This
whole chapter in Luke deals with some important themes. Jesus is talking about those things that are
most important in life and not being concerned just for one’s physical well
being. Along with having enough food and
clothing, it is also important that we be people of integrity, that what we do
in the dark, we will not be ashamed of in the light. If we say we are disciples of Jesus Christ,
then we need to demonstrate that in every area of our lives. Just as food and clothing are important, so
are healthy relationships with our families and neighbors and colleagues. Jesus warns the people listening to him to be
on their guard against all kinds of greed because true life does not consist in
an abundance of possessions. To
illustrate this he tells them the parable of the rich fool.
There is a rich
man whose fields produce an abundance of crops and he finds he doesn’t have
enough room to store all the grain. So
he takes counsel with himself. He literally
says “Self, what will I do? I don’t have any place to store my grain. I know.
I’ll tear down the barns I have and build bigger ones and then I can say
to my self, ‘Self, you have plenty of food for years to come. Retire and enjoy the good life.’” He’s
kind of like Gollum and Smeagol talking about how to get the ring of power
back. No good can come of this.
In
Middle Eastern culture, family, friends, community are all very important. When someone has an important decision to
make, they consult with others. They don’t
do this on their own. They have long
discussions with family and friends who can help them think it through from
various angles and then they make their decision. It’s important to have people in our lives
who can give us good advice and who will truly look after our best
interests. It’s important who we talk
to, who we listen to, and who has influence in our lives. But this rich fool didn’t consult with anyone
but himself. He seems not to have anyone
close to him
Jesus’
audience would have picked this up right away when he was telling this parable
and would have wondered what was wrong with this rich man that he didn’t talk
with others before making a decision about what to do with his crop. This man lives isolated from his fellow human
beings and so the only person who’s interests he takes into account are his
own. Now this guy is already rich even
before he has this bumper crop. It
wouldn’t hurt him to sell the whole crop rather than store it. It wouldn’t hurt him to give the crop
away. He would still be rich. But in taking counsel with himself, he
decides to tear down the barns he has and build bigger ones to store all of his
crops and then he’ll retire. We don’t
know how old he is. He could be still
pretty young and have several good years of farming ahead of him. But in taking counsel with himself, he
decides to store this crop and retire and live off it for the rest of his life.
I’m not a farmer but I’m pretty sure that’s
not really a good idea. Where is he
going to store things between the time he tears down the old barns and builds
the new ones? And why would he want to
store it all anyway? What if rats get
into it or it gets moldy or rots? And
what about his land? Is he just going to
let it sit fallow for the rest of his life?
What about all the people who could benefit from the food he grows? How is it going to affect his community if he
no longer is hiring people to work his land and selling his crops to others?
But the rich fool
doesn’t seem to take any of this into consideration. He is only focusing on himself. Just like in Lord of the Rings when Gollum
held onto the ring of power, this rich fool is holding on to his crops. But with Gollum we know that, not only was he
holding onto the ring, but the ring was also holding on to him. The more he tried to possess the ring, the
more he was possessed by it until he was destroyed by it. That’s what happens with the rich fool. God steps in and says to him “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded
of you. And the things you have
prepared, whose will they be?”
This is getting to
the crux of Jesus’ point. Life is
something that is given by God. The
Greek word for “life” that is used is “psyche” which means the animating force
of life. It is the thing that leaves the
body at death. It is something we cannot
create, but rather is bestowed on us by God.
And life is not something we can hold on to indefinitely. We can’t stop it from leaving the body at the
time of death.
The Hebrew word
that refers to this life force is nephesh and the nephesh is the thing that
hungers and thirsts after God. It is the
part of us that is able to relate most directly to God. And the nephesh is that thing that realizes
it must remain connected to God if it is to be healthy and strong. This nephesh, this life force is what is
being demanded of the man. The language
God uses is that of repayment of debt.
In other words God is foreclosing on the rich man’s soul. He’s taking back what he had loaned to this
man because the man has failed to make proper payment on the loan. Jesus says in verse 21 “So it is with those
who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich, (not abundantly
generous) toward God.”
Our very life
force is on loan to us by God. And he
can demand it back at any time. There is
a generosity towards God that is expected of anyone who has been given
life. But we won’t express this generosity
if we are being held down by the things of this life. The rich fool could only think of what he
needed to have a good physical life.
With his bumper crop he had hit the lottery and was planning to
retire. He wasn’t planning on doing
anything to help out his community. In
fact his actions were probably going to result in harm to his community.
Jesus warns us not
to fall into the trap of worrying so much about the things of this life, being
held down by the things of this life, and he mentions specifically food and
clothing. Food and clothing are
necessities of life. They represent
basic needs we have for nourishment and protection. Yet Jesus points out that God feeds the birds
and clothes the flowers and they don’t grow crops or make cloth or do any
worrying or planning for their basic needs.
