At that time those seemed extravagant gifts for a young lad. But - translate today into hi-tech toys, computers and computer games and by present spending standards it wasn't much at all!
These days it is possible - so the advertising assures us - to buy presents for the person who "has everything."
On the other side, there are products which are presented as "all you will ever need." We truly want to simplify, yet seem to end up with an old grater, a multi-purpose grater-slicer and a food processor as well. We were persuaded the expensive stackable stainless steel cook set would do it all. Then we heard about folk who cooked everything in a crock-pot. Later we were impressed that cooking in a wok would be tasty, nutritious and would cut down on washing-up. Meanwhile, the microwave had become indispensable!
The problem is by no means limited to the kitchen. I look at my collection of tools - at the "good ideas" I have bought myself or received as presents. The screw-driver with two metal grips to hold the screw until you have it started, the three sets of Allen keys (two of them incomplete, but the third, brand-new, still not having the required size)…
"All you ever need." We are insatiable - never satisfied - and incurable - never learning from experience.
How would you like to be in a situation where you actually had "all you ever need"?
Listen to these words from Psalm 1 -
The Hebrew word for "blessed" ("happy") in this Psalm is ashre and is equivalent to the Greek word, makarios. Weymouth suggested, "People who are blessed may outwardly be much to be pitied, but from the higher and therefore truer standpoint they are to be envied, congratulated, and imitated."
The Psalmist is talking about the truly happy person - not the person who is necessarily full of laughter and joviality all the time.
Probably most of us know the story about the man who went to a doctor in a state of deep depression. The doctor listened to his story and finally said, "I know just the thing for you. There's a circus in town at the moment. If you go to that circus, there is a clown who is just so funny that you will split your sides laughing and forget all your worries." "Doctor," the man said, "I am that clown!" The laughter was only on the surface. Beneath the jovial exterior was a very sad man.
The psalmist is writing about the "root" of real happiness - the theme of v. 3 is expanded by Jeremiah, "He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jer. 17.8).
The psalmist states where we won't find true happiness - it isn't found in the advice of evil people, the example of sinners or the company those who have no use for God, as the Good News Bible puts it. On the other hand, the truly happy have learnt to trust God, to reflect long and deeply on his Word and to obey his law. These are the ones who have staying power in the hard times.
We all will face hard times some time or another in our lives. That is when the quality of our life is tested - and the roots of our happiness.
Of course, as human beings, we need many different things to survive in this world. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights covers many aspects, yet article 25 (1) deals with some of the basics: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
Food, clothing, shelter, health… all are basic to our human living, yet, individually and collectively, they do not form the centre-point of our living.
Jesus cared for the poor and needy. He fed the five thousand. His power went out to heal the sick who came from all over Judaea and Jerusalem and Tyre and Sidon "to hear him and to be healed of their diseases." Yet Jesus didn't come to earth as the great "need-meeter" from heaven. Elsewhere he made it quite clear that they were not to spend their time worrying about food and clothing - God already knows your need for those things. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Mt. 6.33; cf. Lk. 12.31).
The Kingdom of God - knowing God, trusting God, worshipping God, loving God, obeying God - this is "all we ever need". Our other needs are real but secondary. They shouldn't fill all our thinking and activity.
The second part of today's reading is the beginning of what is called the "Sermon on the Plain". It was a different occasion from the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) and similar teaching sometimes comes over in Luke with a different emphasis.
Whereas the "beatitudes" in Mt. 5 speak about people's spiritual condition, Jesus is here addressing directly the practical physical needs of the people around him. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man" (vv. 20-22).
Specifically, Jesus is "looking at his disciples". Poverty, hunger, sadness, rejection… hardly a recipe for happiness. But the secret is "because of the Son of Man". They belong to the Kingdom because they belong to the King. The Kingdom is already theirs. Their present experience is hunger and weeping, but they surely "will be satisfied" and "will laugh".
On the other hand, Jesus addresses others who would also think of themselves as "disciples" - "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets" (vv. 24-26).
The rich, the full, the laughing, the popular… are they really trusting in Jesus? Do they feel any need to trust in Jesus? Jesus wasn't making a virtue of poverty, hunger, sadness… He wasn't expressing a preference for the marginalised, as liberation theology would have us believe. Three of the gospels (Matthew, Mark and John) all have Jesus saying, "The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me" (Mt. 26.11; Mk 14.7; Jn 12.8).
Those who have, need to exercise their responsibility towards those who have not. Yet the redistribution of wealth is not to be the basic and central passion of our life. The question once again is, what is our response to Jesus? are we seeking to trust him and obey him?
Don't seek ease and popularity. Allow God to be the centre-point of your life. Trust Jesus as the one who has brought you forgiveness of your sins. Acknowledge him as your Lord and live that out in practical ways day by day. In him you will find "all you ever need".
As Psalm 23 begins in the Good News Bible, "The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need."
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