Luke 12:16-21 16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17And he thought to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to gather my crops?’ 18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I will store there all my grain and goods. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Jesus’ parables communicate messages about life in his kingdom. This parable illustrates the greed the brother who came to Jesus in verse 13 had toward his brother who had the inheritance. The story brings to our imagination a farmer with an abundant crop. Most farmers dream of this scenario where there is an abundant harvest. This farmer had so much that he did not know what to do with it. That is a wonderful problem to have. Many people have so much money or goods they don’t know what to do with it all. Storage facilities have popped up in some countries and make a good business because people have too much to put in their houses.
The farmer in this story was strategic and came up with the plan to build a larger barn to store all his harvest. I have seen some very large grain elevators. In one case, there was so much grain at harvest time that it was stored out on the ground in a big mound as high as the grain elevator. The farmer’s plan seems reasonable as long as the harvest remains plentiful. If there were a season of low harvest, his big barn would be a waste, but at this point, it should serve the purpose well. He thinks that he can retire in luxury because he now has an abundance for many years. So he follows the philosophy of the world: eat, drink, and be merry. Many people take no notice of their eternal destinies but think only of the moment’s pleasure.
The farmer forgot the last part of this philosophy, the outcome, which Paul the Apostle picked up on in 1 Corinthians 15:32: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Death comes to everyone, and sometimes it comes unexpectedly. The sovereign God will demand an accounting of our lives. The question God poses to the farmer in verse 20 brings the reality and seriousness of our choices to the forefront. This man would die and everything he had accumulated would be a waste. We cannot take anything with us into death except the hope of resurrection. All that we have accumulated in this world will be lost.
Jesus gives the timeless truth and application in verse 21. The statement does not mean we should not be prepared for the future or have an investment portfolio but that our savings and possessions should not supersede the place of God in our lives. The farmer should have used his goods to serve God’s kingdom through helping his family, if he had one, and his community, particularly those in need. Instead, he put everything in a barn where it would eventually rot and become useless. His proper response should have been what Jesus mentions later in verse 33. Being rich toward God refers to the same thing as having “treasures in heaven.”
The brother thought that the inheritance would make him happy and was greedy and jealous towards his brother who would not share it. Jesus called him to invest in kingdom matters and not be concerned about gaining wealth. Luke does not record the outcome for this man, but we can imagine the battle in his mind because we also have the same battle about our possessions. Where is our investment portfolio?
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