Trivia Time! What did Jesus teach about the most, as recorded in the four gospels? The Kingdom of Heaven.
What was next on his list of most frequent teachings? How to handle your money.
And Luke apparently, more than the other 3 gospel writers, according to one commentator I read[1], “…has the most to say about wealth and poverty. He chooses his material and organizes it in such a way that his audience would understand that how you handle your money has everything to do with following Jesus.”[2]
This commentator’s theory is that Luke is the evangelist who was “almost certainly” writing to the rich. He makes a persuasive argument. The opening words of his gospel as well as in his second book – the Book of Acts--are addressed to “the most excellent Theophilus”—likely some kind of Roman official or person of social standing, probably a convert to Christianity. This commentator presumes, that as a physician, Luke was probably financially well-off and well connected. He concludes that: “Luke was not a poor man writing to poor people that together they might denounce the rich. It’s much closer to the truth to say Luke was a rich man writing to another rich man (and people like him) in order to show how the rich could truly follow Jesus.” [3]
It’s an interesting supposition. Another commentator notes that Luke’s entire gospel has a theme – “appropriate stewardship of one’s possessions.” [4]And our gospel story for today fits this suggestion to a T!
So, according to Luke, Jesus is teaching the crowds that followed him by the thousands. One of the by-standers in the crowd wants Jesus to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance with him more fairly. Now, to help you understand just what this fellow was asking Jesus for, the Jewish inheritance rules of the time dictated that the eldest brother received 2/3’s and the younger the remaining 1/3. So, presumably, this is the younger brother who feels he’s not getting his share.[5] And Jesus, wisely, refuses to get caught in the middle of that family dispute, instead using this request to segue into a teaching moment. He tells the crowd to be on guard against being caught up in greed, that ‘life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” (v. 15 in The Message) Jesus does what he does so well—tells a parable, a story that uses extreme examples so as to make the point. There’s a rich farmer whose crops have done so well that he has to tear down his storage facilities and build bigger ones to house all the produce, and now he’s so financially secure he can retire, and he plans to live on the proceeds of the bumper crops. This fellow is quite pleased with himself and what he’s accumulated –and tells himself “Now I can relax, eat, drink and be merry”—live the good life, we would say!
And so, what’s wrong with that, you might ask? He worked for it, he had a good year, he got a little bit lucky, so who can blame him? This is the dream we all hope for, isn’t it? It makes perfect sense to bank when you have extra and save for the future! Besides, in times of good cropping years it is necessary to store the overage so that there is enough for the bad cropping years. Recall the story of Joseph and the dreams he had about the seven good years and the seven lean years, and how storing in the good years saved Egypt and even his own family from starvation! It makes sense to put a little something away for a rainy day. And nowhere in the bible does it say it’s wrong to be merry--to have fun. In Isaiah 22.13 we read: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”; in Ecclesiastes 3.13 “it is Gods’ gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.” Jesus even went to feasts and drank wine. Nor does the bible say that it’s wrong to be rich. It was rich people who helped and supported Jesus and the disciples, establishing the beginnings of the early church.
So what’s the issue then?
Well, let’s take a little closer look at how this rich man views this wealth. Firstly, he’s already rich, Jesus tells us. This is no subsistence farmer, eking out a hard scrabble existence off the small family farm. This fellow clearly is already a large-scale landowner, owning multiple properties, with multiple buildings. And an interesting point of consideration from another biblical commentator: according to “.. the prevailing theological perspective of the day, this rare bumper crop would have been regarded as a generous blessing from God.”[6]
And let’s review how this landowner-farmer views his relationship to this blessing: SLIDE ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops? I will do this, I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, then I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat drink and be merry.’[vv.17b-19]
Now, there is no other parable in the bible so full of the words ‘I, my or mine.’ [7]11 times in 2 ½ verses. This rich man’s accumulated wealth, his desire to hold onto it and use it for himself, exclusively -- to live ‘the good life’-- has truly changed his very being, his core self, his soul. What he has amassed has become his sole purpose of being. The man’s wealth completely took him over; nothing besides his own needs and wants even enters into his thinking.
He had so much more than he could every use, and at no time does the basic premise of faithful stewardship enter his thinking, giving thanks to God by sharing of what God has given, considering the needs of others, loving your neighbor as yourself. No appreciation or sharing here of any kind. Not even the thought of tithing, which was the expected practice, enters his thinking—not even a measly 1%, never mind the biblical expectation of 10%.
Not only is this an example of greed to the extreme, but this man’s self worth is totally wrapped up in his accumulated possessions. It was all about him and what he had! As his barns filled and got bigger, so did his ego – and he lost the true value of what he had accumulated—God never enters his picture at all. This guy’s value system was based on how much he had, nothing more. He grew the crop, it was his hard work and his good luck and he was keeping it for himself. Period. Full stop. Even if it meant tearing down smaller barns so as to spend money to build bigger and more storage barns to put all that excess in. Now-a-days, we’d call this ‘conspicuous consumption’.
“Just then God showed up and said ‘Fool!’ Tonight you die. And your barnfuls of goods – who gets it? That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.” (vv 20-21; The Message)
Because “There are no storage facilities in heaven!”[8]
Why was the man a fool? Not because he was rich, or came into a windfall. But what he had chosen to do with his wealth, or maybe better, what he had chosen not to do. He decided to sit on it, to keep it for his own use totally and entirely, to the exclusion of all else—even the needs of anyone else. All that wealth became the focus of his life. As for God, well God never even entered in the equation.
This is another of Jesus’ typically exaggerated stories to make a point, a story from some two thousand years ago, yet it could have been written today. The point is still to be very well taken, a good lesson in here for all of us. As Luke sums it up: How rich are you toward God? It’s an unusual phrase, something we wouldn’t normally say. What does that even mean? Well, the things we wish to be rich in, and have much of, are where we put most of our time and efforts, and becomes the focus of our lives. So what’s most important, what is the strongest focus in your life, and how does that really affect the person you are? Which relationship is most important to you, your relationship with your money, or your relationship with God? Making money and having lots of the things money can buy, or filling ourselves with our faith, with the teachings of Christ? Consider, what is your relationship with your possessions, with your finances? How do you handle your riches? And what does that say about your faith? Here’s a thought: How close are you to the biblical 10% tithe of your income? Where does God, and your faith fit into what you do with your money? The rich farmer had invested himself totally and completely in his money and his possessions, things that are temporary, instead of investing in his relationship with God. And this, I think is the crux of our story: What is the source of your sense of security; your financial status or God?
You know, when it comes right down to it, like the rich farmer in our parable discovered, the time comes for us all to meet our maker and account for our lives, and as the saying goes, we can’t take it with us!
Because it is God who is the source, and it is God that is always with us, only God is everlasting. Amen
[1] Kevin DeYoung (PhD, University of Leicester) is senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina, and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). He is the author of more than 20 books and a popular columnist, blogger, and podcaster. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/luke-evangelist-rich/ accessed June 26.25
[2] ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Audrey West in Theological Perspective for Luke 12. 13-21 Feasting on the Word, Year C Vol 3 (WJK Press: Louisville KY) 2010 310
[5] Richard P. Carlson in Exegetical Perspective for Luke 12. 13-21 Feasting on the Word, Year C Vol 3 (WJK Press: Louisville KY) 2010 311
[6] Carlson, 313
[7] William Barclay, used to have a commentary on the Diocese of Brandon website, probably from 2012
[8] West, 314