Preaching Class Sermon – The Parable of the Rich Fool

This sermon is the final project of a four week seminary class on “Preaching Luke.” After leading a text study session on a passage, we were to preach a sample sermon on our given text for our fellow seminarians in the rest of the class.

My passage is Luke 12:13-21, “The Parable of the Rich Fool” which occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary on the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. Here are my sermon study notes on the text. This sermon isn’t written with any particular context in mind, but in it, I’ve attempted to tie in some of the themes of Luke-Acts discussed throughout the course.

Have you ever thought about what you’d do if this whole seminary thing doesn’t work out? I’ve thought of a few ideas, one of which is opening a business. Here’s one of my ideal businesses. It has recurring revenue and requires almost no work from me, since the customers do nearly all the work themselves, and it’s not going away any time soon.

I want to open a storage unit complex. Think of it – people pay you to store their stuff, stuff they paid for and don’t use, but can’t bring themselves to get rid of.

In our story today, we heard a parable about a guy who might be a good customer of that business.

There’s a crowd following Jesus, listening to his teaching, and someone in the crowd has a question about the inheritance he feels he’s owed. It’s not a trap, like some questions Jesus gets asked; it seems to be an honest question. Since part of the Torah deals with inheritance law, and there’s no newspaper advice column to write in to, dealing with questions like this is part of a rabbi’s job. Even Moses dealt with this kind of question.

But Jesus sidesteps the apparent question, the presenting issue. Instead of answering, or even asking the details of the case, he sees the man is deeply concerned about getting the possessions he is owed (or at least thinks he’s owed – the story doesn’t specify), and he gives him a warning. Jesus reminds him that stuff isn’t everything in life. Wealth isn’t the goal. One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Then, seizing the teachable moment, Jesus tells the parable we just heard, about a man who needed a bigger barn to store all his stuff.

This story’s hard for me to hear, because I rather like storing up things, and keeping track of my money. Don’t get me wrong, my financial net worth is still firmly negative, but it’s less negative than it used to be. Maybe it’s a little strange to enjoy this, but one of my hobbies is reading personal finance blogs, where people talk about how they’re making money and saving for the future.

I understand this farmer’s perspective. He’s saving for the future. I’ve done this. I’ve built bigger barns – not literally, but just this spring, I opened a new savings account at a new bank so I could get more interest on the money I’m saving for going to Tanzania in J-Term.

When I haven’t gotten out of school to a professional job yet, it’s hard for me to picture retirement, but I like the idea of getting to a point where I can say to myself, “That’s enough. You have ample goods laid up for many years, and it’s time to relax. Eat, drink, be merry, watch Netflix, go on vacation, take that around the world cruise.” This guy’s actually kind of admirable, isn’t he? He’s put in his time, and now he’s ready to enjoy the rewards.

But God doesn’t look at him and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Far from it. God looks at him and says, “You fool!”

Ouch.

So what’s he done that’s so foolish?

If you asked me what sort of person God would call a fool saying their life is demanded of them, my first theological reaction would be that it must be someone really sinful.

But this isn’t a story about a sinful person, is it?

There’s nothing in here to imply this guy’s done anything wrong. This isn’t a story about an unjust oppressor, or about the just punishment of a thief, or anything like that. The way Jesus tells it, the man is just rich. He’d probably say he’s blessed, at least in the sense that he worked hard. He’s been diligent. He’s worked hard for what he has.

If you asked him, maybe he’d even quote the 21st chapter of Proverbs, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.” Or maybe Proverbs 3, “Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” That’s his problem, right? He’s done so well his barns are full.

Yet God calls him a fool.

Why? Today’s Psalm, Psalm 49, gives us a hint. The Psalmist tells us, “Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life, there is no price one can give to God for it. For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice, that one should live on for ever and never see the grave.”
No amount of wealth is enough to cheat death.

The rich man’s problem isn’t so much that he has riches; it’s that he trusts in his riches for life. This is a story about the meaning of life, about purpose in the world, about what your legacy will be.

I said before that this story isn’t about sin. And yet, it turns out this story of the foolish man is actually about sin after all, because isn’t it about relying on yourself for life? About constructing life the way you want it, rather than seeking the life God calls you to? The man in the story is looking for life, finding his purpose somewhere other than God. He’s putting himself and his wealth ahead of God.

And we have a word for that. It’s called idolatry.

The man is sinful. He’s using his wealth to separate himself from God, trying to free himself from needing to rely on God. As Martin Luther famously put it in his Large Catechism, “Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god.”

Putting ultimate trust in possessions is foolish. You can’t take it with you. We all know that. Relying on stuff leaves you empty.

But how often do we do it anyway?

Or sometimes we do the opposite. We put our trust in how much we give away, how much we’ve given up to follow God’s call. There’s a way in which we can put so much weight on how much we’re giving up, how much we’re giving away that our very humbleness can become prideful. We can find our value, our worth, in our good deeds, in how much we serve others. But that too is idolatry.

Jesus ends his story by saying, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” What does it mean to be rich toward God?

Obviously it doesn’t come from acquiring a lot of stuff. A few verses later, Jesus goes on to talk about storing up an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. A sort of heavenly insurance policy. But how do we do that?

It must be to do good deeds, to selflessly love others, to advocate for justice, to serve our neighbors in a way that pleases God, that God will see and reward.

If that makes you feel a little uncomfortable, I’m with you. Because if we’re serving others in order to please God, so God will love us more, then it’s ultimately selfish, and we’re back to the idolatry of self-reliance.

So again, how do we become rich toward God? Here’s the secret – hopefully an incredibly poorly kept secret. It’s not something we do.

We can’t make ourselves rich toward God!

Instead, it’s about what God’s done for us. Your security and your life comes from your identity in Christ. It comes from the fact that God has claimed you. You are a child of God given eternal, abundant life by God, not by your possessions or from anything you’ve done or will do.

Because God is the source of our life, we don’t need to rely on ourselves. It’s freeing!

One caution: just because we’re already rich toward God doesn’t mean we ignore this life.

Jesus isn’t saying in this story that we should ignore planning for our earthly future because only the afterlife matters, or anything like that.

In fact, here and throughout Luke and the rest of the Bible, I think he’s saying that this life is very important. Those blessed with wealth by chance or by their own efforts should use it to help others, to share with those who need it, working for the kingdom of God, a kingdom where there is no poverty.

But we’re also called to heed Jesus’ warning, because there’s also no idolatry in God’s realm. There is only reliance on the abundance of God, the one in whom we find our life.
Amen.