Autumn Leaves 6 by Alasdair Gordon - HTML preview

Parable of the Rich Fool [58]

The Parable of the Rich Fool can be found in Luke 12:13–21. The key to understanding this parable is in verse 15 (and later summarized in verse 21). Luke 12:15 says, “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person’s true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be.”

Jesus says this to the man who asked him to arbitrate between him and his brother. In ancient times, inheritance favoured the firstborn and male who was guaranteed a double portion of the family property. More than likely, the brother who was addressing Jesus was not the firstborn and was asking for an equal share of the inheritance. Jesus refuses to arbitrate in their dispute and gets to the heart of the matter: covetousness – what my granny would have called “the greed of gold.” Jesus warns this person, and all within earshot, that our lives are not to be about gathering wealth. Life is so much more than the things we own.

Jesus proceeds to tell the man the Parable of the Rich Fool. This person was materially blessed by God; his land “bore good crops” (verse 16). As God continued to bless the man, instead of using his increase to further the will of God, all he was interested in was managing his increase and accumulating his growing wealth. So the man builds larger barns in place of the existing ones and starts planning an early retirement. Unbeknown to him, this was his last night on earth. Jesus then closes the story by saying, “This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God’s sight.”

Now let us not get this out of proportion. It is not for us to turn up our noses at God’s material provision. There is nothing wrong with building up a business. Nor is it unspiritual to make wise provision for the future. I paid into various pension schemes throughout my working life so that I would not be a burden on others as I got older. The early Scottish chartists who gathered on Glasgow Green in the earlier part of the nineteenth century were not looking for government handouts or benefit payments, nor were they looking to be rich. They just wanted to take responsibility for themselves and their families and not to have their lives governed and dictated to by other people.

Actually, if you comb through the teachings of Jesus, you find that he speaks about money rather a lot. It is, of course, an important subject. We all need money and there is no point in trying to spiritualise it away. The Bible, and especially the Old Testament, actually commends people who work hard and build up their businesses. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

There is nothing intrinsically evil about money. It can be used to great good and it is not automatically spiritual to be poor. There is no real problem either in people being ambitious, provided (and always provided) this does not rule the person. John Wesley’s advice about money was simple – “Earn all you can, save all you can and give all you can.” It’s hard to fault these values.

Unfortunately, in more recent times some people have become so obsessed with becoming rich beyond the dreams of avarice that they almost brought this country to its knees. When I was a student in Edinburgh, institutions like the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland were considered bastions of propriety that followed the highest moral standards in their dealings. Now, we are all still paying the price of their bankruptcy and our famous Scottish Banks are a laughing stock.

Unfortunately, society does tend to assess people and measure their success by what they’ve got. It does seem to matter what kind of house people live in or what kind of car they drive. But what matters much more – and certainly matters to God - than these outward signs and possessions is what we are in ourselves. That is something that money can never buy.

So the point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is twofold. First, we are not to devote our lives to the gathering and accumulation of wealth. You see it all the time in people who are singularly devoted to the piling up more and more. What happens to all that wealth when they die? It gets left behind to others who didn’t earn it and frequently don’t even appreciate it. Furthermore, if money is your master, it means that God is not.

The second point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is the fact that we are not blessed by God in order to hoard our wealth to ourselves. And there is far more to wealth than money. Our wealth includes our whole person, who we are, what we can do, the wisdom, knowledge and insights that we have gathered along life’s way. Do we share these with others and use them helpfully and widely. Simple question: whether you are a member of a family, a workplace, a circle of friends, a club or a church – does your presence make things better?

Are you a contributor as well as a taker? You all know the film “It’s a wonderful life.” It usually makes an appearance every Christmas! In that film, the hero despairs of life and feels that it’s all been in vain, until he meets his guardian angel who shows him how very different (and how much poorer in every way) his own family and community would have been if he had never been born.

There was once a very rich man in USA who owned what is now called Standard Oil. He was extremely unpopular with his workforce who literally hated him because of his harshness and meanness. In one of the southern states he was actually burned in effigy; he was that unpopular. He spent practically nothing, living in cheap hotel rooms while the money kept rolling in. His health was very poor and although he was only in his early fifties, the New York Times had his obituary already written and ready. Then one day, this man came to himself and he remembered what he had been taught at Sunday School about the parable of the rich fool. He decided he was going to change. He upped the wages and conditions of his work force and started giving large sums of money to good causes. Not only did people’s perceptions of him change but he himself grew much happier and his health almost miraculously improved. He actually lived into his nineties. His name was John D Rockefeller. His family have given away millions of dollars and yet the money keeps rolling in.

Well, we are not all multimillionaires and the widow’s mite is as important in God’s eyes as the large contributions of the rich. Giving of oneself is not only a gift, it is a privilege and everyone has something to contribute. And we may never live to see the results. Christmas seems to be coming on us even earlier this year and already the shops are booming out Christmas carols. One of my favourites is “In the bleak mid winter” It was written by Christina Rossetti and rediscovered by a young, as yet unknown, musician called Gustav Holst who set it to music. So Rossetti’s carol became established even though she had been lying at rest for many years in Highgate Cemetery with the great and good of Victorian London.

What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would play my part. Yet what I can, I give him – give my heart.

Contents of Autumn Leaves 1 - 5

Autumn Leaves 1

Beneath the Cross of Jesus

Consider your Verdict

The Fate of Judas According to Acts 1: 18

The Hope of Israel

Autumn Leaves 2

Saint Mungo – his Life and Legend

Lochore and Ballingry: A Parish History

A Brief History of Erskine Church, Dunfermline

Autumn Leaves 3

Historical Notes on Fintray Parish Church

Dedication of Infants

The Empty Pew (incomplete)

Autumn Leaves 4

Naboth’s Vineyard

Reforming of Borders

The Old Testament as Interpreted by the New

The Old Testament and Christian Ethics

Redeployment of Ministry

Autumn Leaves 5

The Church Today

Get your Harp in Tune

Celebrating 130 Years

Stewardship

Martha and Mary

Feeding the Five Thousand

Who was John the Baptist?

Growing Seed