A young man attended a private school in Fort Worth, Texas. He would have graduated last year with the class of 2015. His father’s company averaged $15 million of sales yearly. When the young man was thirteen, he drove his father’s car to school.  The headmaster called his father and asked him to join his son in the head’s office. Obviously, the boy didn’t have a driver’s license. His father’s response was that he didn’t care and he would buy the school outright if the Headmaster disciplined his son.

        Two years later, the city police found the boy in a parked pick-up with a naked fourteen-year-old girl who had passed out. This time the boy was arrested. He was sentenced to probation, a compulsory alcohol awareness class, and twelve hours of community service.

              A year-and-a-half later, something far worse happened. The young man stole two cases of beer from a store, put seven friends in his father’s pickup, sped thirty miles over the speed limit, had an alcohol blood content three times the legal limit, and took Valium at the same time.  You can guess how the story ends. We headmasters are experts of cautionary tales. And since you can guess where this story goes, I hope you would agree with me that there is no question about the stupidity of his actions or his responsibility.

              Here’s what happened.

        On the two lane road ahead of the speeding pickup, a young woman’s SUV had stalled out.  A woman and her daughter who lived in a roadside, Good Samaritans, had come out of their house to help the driver. A young minister in his car had also stopped. The young man in question, drunk and high on Valium, rammed into the stopped SUV and another car behind it on the road. In total, four people were killed.

        You assume I tell you this story so you won’t do the same. Correct. God help us that none of are so idiotic to do this and then have to live with the death of four people on our conscience.

        I also tell the story this morning because the legal defense of this young man in question made international news in 2013. The defense has surfaced again in the last month and is relevant to your current lives. In the court case, a psychologist testified for the defense that the rich young man in question could not be held accountable for his actions. I repeat: not be held accountable for his actions. He wasn’t responsible, the psychologist testified, because he had never been taught to take responsibility. Instead, he was taught he could do what he wants because his wealth bought privilege.

        The lawyer for the defense coined a portmanteau word. He took “affluence,” the possession of great wealth, and “influenza,” a debilitating disease a person has no control over, and made the word “affluenza.” It became known as the “affluenza” defense. The young man was not sent to jail or given the death penalty. He was sentenced to a state-owned mental health rehabilitation center. The sentencing wasn’t effective.  After he was released, he violated his probation in drunken partying and then, with his mother, fled to Mexico, where they were apprehended a few months ago and returned to the US and an array of legal charges against them.

                Affluenza.

        The story is more complicated than I make it, of course. There is a legitimate debate about the effectiveness of prison versus rehabilitation hospitals. There is also parental responsibility for underage behavior. But I tend to go to one fact: four people were killed. Four people should not have died.

        In today’s scripture, and throughout the gospels, Jesus spoke in exactly the opposite way. He equated wealth and talent with greater not less responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required. As for “affluence” Jesus thought it could ruin a life. If he stood here, he would tell us to downsize. And after we got rid of what we didn’t need or gave away all we thought we could, he’d ask us to downsize again. As for responsibility for our actions, Jesus felt great compassion for the poor, the widowed, the lame, and the suffering. He also felt great compassion for the rich but not for their attachment to their wealth. He argued with the Pharisees, the most socially distinguished people in his community; he told the wealthy Nicodemus that his life had to be remade, he told the rich young man to give it all away, and he told Pontius Pilate that the kingdom of the spirit was greater than the entire Roman Empire. He never, however, absolved either the rich or the poor from taking responsibility for their actions.

The Christian message is actually quite simple. Christ does not endorse making excuses, but He does say all of us by our very imperfect nature will do wrong. He asks us to square up and confess we’ve done wrong. Then He promises God’s forgiveness as (emphasis on the word as) we grant forgiveness to those who have wronged us.

        This is what St. Albans professes. Take responsibility. Serve and forgive others. Learn from our mistakes. Be a positive life in this and every community.

        So ponder this final question. Let’s assume that the young man in question stayed in the rehabilitation hospital and didn’t violate the terms of his probation. He is released. What should he do next? What would you do?

        Now go in peace to serve the Lord.