The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man (Luke 12:13-21)

The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man

 

Luke 12:13-21

 

In his book “On Christian Teaching,” the theologian and philosopher St. Augustine mentioned four things that men may love. They are, first of all, God, second, myself, third, others, and lastly, properties such as land, building and money. This can be expressed in a diagram as follows. As in

the diagram, “I” at the center has four relationships respectively with the four objects of love. I have God above as an object of worship. I also love myself and my neighbors who are equally important and therefore equally worthy of love. And I have properties below, which is an object of management, that is, to be managed and used in love and for love. This diagram shows the ideal relationships that a person may have with the four objects of love. We were created in such a way that we worship and obey God, we love our neighbors as ourselves, and we rule, manage, and use properties for the glory of God and love of our neighbors. However, these ideal relationships were damaged.

 

Genesis 3 and 4 tell us the stories that Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is prohibited by God, and that Cain murders his brother Abel. The two accidents show clearly how the original relationships for happy life were ruined. Because of their sins out of “self-centered” pride and jealousy, they lost the good relationships with God and

with their brothers. They became their own king who loves and worships only themselves, and became flesh beings who seek happiness through having more properties. Jesus came to us in order to restore the broken relationships. For this, Jesus gave us the two greatest commandments. A teacher of the law asked Jesus, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Then Jesus answered, “The most important one is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than this.” (Mark 12:28-31)

 

While Jesus was with a crowd, one of them came out to Jesus and said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Probably his brother kept to himself all the inheritance from the parents. But Jesus didn’t listen to his request, saying, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” And the Lord said to people around, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And in order to expound this teaching, Jesus told the parable of the foolish rich man. There was a rich man, and his ground produced an abundant harvest, too much even to store it in his storages. Then, he tore down his old barns, and built bigger ones, and stored all of his harvest in them. What he had stored was more than enough for him to enjoy a care-free easy life for many years. Feeling absolutely free from worries and anxieties, he said to himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (NKJV). He dreamed of a happy life for ever and ever, but his dream was only an overnight illusion. To the rich man, God said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” After saying this parable, Jesus added, ““This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

 

God called this rich man “fool!” From the worldly point of view, he is not foolish at all. He is a man of success, and his blessed life is truly people’s envy. He had goods abundant enough to eat, drink and take ease for many years. But against his desire, he could not save his soul, and therefore, could not taste a spoon of his harvest. It was because his life was nothing to do with God. This rich man always put “himself” at the center of his thought and talks. He had a lot of “my” possessions including “my barns,” “my crops,” “my grain,” and “my goods.” He called himself “Soul.” Treasuring the soul too much, he enshrined the soul in the deepest sanctuary of his heart, and worshipped himself as his own god and king. He also did his best in order to please the soul. And at last when he came to be able to treat the soul with abundant food and drink and peaceful rest, his joy reached the peak. For this happiness, he relied on “plenty of good things.” This was the source of his joy and happiness. But when God withdrew his soul, namely, his life, he came to lose everything.

 

According to Augustine, we people “enjoy” something, or “use” something. What we enjoy has its own absolute value, so we rejoice it as it is. What we use has its value in increasing our joy with what we enjoy. In the parable of the foolish rich man, the man enjoyed his “Soul,” and he used “plenty of goods” for the joy of Soul. People sometimes have troubles because they do not divide properly between what to enjoy and what to use. For example, we enjoy “healthy body,” and for this joy, we use “food.” But if we put “food” first, and “healthy body” last, and we enjoy food rather than using it for healthy body, we may hurt the body and lose our health. In order to enjoy food, we may eat too much, eat only my favorites that lead to an unbalanced diet, or even eat food harmful to the body. If one is wise, he will manage what he eats carefully for the health of the body. Of course, eating can be a joy. But we need to control it for “loftier joy,” namely, the health of the body. Sometimes we have to deny excessive appetite, to eat food that is not my favorite, and even to stop eating for a while if required. By “using” food in this way, we can keep our body healthy, and enjoy a happy life. A wise man can tell between what to enjoy and what to use, and by doing so, he finds a loftier joy.

 

Then who is a truly wise man? Of course, we can find the answer in Jesus’ saying. He is “one who is rich toward God.” In terms of Augustine’s idea, a wise man is “one who enjoys God” or “one who finds joy in God.” This person seeks “the loftiest joy.” According to Augustine, for us humans who are spiritual beings, it is only God who can be our perfect, true, eternal joy. This is true. only God can be our perfect, true, eternal joy. When we enjoy something, it means that we love it, we are attached to it, and we cannot be happy without it. Then if we enjoy “a less lofty thing,” the enjoyment destroys the joy of a loftier thing. As mentioned above, if one finds his joy in eating food, he may lose his health. In the same way, if we seek joy in something other than God, we lose God, and going further, we lose our lives and our properties. on the contrary, if we rejoice God, we have nothing to lose. Even if we lose our lives and properties on the way to seek the joy of God, actually we are not losing anything. Whatever joy it is, there is a side effect if we seek it too much. But the joy of God does not have such a side effect, because it is the loftiest joy and pure joy. Therefore Jesus gave the first greatest commandment: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

 

What does it look like to be rich toward God? Paradoxically, one who is rich toward God is one who is poor toward God. In Psalm 42:1-2, the Psalmist cries, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” The poet had an unquenchable thirst for God. There was no way to satisfy his thirst except he meets the Lord. Therefore, he missed and sought God day and night. one who is rich toward God cannot be rich enough to stop seeking him. There is a famous Korean pop song describing a man’s love to his beloved. He sings:

               …….

I miss you even when you are looking at me

I seek you even when you are beside me

      …….

Probably our love to God should be like this. The more we love and rejoice God, the more our heart become poor and run toward God ceaselessly. And after all, this love consumes our lives. This is why Jesus died on the cross, and this is why St. Paul poured out his body like a drink offering.

 

Although God is surely our loftiest joy, we still live in this world and therefore we need something to eat and drink, and some money to buy necessities. Still the teachings in the Bible are very extreme. After 40 days’ fasting, Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus also told his disciples, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” Jesus’ teaching goes so extreme, because God the Father is such an extreme joy to us. The progress in our faith is breaking through our joy of flesh and reaching the joy of God the Father. Kierkegaard said, “God wants us to understand that material blessings are a concession to our weakness and very likely to something he will withdraw at some later date to help us make true progress.” This is true. The only true blessing is God himself and His love because he is our perfect true everlasting joy. May the Lord give us the thirst for the true joy so that we push forward directly onto God!