Luke 12:13-21
A. INTRODUCTION
In a world in which there is a great divide between rich and poor—the haves and the have nots—the extremes of poverty and wealth have, perhaps, never been so great. Of course, it’s always good to have nice things around you, to live in reasonable comfort. But the reality is, the more you have, the more you want. And you only have to compare lifestyles here in Australia with those who live in places like Sudan and Ethiopia to realise how big a gulf there really is.
Of course, it’s OK to want to better yourself, and it’s OK to want to improve your standard of living. However, it’s also important to get riches and wealth into perspective. And that is what this passage from Lukes Gospel is very good at pointing out.
Because, whilst at the heart of Jesus teaching there is no criticism of the idea of wanting nice things, or even about being comfortably off, there’s much he had to say about people’s greed. Where the ownership of nice things, and the accumulation of wealth, has become the central focus of people’s lives.
B. THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL
1. Introduction and Warning (13-15)
And the story begins with Jesus being addressed as ‘Rabbi’, and consequently being asked to act in that capacity to make a judgement on a particular issue. And the issue was that a man wanted his family inheritance sub-divided between himself and his brother, with the aim that he could own his own part of the estate and keep it for himself. Unfortunately for him, the elder brother had refused point blank to be part of sub-dividing the property at all. And that’s why the man was looking for a ‘Rabbi’, an arbitrator who would decide in his favour.
Now, in today’s thinking, we might think ‘so what!’ That’s perfectly normal and understandable. However, in those days it was normal for inherited property to remain intact. It was normal for all the heirs to live on the one property and to share its fortunes. It wasn’t normal to subdivide the property and for members to accumulate property and fortunes so they could keep it all for themselves. But this man was having none of that. And that is why he asked Jesus to help him in his quest.
Unfortunately for him Jesus wouldn’t have anything to do with it either. Apart from the fact that he had no legal standing as a ‘rabbi’, like the elder brother, he also objected to the selfish ambition of the man.
And Jesus, knowing that this kind of behaviour was becoming more and more prevalent, and knowing that people were more and more inclined to try to accumulate wealth and not share their fortunes with others, he not only refused to help but he saw the situation as an opportune time to teach on the limits and dangers of accumulating wealth.
2. The Parable (16-20)
And so Jesus told a parable—a parable about a man who was rich and whose sole concentration was on the selfish accumulation of wealth over all other considerations.
Now, the rich man’s problem was that he had run out of space to hold all his wealth. He believed that wealth was the most valuable thing that he could have. And consequently he needed somewhere to keep it.
And his solution? Well, what he had to do was to tear down all his existing storage facilities and replace them with bigger ones, big enough to hold all his possessions. And with that in mind he carried out his plan.
And after having stored all his possessions safely away and feeling that he was set up for life, only then did he decide he could put his feet up and relax. Because no matter what happened he had accumulated enough resources for himself for his own personal use, and for his own personal use only. He didn’t need to be dependent upon anyone.
And there he laid in the lap of luxury set up for life, believing all his troubles were over, when all of a sudden God stepped in. God told him that by morning he would be dead; that he would need to account for his life to see if he was worthy to be allowed into the comfort of heaven; that all the things that he had accumulated would be of no value to him whatsoever because he couldn’t take them with him; and that all his possessions, that he had so carefully kept for himself, would shortly be taken by others and he wouldn’t have a say in how they would be used..
3. Jesus’s Comment (21)
And, of course, on that note the parable ends. Jesus leaves the story there with the man totally unprepared for what was to come next.
In accumulating riches, the rich man may well have thought that he was setting himself up for life. However, in reality he hadn’t prepared for what came next at all.
His whole life of accumulating wealth had been wasted. And the real wealth—growing rich in a relationship with God—he hadn’t prepared for at all. How foolish could he have been? And is it any wonder, then, that this parable is known as the ‘The Parable of The Rich Fool’?
Because as far as Jesus was concerned life should not be measured in terms of possessions. Rather it should be measured in terms of our relationship with God. And the reason for that, is that it only needs God to take away one’s life to make it apparent that, ultimately, possessions are of no value at all.
C. IMPLICATIONS
Of course the implication of the story, even for us, is that it’s not worldly riches that are important but spiritual riches. We can own all the things in the world and during this lifetime be as comfortably off as we like (and for some of us we might dream of being in that position), however, in the end, a life lived with that sort of focus will be for nothing. Because when we die, and when we’re faced with the reality of having to leave all our possessions behind, we will have nothing at all.
And that raises the question of when God asks us, ‘What have you done with your life’ and ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ How will we respond? And will we be able to call on the real riches—the spiritual riches we have accumulated—whilst we’ve lived in this world.
Of course living in a place like Australia—living in a land of plenty and a land where gaining wealth is encouraged and applauded—doesn’t make our task easy. Regardless of that, it’s important for us to respond to the challenges that Jesus poses.
