Kingdom Come Week Four: The Rich Fool
Luke 12:13-21
Measurement. There are lots of things to measure. We measure so we can tell if there is more. More is good. More means growth. More is bigger. More is better. We measure a child’s height, sports statistics, social media friends and followers, grade point averages, market share, 401K funds. More is better. Well, not always. More people unemployed, more coronavirus cases, more cancer cells are not better. And More is never enough. It’s rumored someone asked John D Rockefeller, the richest person in American history, how much money is enough. He replied, “Just a little bit more.” Chasing More is a never ending race. We sacrifice our loved ones for More. We put More in the driver’s seat. We place More on the throne. Maybe that’s why they call this thing a Ruler.
A person in the crowd tries to entangle Jesus in a family fight for More. “Rabbi, make my brother divide the inheritance with me. Enforce my will on my brother.” Jesus refuses. "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” Don’t we call Jesus the Supreme Judge? Yes. But He came to reconcile and restore not divide and conquer. Jesus has no desire to further divide an already fractured family – especially not for more money.
This family feud gives Jesus the opportunity to teach us the true measurement of life – what really matters…and what doesn’t. He begins with a warning. “Watch out! Be on your guard against every kind of insatiable desire. For life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possession.” Desire must never be in the driver’s seat. It is never satisfied. It will drive you off the edge into a bottomless pit. More stuff is never the measuring stick for the meaning of life.
To make his point, Jesus tells a story about a rich farmer who suddenly gets richer. God blesses him with a bumper crop. This surplus actually causes a crisis. His puny barns have no room to store the grain which will serve as seed for future harvests. Then he hits on a solution.
This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to my soul, “Soul, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”
This sounds like a solid business plan. Capital expansion, strategic savings, good return on investment, well-funded retirement. You can almost picture him on the cover of the Wailing Wall Street Journal. Everyone probably praises or envies him.
God also has something to say about this man. He calls him a four lettered word: Fool! He doesn’t call him evil. He’s just dumb, thoughtless, brainless. Where did the rich man go wrong? Did you notice how self-centered he is? He speaks of my grain, my goods, my barns and my soul. Did you notice how alone he is? There is no one else in the picture. His hunger for more drives everyone away. The surplus crop is really a gift from God. He can store it in the mouths of hungry people but he keeps it all to himself. What he fails to figure into his plan is the sudden end of his life. When God says, “This very night your life will be demanded of you” the words mean, ‘Your life is a loan and now it has come due.” He thinks he is an owner when in fact he is a loaner. He really owns nothing, not even his soul. Jesus says: “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not gathering riches for God.” The true measure
of life is not how much you get but how much you give, not what you possess but what you pass on, not your earthly riches but your earthly relationships.
One day, each of us will have the loan of life come due. In your time of discussion, consider these questions: How have your values and desires changed over time? When have you seen money and things cause rifts in relationships? Why is it dumb to let desire be in the driver seat? What legacy do you hope to leave behind? What do you need to change to become more of a giver and doer for others. After all that is the Golden rule.