READING: Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 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. Take life easy; 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.”
SERMON
An atheist was sitting under a tree one day smugly thinking: “God, I know you don’t exist but if you do exist you must be really stupid. Look at this huge oak tree. It’s got a little acorn on it. And look at this huge marrow carried by such a puny marrow plant. Now, if I had been you, I’d have created the oak tree to carry the marrow and the marrow plant to carry the acorn.
While he was reflecting on his wisdom, suddenly an acorn fell and hit him on the head. “Thank God that wasn’t a marrow!” he exclaimed.
So you see our thoughts are not God’s thoughts.
So it is with the man in the Parable of the Rich Fool in the Gospel reading we have just heard or should the parable be more appropriately entitled: Shrouds don’t have pockets!
Let us look at the three elements to the story…
- The abundant crop.
- The rich man’s attitude and
- God’s condemnation of that attitude.
1. The abundant crop: This parable would have been quite shocking to the 1st Century Jew. Because he would have equated a good crop with God’s blessing. Wealth was seen as a gift from God.
We can see this idea – for example reflected in the book of Job. When Job has successfully gone through all the tests Satan put before him, and has stayed true to God – he is blessed with wealth (see Job 42:10 onwards).
So when God in this parable says “You fool” – it must have really jarred the ears of Jesus’ hearers. What could the man have done to lose God’s blessing? I think the key is to be found in the rich man’s attitude.
2. The rich man’s attitude: In the parable, Jesus reveals the rich man’s thinking. His motivation was purely selfish – he was out to have a good time. The Rich Fool says: “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Eat drink and be merry”.
The whole focus of his life was greed. The man thinks he has many days of ease ahead of him, when God says to him: “You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
A very sober question. Shrouds don’t have pockets. “So it will be” says Jesus “for anyone who stores up things for himself – but is not rich before God.” v.21
Death for sure is the one great leveller in our society. Rich and poor alike will die one day.
Psalm 49 16 puts it well: “So don’t be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune. They can’t take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they have arrived and folk praise them because they have made good, they enter the family burial plot where they’ll never see sunshine again”
A man was thinking about this parable of the Rich Fool when he was considering whether or not to go into the ministry.
He was a sales agent at the time and he asked himself a question: “When the last sale that I have completed is done, what will I have to show for my life? A good pension – but what have I achieved on the eternal scale? Yet if one person commits their life to the Lord through my responding to the call to the ministry – that is something eternal.”
He thought about this parable again later year. His brother had bought a wonderful house two years earlier and was looking forward to enjoying it. Yet at the age of 38, he died suddenly of a heart attack. And as he looked at his brother’s name on the crematorium board at 4 pm on Tuesday 30th January, he wondered what his brother had to show for his life here on earth?
3. God’s condemnation: You might easily be tempted to think that this parable means that Jesus taught that wealth is evil. I don’t think it does.
Wealth – money is in itself neutral. There is nothing wrong with having wealth. We all store up things for a rainy day.
What is Jesus condemning then? He is condemning our attitude to what God has given us. Jesus condemns those who are not rich in God’s sight in other words those who live for themselves and not for God.
Our wealth is a gift from God and we are to use it wisely.
The Rich Fool in the parable had enough and wanted to hoard more – instead of sharing his good fortune with others. It is interesting to note that he did nothing to improve his lifestyle let alone the lifestyle of those around him with his extra wealth.
It is clear that money – wealth – was his god.
Jesus said in Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money.
Paul said that it is “the love of money that is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10).
Note the love of money not money itself.
The Great Evangelical Revival of the 18th and 19th centuries was able to take root because of those who used their wealth to promote the Kingdom of God.
A John Thornton, for example was one of the richest men in England. He prayed about how God would have him use his wealth and he responded to God – by sponsoring people to preach the Gospel. He used his wealth wisely.
In conclusion I believe that the challenge of the parable is a challenge to review our attitudes.
How do we use the blessings God has given us – and I am not just thinking of wealth. It could be any of the abilities God has given us, like cooking, playing a musical instrument, being a handyman. Or even simply giving our time in visiting those who are in need.
Do I see what God has given me as mine or as something God has entrusted to me.
God’s blessings are like an egg in your hand – squeeze it tightly and you will have yolk all over you.
Let it lie gently in your hand. Ask God how you should use it and respond to God’s leading. Then I believe, you will find yourself “rich before God too.” Amen
PRAYERS
God of mercy and grace, nothing is hidden from you. You know that our lives are often not as they seem on the surface and that underneath there is to be found lots of complexity and compromise where we struggle with the mess and battle with our demons of anxiety. In fact our lives are often deep in the weeds and we stumble our way through as best we can. Lord, bless this mess, and assure us that what matters is good intent and not just a happy shiny surface. And that what matters above all is your love for us and your belief in us.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer
God of mercy and grace, the society we live in is messy too. We don’t know how to deal with the perennial problems of growing inequality, social care for the elderly, overcrowded prisons, an underachieving poorly funded educational system who are already under huge demands to catch up educating our children, a truly wonderful NHS running on empty but with committed staff. Recall us, Lord, to fundamental values, to a love of God and neighbour. Remind us that “in quietness and in trust in you we shall find our strength’, not in noisy empty filled promises made by others. Draw us into a deeper unity of purpose across our troubled social landscape.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer
God of mercy and grace, our whole world should be declared unsafe. The threats to human flourishing multiply with the random brutality of terrorism, the warnings of climate catastrophe, the misery of refugees, the threat of cyber attacks and the growth of the nuclear ambition of rogue states. Help us Lord to hold out a clearer vision of a world living in conformity with the values of your kingdom and which offers human dignity, a political and cultural system which cares for the equal worth and care of all, both rich and poor. Keep offering us the vision that politicians and institutions will work for the same equality.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer
God of mercy and grace, we recognise that the mess and storms of our world starts in the corkscrew of the human heart, our heart, and we alone are responsible for what happens there. Give is grace to clean out the dark corners and restore a sense of order and purpose. We know that this side of death we will always live with a degree of mess, but we ask for your continuing blessing as we attempt to love both our neighbours and ourselves, despite the problems and mess. Bless us as we offer you now the week ahead.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
And so we bind our prayers together in the words that Jesus taught his disciples…
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen
Revd Kevin. Priest at St.Wilfrid and St.Thomas
