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The Rich Fool

A farmer has a record harvest and plans for years of ease — without a thought for God or anyone else. That night his life is asked of him.

Read Luke 12:13–21 in the reader

Awaiting theological review

Before you read

Who Jesus was speaking to

Scripture

Someone in the crowd asks Jesus to settle a quarrel over an inheritance. Jesus refuses to be made judge, and warns: “Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.”

Interpretation

Jesus does not say who is right in the family dispute. He goes beneath it, to the desire for more that turns brothers into rivals.

Luke 12:13–21

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition · Public Domain

Divide the inheritance13And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. 14But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you? 15And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth. The rich man's plan16And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. 17And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer. This night20But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? 21So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.

A man who talked only to himself

The rich man, his barns and God

Not rich towards God

The rich man

A successful farmer who plans carefully for himself, and speaks only to his own soul.

  1. 12:17 — What shall I do, because I have no room
  2. 12:18 — I will pull down my barns, and will build greater
  3. 12:19 — Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years

Interpretation

His speech is full of I and my. No one else appears in his plans — no family, no neighbour, no poor, no God. He mistakes his goods for his life.

Tradition & devotion

In the fourth century, Basil the Great preached a homily on this parable: the bread you keep stored belongs to the hungry, and the coat in your cupboard to the one who has none.

Think about it

If you had more than you needed this year, who would come into your plans?

Thou fool

God

The only other voice in the story, which speaks once, and ends the man's plans.

  1. 12:20 — Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee

Scripture

In the Bible the fool is not someone unintelligent, but someone who lives as if God did not count — the fool of the Psalms who says in his heart that there is no God.

Think about it

Whose shall those things be? What will remain of what you are building?

Divide the inheritance

The man in the crowd

He wants Jesus on his side in a quarrel with his brother.

  1. 12:13 — Speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me

Interpretation

He may well have had a fair claim. Jesus does not deny it; he invites him to ask a deeper question than who gets what.

Think about it

Is there a quarrel about money or things in your family? What matters more than winning it?

What first hearers would have noticed

Context

Asking a teacher to judge

History & scholarship

Religious teachers were sometimes asked to settle disputes over property, since inheritance was governed by the Law. Jesus declines the role of judge or divider.

Barns and harvests

History & scholarship

In a farming economy a great harvest could mean security for years — or, stored up while others went hungry, a higher price later. The man's problem is not the harvest, which simply happens to him, but what he decides to do with it.

Scripture

Storing grain is not wrong in itself: Joseph stored the harvests of the good years in Egypt so that people could live through the famine (Genesis 41).

Look closer

Symbols

Bigger barnsLuke 12:18

Interpretation

The barns grow, but the man's world shrinks to himself. Security becomes a wall.
This nightLuke 12:20

History & scholarship

The phrase do they require thy soul is impersonal; many scholars see here a reverent Jewish way of speaking of God's action without naming him.
Rich towards GodLuke 12:21

Scripture

A few verses later Jesus explains what that means: sell what you possess and give alms, and make for yourselves a treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33–34).

Remember

Quiz me

Question 1 of 5beginner

What did the man in the crowd ask Jesus to do?

The next question

Do not be anxious about tomorrowWorried about money?The rich man and LazarusA rich man who gave half his goods