or Christ, who says that the Father will provide adequate earthly treasure to sustain our journey from earth to heaven? As Batman saved the people of Gotham from the evil gas that the Joker was spewing upon the city, Jesus saves the people of the world from the evil that is spewed upon the world in the form of loving of money.
Take a look into your soul, whom or what do you trust? If you see that you’ve been clinging to your abundance- repent! Not only repent, but cling to the words of Jesus, as He says “But rather, seek His kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, because your Father graciously willed to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:31-32) These are precious words that help us in this world to know that He loves us and desires to give us what we need, as we need it. Further, it reminds us of those heavenly treasures: Christ and His gifts.
Christ is the treasure that does not fade, does not end, and is ever abundant. If you have ever wondered how to be rich towards God, it is nothing more than to be a recipient of Christ and His gifts. What Jesus does is simply amazing- He gives without end for our benefit. These purses of faith that He gives us, He fills up and overflows them with His gifts. Gifts that He gives us are in catechesis or teaching, when we learn from the Scriptures, we are being built up in the faith. Baptism and absolution received in worship help us to be pointed back to the water and the Word bringing faith into our ears and resting on our hearts. The Lord’s Supper points us back to God’s greatest gift of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, where He gives His body for us and He gives his blood for the forgiveness of sins.
Like I said at the beginning, I understand the functionality of a purse- it holds stuff. Sometimes the contents are for you, a family member, or even a complete stranger. The same is true for our purses of faith- sometimes you need the grace that you receive, at times peace is needed for a family member, and you might come across a stranger who needs the mercy of God. Our purses of faith always point to Jesus. May He fill us up with what we need to be rich towards God and in love towards our neighbor. Amen.