“Rich towards God”

Read Luke 12:13-21

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This parable of the rich fool occurs only in Luke though Jesus often speaks about money as a spiritual danger. It’s impossible to love God if we love money (Mt.5:24; 1 Tim.6:10) and “the deceitfulness of wealth” chokes our response to God’s word (Mk.4:19). This parable vividly illustrates the folly of valuing material things more than we value God.

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Disputes over family inheritances are not new and that’s the context here (13-14). It leads to a strong warning to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed” (15). Greed (literally covetousness) takes many forms, as the tenth commandment indicates (Ex.20:17). At the heart of it is self-centredness and self-indulgence – the word “I” comes eight times in this story in the Greek.

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Money and riches are not evil in themselves. But they’re entrusted to us to use for God’s glory and for the welfare of others (Lk.16:10-11; 1 Tim.6:17-19; Mt.6:19-21). Hence the foolishness of living for temporal rather than eternal riches, especially when we remember how fragile and uncertain human life is (16-20). Those who recognise this will “gain a heart of wisdom” and look to live lives that are “rich towards God” (21; Ps.90:3,12).