The Industrialist and the Fisherman

Some of you may have heard the story of the rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. "Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked.

"Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman.

"Why don't you catch more fish than you need?' the rich man asked.

"What would I do with them?"

"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me."

The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?"

"You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist.

The fisherman said, "What do you think I'm doing right now?"

A Thorny Question

Today the scriptures force us once again to look at this thorny question of our possessions. Of the four gospel writers, Luke is the one who seems to have taken it upon himself to put forth Jesus' teachings about the subject of our possessions. He relates many teachings and actions of Jesus, which challenge us to form a proper attitude to the things we own.

It's important to remember that Luke did not say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." That was Matthew's line. Luke said, "Blessed are the poor." Period. And that's where our problems begin. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is pronouncing blessed those who have a hunger and thirst for God and for the things of God such as righteousness, peace, meekness, justice.

On the other hand, Luke is saying that Jesus is pronouncing blessed those who don't have many possessions. He also includes those who are hungry, weeping and hated by others. All of these people are not automatically blessed because of their circumstances. That wouldn't make much sense, would it? If that were the case, all we would have to do to advance spiritually is to give everything away, starve ourselves, be miserable and make sure that nobody likes us.

Circumstances Don't Make Us Holy

We've probably all met people who are poor but who are just as greedy as people who are rich. Being poor or rich is not what it is all about. When our poverty leads to God, then we are blessed. When our riches lead us away from God, then we are cursed. St. Francis of Assisi left his comfortable and rather well off life because he felt called to live more in direct dependence upon God. For Francis, riches were a hindrance to the kind of relationship with God that he so longed for.

In the church we have a very long tradition of men and women leaving their home and possessions and joining a community in which they take a vow of poverty. Through that vow, they give up their right to any personal possessions. The purpose of this vow is to give men and women the freedom to serve God and others with a generous heart.

Our Own Vows of Poverty

In some way, we all need to have a vow of poverty. Naturally I don't mean that we should empty out our bank accounts, sell our homes, furniture, cars and all of those things we own, and then give all of that money to the poor. Then we would have to go out begging. But from whom would we beg if everyone else also gave away all of their possessions? No, I don't think this plan would work.

But we do definitely have to release ourselves from everything that restricts our freedom to follow Christ with our whole hearts. That much is clear. Often it takes huge amounts of personal honesty to recognize those things that have a stranglehold on our freedom. I hope it comes as no surprise that there is a natural reluctance in ourselves to admit that material things sometimes have a higher place in our lives than loving God and one another. That's where the problem often lies. We just don't see what, at times, is obvious to others.