THE FOOLISH RICH MAN

As Jesus travels to Jerusalem, someone asks Him to adjudicate between the man and his brother over the division of an inheritance.

Jesus responds to the request with a warning: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

After the warning, Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who collects such a great harvest that he tears down his barns and builds larger ones.  After storing the abundance, he says to himself, “rest, eat, drink and be merry!”  This wise preparation for  the future is considered foolish in God’s eyes, for the man will die that night.

The point of the story is that the man stored up “treasures for himself,” but is “not rich in what matters to God.”  What does it mean for this farmer not to be “rich toward God?” His self-centered life is a failure in terms of the values of the Kingdom of God.  Where are the love of neighbor and the seeking of mercy we hear of so often in the message of Jesus.

The rich man’s mistake is that he places his trust in his possessions instead of in God.  Jesus shows us that the most important thing in life is our relationship to God not material wealth.

In this parable we see the pointlessness of greed.  Possessions, even an abundance of possessions, cannot give us security; they can only give us an illusion of security.  And that illusion can distract us from the true source of security – God’s care for us.  The folly of the rich farmer lay not in having full barns, but in his believing that his full barns were all he needed.

To trust for the future in anything but God and His will is a mistake.  Only God holds the future in His hands.  But because He holds the future, it is secure for His  people, for he is all powerful and His love certain.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell