Among Jews, even today, the rabbi, who
has been educated in Jewish law, is often the one turned to to decide
the proper course of action. This is especially true of the Orthodox
sects. In such communities the people turn to the rabbi for
decisions about marriage, divorce, what constitutes observing the
sabbath – and indeed, questions about inheritance. It was true in
Jesus' time as well, so the man in the crowd was simply doing what
people did and asking the teacher who was passing through the town to
be an arbiter. Jesus refuses to get involved, indirectly accuses the
man of greed, and goes on to tell a parable about a rich man. When
you read Jesus' words, what do you think of the rich man? He doesn't
seem to be a bad guy, right? In fact, he is a farmer, and probably
worked hard to get his harvest in. And he even seems prudent,
building new barns to keep what he has rightly earned safe. But
Jesus calls him a fool. If his life had not been demanded of him
then and there, would he still be a fool? What if he lived to a ripe
old age and gradually worked through his wealth, leaving something
for the kids but enjoying a life of relative leisure? Surely we, who
struggle to do exactly the same thing, would think he was pretty
smart. He had grain, we have 401K's and savings accounts. We would
like to look forward to a day when we can live off of what we have
earned without worrying.
Does Jesus have something against
wealth? Probably not. If you remember the story of the rich man and
Lazarus, you will remember that Lazarus is sitting in the bosom of
Abraham, presumably in heaven. Abraham was very wealthy. Even in
this story Jesus tells, it isn't the fact that the rich man has
stored up treasures for himself, but the fact that he had not become
rich in what mattered to God. , b God calls the rich man a fool – I
think it's the only place in scripture where God says something like
that. And the word “fool” is a translation of the hebrew word
“raka” which refers to someone who overlooks the obvious. That
word can also be translated as “godless”, because to the Hebrews
the most obvious thing in the world was that God existed and cared
for them.
So how is the rich man a fool? And
would he still be a fool if he and his family were spared the
consequences of a famine or a war because he had been prudent? These
are all questions that come to my mind when I read this story, and
I'm not happy with the answers that I come up with. But maybe it's
something like this.
The gospel passage begins with a man
asking Jesus to judge between him and his brother over an
inheritance. But neither person has a right to the inheritance other
than perhaps a legal right. Neither worked for it, neither owned it
before I presume, the father of the brothers died. Likewise, the
rich man did not really earn his abundant harvest. He might have put
in a lot of work, but the real blessing came because of good weather,
plentiful rain, no locusts – in short, he was lucky – or as we
who are Christians know, there are no coincidences. His abundant
harvest was really due to God. So the first way he is a fool is he
fails to recognize this; he fails to see his role as a steward of
God's good things, rather than someone who owns them.
Second, there are many references in
the Old Testament to what you did with a surplus. God wanted you to
be blessed with food, clothing and shelter, but he also wanted you to
help your neighbor out of your surplus. Just as you were to
recognize the real origin of your goods in God, so you were to be a
steward of those gifts. To one of Jesus' listeners, they would have
been horrified to hear of someone who already had barns full of good
things to tear them down and build bigger ones. That was a scandal,
something only a corrupt person like Herod might do. As president
Obama said a long time ago, “sooner or later you've made enough
money.” When we think of the very wealthy of our own time, we can
tolerate and even admire them if they are using their wealth to help
their fellow man in some way. We can even tolerate them using their
wealth to create jobs and produce more wealth. But it's hard to
tolerate someone who uses his wealth to build marble mansions or line
his toilet seats with mink. In a way, that's what is going on here.
But perhaps the worst way the man is a
fool is that his whole mind is focused on his wealth and on himself,
on his comfort. He has degraded his humanity; he is not seeking what
is important, union with God, but is chasing things which in the long
run are worthless. He is living much like someone who does not
believe in God; like someone whose moral code is governed by what he
can get away with. Living as though there is no God is the very
definition of a fool.
This parable of Jesus makes me
uncomfortable. I worked hard all my life and saved money; my wife
and I did without so that when we were old and gray we wouldn't be a
burden on our children. We've tried at the same time to keep our
eyes on the supernatural dimension; we've tried to live in a way that
we hope pleases God, recognizes that this is his world, realizes that
we are stewards of our good things, not owners. We've tried to give
away part of our wealth every year. And we are through the grace of
God, doing alright financially. But I just hope that Jesus will not
say to me, You fool! You stored up treasure for yourself and never
became rich in what matters to God.
