Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied…And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Relax; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
– Luke 12:13-21
In this passage, Jesus is preaching to a crowd thousands of people, and the theme of his sermon seems to be about fearless faith in God. Just then, a man jumps up from the massive crowd to ask Jesus to settle a family dispute about money. This guy must have had some moxie to address Jesus like this in front of thousands of people.
Now the sermon is off the rails as this man seems to have hijacked the topic. Jesus chooses to address this man’s concerns about his inheritance. During this time, it was customary for the older son to receive two-thirds of the father’s estate and one-third would go to the younger son, so this man felt slighted by his brother after the death of his father.
I wonder if the man went to hear Jesus preach that day specifically to ask him about his brother. I wonder if he was even listening at all to Jesus sermon about courage and faith and the Holy Spirit. Maybe he was just waiting for a gap in the sermon to jump in. I wonder what his finical saturation will be if his brother never gives him part of the estate. I mean, more literally, did he really need the money? Or did he really want the money? Or was he still overwhelmed with grief?
The death of a loved one is always a challenging thing. Especially, when that loved one has an estate that needs to be distributed. It is immeasurable frustrating to have to deal with the legal ramifications and logistics of the deceased while simultaneously experiencing grief and trying to mourn the loss of a life. I wish I could say that it always brings out the best in people. But if we’re honest with ourselves, sometimes grief and greed can sometimes get mixed up. To the foolish man’s credit. Maybe he was just mixed up.
When this passage is presented in Matthew’s Gospel, it is a part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ speaks to the crowed in a beautiful, uninterrupted monologue. Although there are numerous sermon illustrations and metaphors, the presence of any parables is conspicuously absent.
This changes the tone of the passage considerably. Whereas the sermon in Matthew might be construed as an exhortation to those without means to trust in God, Luke’s account seems to function as a warning to those with means. To those individuals living comfortably and with excess. To people like first world Americans.
Regardless, Jesus addresses this foolish man by means of a parable. This parable is not flattering towards the main character who is simply dubbed The Rich Man. When The Rich Man is blessed by God with an abundance of resources, he decides to hoard his blessing and wealth.
To be sure, there is a difference in saving and hording. The way we know this is an example of hording is that he tears down his existing barns only to build new one. Now he can sit on his crop allowing him to wait for a price increase before selling.
“All that’s left is to relax, eat, drink, be merry,” he says. This was likely a common phrase at the time and appears a few times in the Bible. One ironic reference from Isaiah 22:13 which reads ““Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This is ironic of course because in the parable the next day The Rich Man will die.
The Rich Man’s identity is so tied to his possessions, status, and/or achievements he can easily become a caricature which we point to and mock rather than allow to be a point of self-examination. I wonder if The Foolish Man who address Jesus that day took the time to examine his motives. I wonder if he was able to separate his grief from his greed. I wonder if he ever got his inheritance. But most of all, I hope the Foolish Man traded his grief and greed for the riches of God. And I hope that I am able to do the same.
Kena Hawkins Newkirk 