1. Focal Point on Spiritual Life
Because, firstly, Jesus’s teaching focuses on the need to gain wealth but from a distinctly spiritual perspective. In other words, the focal point of his teaching is that we actually need to pursue wealth, but wealth that will be of value not only throughout this life but also the kind of wealth we can take us when we die.
And that wealth revolves around accepting that we can’t make it on our own, and that we can’t buy our way to heaven; realising that we need to accept, by grace, the salvation which God brings, which he gives so freely; and acknowledging that we need to grow our faith in the here and now, knowing that we will be rewarded (even though we don’t deserve it) when time comes to depart this life.
That is the focal point of where Jesus’s teaching takes us. Not on the accumulation of wealth, or possessions, or power, or anything. Rather on the pursuit of a spiritual relationship with God.
Of course, as we pursue the faith, God may reward us with material things. But getting the priority of order right—God first, riches last—is a very important distinction to make.
The man in the parable had his priorities all wrong. He was selfish, greedy, and was only concerned about what he could get for himself. So much so, that it clouded his judgement to the point where he missed the point of what life was all about. His greed masked the truth. So what we have to do is to make sure that greed, or cultural expectations, don’t get in our way too.
2. Sharing Our Resources
So, if material possessions and gaining wealth do not come first where do possessions fit in? Well, I’m sorry to say they don’t come second either. Because whilst Jesus’s story was primarily concerned about the man getting his priorities wrong and about leaving God totally out of the picture, he was also concerned about his selfish greed and his unwillingness to share.
So the second thing about this story is that it teaches the purpose of worldly worth and possessions. And that is not so that we can accumulate them for ourselves, but rather so that we can share them with others.
The original Hebrew practice of not sub-dividing the inherited estate, reflected God’s notion of the need to care for one another. That people shouldn’t go their separate ways, but that indeed it was the responsibility of every family member to help one other, particularly in times of need.
Of course that practice is in stark contrast to what we do today. After all it’s quite normal in our culture to do that and, as a society, we do that all the time. Sadly, though, by doing so we actually lose something of that biblical concept of caring for one another.
Now, as I said before, there’s actually nothing wrong with owning nice things, and there’s nothing wrong with accepting the things God blesses us with. But the lesson of Jesus is that possessions and wealth are not exclusively for our own use. Rather, the Christian idea is that the ownership of wealth simply equates with the responsibility to share. And the more things that we have, and the more God rewards us with material things, well, that just increases the amount we are required to share too.
3. The Real Place of Possessions and Wealth
So it’s God first, others second. So where does that leave possessions? Well lucky last, I’m afraid. Possessions have no value in themselves, only in how we can use them to help each other. And that’s does not sit well with the popular belief and practices of today.
4. Inheriting Our Property
So, OK we can try to make sure that our spiritual riches comes first, and that our possessions and wealth are used to help people whilst we are alive. But doesn’t this story also have a comment about what happens to our possessions and riches when we die?
In the parable, when God told the man he was about to die he asked the selfish man something like ‘who will get your possessions now?’ A question targeting the utter pointlessness of having one’s focus on accumulating wealth. However, it also raises the question of what would happen to the man’s property when he had gone and had ceased to have any real control over them.
Of course, God’s words, in the story, were designed with the idea that the man would have thrown up his hands in horror at the thought of others being in charge of his accumulated worldly wealth. However, in a more complex age where people are encouraged to make wills and to specify how they wish their estate to be executed, doesn’t the issue of what happens to our possessions and wealth take on a whole new meaning?
After all, we can make sure that the things that we have now are used for God’s purposes whilst we’re alive. But don’t we need to make sure that they continue to be used for God’s purposes after we’ve gone?
Now sometimes we don’t like to think of those sorts of things; we like to think more in terms of living, rather than dying. Nevertheless, we may have just as much responsibility to ensure of the useful distribution of our property after death as we have whilst we are alive.
D. CONCLUSION
This passage from Luke, known as the Parable of the Rich Fool, then, is about a man who apparently had everything. However, in reality he was totally blind to the real wealth he needed—a spiritual relationship with God. And this is a story is particularly relevant, living in a country like Australia, because we live in a culture that encourages and applauds the building up of wealth.
This story, then, is a reminder, a wake-up call if you like, that the kind of riches that anyone should store up for themselves are spiritual riches and not possessions and wealth. And that material possessions only have one use and one use only—and that is for sharing. And frankly, that isn’t an easy lesson for many people to accept.
Jesus’s words were pointed at a growing problem in the first century, and in the twenty-first century, accepting Jesus’s teaching, would mean that many people would have much to lose.
Now, there’s nothing wrong in owning things, there’s nothing wrong with wanting things to look nice. But there’s everything wrong with having that as the central focus of one’s life.
God first, others second, and self and possessions last—that’s the message of this gospel story. Because, ultimately, any person who is not rich in God is in reality very poor. And that’s true no matter how big their bank balance.
Posted: 10th August 2024
© 2024, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
