3.13 The Foolish Rich Man
XIII. THE FOOLISH RICH MAN.
Luke 12:16 - Luke 12:21. This parable follows the narration of an incident which throws light on the attitude of Jesus towards temporal affairs. Evidently while He was teaching, a certain man approached Him with the petition: “ Bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” The answer of Jesus was a refusal on the ground that He had not been appointed a judge or divider over men. He thereupon addressed to those present a warning against covetousness: “Take heed, and be on your guard against all covetousness; for a man s THE PARABLES OF JESUS 163 life doth not consist in the abundance of his goods;” and to illustrate and enforce His meaning He then spoke the following parable, A certain rich man felt embarrassed by the wealth of the crops which his fields had yielded.
He said, communing with himself: “ What shall I do, seeing that I have no place into which I may gather my fruits?” A thought strikes him: “ This will I do. I will pull down my barns, and I will build greater, and into them will I gather the produce of my fields; and I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thy rest, eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him: “ Thou fool! this very night is thy soul required of thee, and whose shall be the things which thou hast prepared?” “ So,” adds Jesus, “ is he who layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.”
There was nothing essentially wrong in the request of the unknown man to Jesus; we have nothing to prove that he claimed more than what was his due. Still, Our Lord justly refused it: it was untimely, and, besides, it proceeded from a complete misconception of His mission, which any direct interference in 164 THE PARABLES OF JESUS temporal affairs could only prejudice. The refusal is conveyed in language very similar to that with which the Israelite who oppressed his fellow-countryman declined the interposition of Moses in their quarrel (Exodus 2:14).
Jesus took occasion from the incident to warn His hearers against indulging the vice of avarice, which is so often the root of litigation. The soliloquy of the rich man reminds us of the passage in Ecclesiasticus: “ There is a man who waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching; and this is the reward of which he hath part, when he saith: I may take my rest and eat of my good things, even then he knoweth not what time shall yet pass by ere he shall leave all he hath to others, and die” (xi. 18). The idea that the soul is, as it were, lent, and that it will be demanded back one day, is also found in Wisdom 15:8. The language of verse 20 conveys the impression that the rich man’s life came to an end the very night that followed the formation of his plans, rather than that he was spared to carry them out, and only summoned hence when they were completed. The words, “ the things which thou hast prepared,” on which those who hold THE PARABLES OF JESUS 165 the latter view rely, can just as naturally be understood of the produce of his fields alone, and need not be taken as including in their meaning provisions made for its storage. The parable is one of the four all peculiar to St. Luke, which in reality are not figurative histories, but examples or illustrations. Jesus might have exhorted His hearers in a direct manner to refrain from setting their affections on riches, or trusting in them or being over anxious about them, on the ground that we have at most but a life interest in them, which death might terminate at any moment. It is obvious, however, that He achieved His purpose better by choosing an example, and setting it before His audience in a moving manner as the means of bringing home to their minds the truth which He wished to impress upon them. By the words with which He concludes He did not, of course, intend to intimate that all those who imitated the heartless and selfish conduct of the rich man would like him be suddenly cut off when they least expected it: the complaints of Job and the Psalmist testify to the contrary. Still, they would resemble him in this, that whether 166 THE PARABLES OF JESUS they died in youth or in old age, their end, like his, would be untimely. On the other hand, death cannot impoverish those who are rich or generous towards God that is, those who by means of alms-deeds done for His sake have transferred their riches from earth to heaven, where they await them on their coming (xii. 33).
TAGS: [Parables]