St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
5 August 2007
Luke 12:13-21

This Gospel passage, though brief, is full of content. There is a lot of very important teaching in this brief Gospel lesson. I want to spend a few moments this morning doing some very straightforward Bible study with you. We had an excellent discussion of this passage at Prayer Breakfast Friday morning. It was very interesting. I was very quiet all through breakfast just waiting to have my shot at it today. I do want us to give some thought to this passage, because, if we are not careful, and we don’t read this carefully; we could come to some misunderstandings about what is being taught here. If you want to have your bulletin handy, we can read together, or you will find Bibles in your pew.

The context of this lesson is simple. It is similar to what we have been having the last few weeks. Jesus is in the midst of what we call the travel narrative in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus is on his way from Galilee in the north, down to Jerusalem in the south. He is on his way to offer himself as a sacrifice for human sin in Jerusalem. Along the way, he is preaching and teaching at every opportunity. That is what is happening in this passage today. He is in the midst of a crowd he has been teaching. So, what is going to happen is that someone from the crowd is going to shout a question to him. We might use the term the peanut gallery. Somebody from the peanut gallery takes the opportunity to ask Jesus a question while they have a chance. Someone in the crowd, Luke tells us, said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” This is a very believable, very human, very earthy scenario. This wonderful young rabbi, about whom everyone is talking, is in your neck of the woods. He is preaching and teaching, and you take the chance to say, “Hey, Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of the money.” That is what is happening. This is a very believable scenario, a very human situation here.

Notice what Jesus does. He said to him, “Friend, who sent me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” So, he answers the man directly by saying, “I am not really going to address that, but thank you. I am not going to take that one.” But, he uses the point as a jumping off point for a larger teaching. Notice what he does then. And he said to them . . . , before, it says, he said to him, i.e. the man who had said, “Teacher . . .,” about his brother. But, then he says to them, the whole crowd, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” This is so important to understanding the remainder of the passage. What Jesus is about to teach about is greed. Greed is at the heart of what he is teaching about here. This is not a teaching that penalizes people who have worked hard, and honestly, and creatively, and have been successful. This Gospel doesn’t penalize honest, hardworking people who have found success. What Jesus is teaching about is greed, people who are so self-centered that they give no concern for the welfare of other people.

Let’s read on. Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there 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, be merry.’ So, what we see here is a man whose only concern is for himself. His only interest is in his comfort. He gives no thought to sharing from his abundance with those in need. He just wants to store up goods for himself, so that he can sit back and relax, eat, drink, and be merry. What we have here is a picture of self-centeredness. We have a picture of someone who is greedy, someone who is not interested in the welfare of those less fortunate than himself. So, then, what does Jesus say? “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” I am going to suggest something that might help us interpret this a little more fully. In Psalm 14:1, one of the more prominent Psalms, we read, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” It is one of the more noteworthy Psalms. And that Psalm goes on to teach about corruption, and its point is very clear. The fool lives his life as if there is no God. The word fool here, in Greek, is the very same word that occurs in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Psalm 14:1. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which we call the Septuagint, in verse 14:1, it uses the Greek word aphros, and that means fool. Now, the people Jesus told this story to would have known that Scripture in Greek from the Psalter. They would have made the connection - - this is that man. “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” This man is living as if there is no God, and he is a fool. So, there is a connection between a passage that would have been familiar to Jesus’ hearers, and this very straightforward parable that he uses to teach them. So, once again, God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” Then, Jesus concludes, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves, but are not rich toward God.”

In conclusion, I want to say simply this, If we aren’t careful, we can interpret this passage to be a criticism of persons who have been blessed with success in life. I just want to be very clear. This isn’t a teaching against honest, hard work. There can’t be anything wrong with somebody who is an honest, hard, successful worker. But, here is the caution. The caution is do everything for the Lord. In your work, in your personal life, in your family life, keep God the Father first. That is what Jesus is reminding his hearers. He is reminding us, his modern-day followers. This isn’t a penalizing of someone who has worked hard, and has been successful through honest means. But, what we see in the parable, is this man who cares only for himself. He just wants to store up, and store up, and store up, with no thought toward his neighbor. Jesus warns against that, because everything that Jesus says, and does, is about spreading love, spreading grace and kindness, and concern for neighbors. The Great Commandment, the Summary of the Law, we call it: Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. I simply want to conclude this morning by suggesting that what Jesus is trying to teach his hearers here is, Keep God first, regardless of how hard you work, regardless of how much you are blessed with material goods. In all things, keep God first. A part of what that means is to love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.