Yet God provides beautifully and abundantly for them. And how much more valuable are we than
birds? How much more important to God
are we than flowers? Our worrying
doesn’t gain us anything so why do we do it?
Now what Jesus
means by worrying is the state of being tossed around mentally, going back and
forth, unable to come to any state of peace or resolution about things because
we feel like a rat in a maze with no way out.
We get frantic in our minds over things that we have no control over and
can’t do anything about. When we get in
this state we are being held down by anxiety and worry. We have no peace. There’s only fear, confusion, panic. And when we are in this state, we can’t be
generous towards God or anyone else.
When we get like this our relationships are going to suffer. We’re going to be jealous or resentful of
people who aren’t suffering. We’re going
to feel sorry for ourselves. We may
isolate ourselves. We complain and argue
and drive people away. We don’t pray and
may begin to blame God for what’s going on in our lives. We hold on tighter to what we have, worried
that it won’t be enough. We aren’t
trusting God anymore. This isn’t the way
to live and it certainly isn’t the abundant life that Jesus died for us to
have.
Jesus offers us
comfort in these verses when he says that we are not to be anxious and agitated
even about the basic necessities of life because our Father knows we need these
things. Our Father is the one who is our
creator, our preserver, our guardian and our protector. Inherent in this word “father” is the meaning
of one who knows us, loves us, and wants to take care of us. He has our best interests at heart. He takes pleasure in us. He
knows what we need. He is aware of what
is going on and He has already determined to provide what we need. In fact, even more than supplying the basic
needs of this life, our Father takes pleasure in giving us His Kingdom. He has already decided to give us His kingdom
as a gift. It doesn’t cost us
anything. If He’s already decided to do
this, how much easier is it for him to give us the basic necessities of
life? And if that is such a small thing
for him to do, why do we worry and get in such an agitated state about it? This is Jesus’ question, not mine. I tend to worry.
For me, I have to
remind myself very often that I am of more value to God than the birds and the
flowers are, and that it pleases Him to give me the kingdom in addition to all
the necessities of life. For me, the
hard part is trusting Him when I feel that I have a necessary need and I don’t
see how He’s going to provide for that.
But sometimes what He considers necessary and what I consider necessary
are 2 different things. One of the
verses we’ve been memorizing this summer is Isaiah 43:1-2 where God says “Do
not fear, I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be
with you and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over
you. When you walk through the fire you
will not be burned; the flames will not sweep you away.” I don’t see the necessity of passing through
water and fire. I figure if there’s
water there, I need a bridge or a boat and God says, no you need to jump in and
pass through that water. And I say, I
can’t swim and He says, well I can, so jump in.
Our perception of what we need is often different than what God knows we
need. If we hold on to our own
perception of what we need, we fall into worry and panic and so forth and we
fail to live in generosity towards God and others, experiencing the Kingdom of God
I read a story
once about a woman named Granny Brand who was a missionary in India for many years. After she was widowed, she continued to live
in India
and serve. When she turned 70 years old,
her missions board told her they would no longer continue to support her. She needed to retire and return home. She refused.
She used what resources she had and built a little shack to live in, got
a horse, and continued to travel around on horseback, ministering in various
villages. She fell off the horse once
and broke her hip. Her son who was a
doctor told her she needed to go home but she refused. Finally when she was 93, she couldn’t ride
the horse anymore so the men in the villages she ministered in built her a
stretcher and continued carrying her around from village to village so she
could continue to minister to people.
She finally died at age 95.
Granny Brand had
God’s perspective on what she needed.
She wasn’t listening to what the people around her told her she
needed. She understood her place in the Kingdom of God
and that place was to minister to people in India . She did exactly what Jesus describes in
verses 33 and 34 in pretty much liquidating all her resources, living very
simply, and being rich towards God and others.
Her heart, the center of her spiritual life, was firmly in the kingdom of God
As we transition
into a time of prayer, the question to ask ourselves is what are we holding on
to and what is holding on to us? Are we
holding on to worries about what we don’t have or ambitions to have more? Are we holding on to those things that
separate us from other people? Are we
being held down by fears or feelings of inadequacy? What is holding us back from being generous
towards God and others? As the worship
team comes up and leads us in our closing song, let’s take these things to
God. Our Father loves us. We are valuable to Him and it gives Him
pleasure to give us the kingdom. But we
have to let go of what we think that needs to look like and embrace God’s
vision for our lives. Maybe it’s time to
jump into the fire or the water and find out what it’s like to have God with us
in those places. Maybe we’re already in
those places and we need to open our eyes to see God with us and let go of the
worry and fear and take hold of Him. We
don’t have to continue to be afraid. Our
Father takes pleasure in giving us His Kingdom.
-Pastor Lynn Parks
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