The word "fool" appears two times in the four gospels. Once in Matthew, where Jesus tells people not to call other people "a fool." And then in the text that I am about to read to you. Why does Jesus call the rich farmer in this parable a fool? Not because money is inherently bad, but because becoming pre-occupied with it can block us from the quality of life that comes by focusing our attention on God.
As we read Luke Chapter 12, verses 13-21.it is important to understand what the audience's understanding of wealth and the use of wealth would have been like in the 1st century. Here we are talking about an agrarian society. In the mind of the people who first heard the beginning of this story, their attitude toward wealth was that it should be shared. Riches posed a problem and a rich man has a difficult, but not impossible task. The purpose of wealth is acts of charity and alms giving. In fact, in the Book of Acts we see that very clearly when people would from time to time sell lands and houses and give to the church and the church would in turn distribute it to the needy. So, in a limited good society, hoarding was frowned upon.
It was condemned because the public need was great. The man's land was richly abundant and he thought to himself, "What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops." Now that's a strange question. Why doesn't he have any place to store his crops? He's rich. He must have huge granaries and barns. An alert listener hearing that text would say, "Now exactly how big was this bumper crop?" How much did it produce for him to say that? One commentator on the parables said that often running through the parables are muted miracles, things we don't pick up very quickly, or right away at first reading. Here's a muted miracle.
An incredible blessing of God. (Another theme of the parable is kind of an all or nothing attitude like the pearl of great price; we sell everything to buy the pearl.) Now this man, instead of adding to his barns, says, "I will tear them down to build larger granaries. And there I will store all my grains and my goods." So the parable really could be renamed from the parable of the rich fool to the parable of the man who mismanaged a miracle. He mismanaged a miraculous blessing of God.
Now Jesus' listeners at this point, before we go any further in the parable, are probably thinking of two Old Testament images.. What story is equated with granaries in the Old Testament? In the end of Genesis, Joseph, builds huge granaries. In Exodus, what's the common story or the primary story of God's feeding God's people? How did God provide food? By the Manna. And in both accounts, there was a time of plenty and a time of want. Because with the manna they said on the Sabbath day, there won't be any so collect double so that you will have enough for two days. The miraculous harvest leads Jesus' hearers to anticipate something. This miracle places demands upon the rich man so that by the end of verse 18, they're expected response is, "Oh, this man's intention is to be like Joseph. He's going to tear down his barns and build bigger ones and be socially responsible and bless the community, for the less fortunate and the needy."
But always in Jesus' parables there is a hook. An unexpected thing. And that comes in verse 19. I am sure to the shock of those who first heard this story. "And I will say to myself," notice how the language shifts. This man takes center stage. It doesn't say that he said to himself, it says "I'll say to myself, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink and be merry." He almost echoes this famous statement from Epicures, a Greek philosopher, "Eat, drink and be merry for..." "for tomorrow we die." He knew it too, but he didn't say it.
Death's inevitability should prompt a very different response. And so verse 19 goes on to paint a picture of a rich man hoarding a miracle of a fantastic blessing from God for his own pleasure. And he refuses to share it. He mismanages a miracle. Is his chief sin greed? No, verse 20 tells us what his chief sin is: It's spiritual stupidity. It's spiritual thickness, because God says to him, "You fool!" Did you know that this is the only parable that Jesus taught where God intervenes? And the reason for that is it that the man has taken center stage, thinking that the spotlight is on him, and the harvest, and his attitude, and the needs of the community, all create an impression that God is standing outside in the wings. And God is going to take center stage and correct what's being done here, and intervene and restore the balance. He says, "You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you, then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Jesus' listeners knew the answer.
The people, for whom they should be prepared, the community in need. This mans chief sin is not greed, it is idolatry. He worshiped the blessings of God, the gifts of God, more than God. He thought he had many years, he had one night. He believed he had many things stored, but he was going to lose the one thing that really mattered. He thought he could ward off the threat of death by his own management, he is dead wrong. In fact, he will die in his sleep. And so Jesus teaches something in a very sober manner to those who would dwell in God's kingdom. That we are to be people who manage God's gifts for the benefit of others, and not just for ourselves. One of the first things to think about when God has blessed us and pours out his blessings upon us is to think "How can I share this blessing with others?" The parable is less about greed and more about the correct use of wealth. The bottom line is "How are you managing God's miracles?"
Even for those of us who would say, "Well I'm not wealthy," we know that when we compare ourselves to the rest of the world, that that's not so. But it's my contention that many times we don't give, not because we are greedy but because we are fearful that if we distribute more than we think we can that we won't have enough. And it's not that we worship the dollar, it's just that we don't worship God enough. And we withhold not because we are greedy, but because we are insecure.
Paul says in an incredibly beautiful passage in 1 Timothy, Chapter 6, (and actually there are a couple of other verses and there is the passage from which the famous verse comes, "for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.") We can see from those verses that it's not wrong to be rich. It isn't sinful to provide to provide for the future. In fact, the scriptures are very clear. Parents ought to lay up for their children. Proverbs says, "A good man leaves an inheritance." What would have happened to Israel if Joseph hadn't had the forethought to store grain in the barns? So, God wants us to enjoy life and its blessings. And it says that God gives us all things richly to enjoy, just as we want our children to enjoy the things that we provide for them. But God does not want us to depend on those things, but upon Him. So again it is worry and insecurity that sometimes freeze our fingers and often causes us to pursue the wrong goals.
One more verse from Luke, Chapter 12 and it's important to read this parable in it's context because Jesus goes on to talk about how we should not worry and to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. In verse 32 of Luke 12 he says, "Do not be afraid, little flock. For your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom." A Middle Eastern sheik could be a shepherd, a father, and a king all at one time. And so, as a believer in Jesus, we are sheep of God's flock, we are children in God's family, and we are citizens of God's kingdom. If this is so, what do we need to fear? When God blesses you and me with good things, with wealth, with other miracles, and with money, make them our servant, not our master. We can keep in mind what St. John Chrysotom, church father of the 4th century in preaching on this text said. He said that "the stomachs of the poor are the safe barns of our wealth
