13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Christ is preaching when a young man breaks through the crowd and asks Christ to side with him in a money issue. Christ side-steps the argument and uses it as a teaching moment. Verse 14, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
V. 13: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!”
The scripture does not specify who this person is, but we can discern a few things. First, this is a man (v.14), and he is a younger man. Why? Because in Israelite law, the oldest male child, in an inheritance issue, was always set to inherit 2/3 of the inheritance (called a double-portion). All others were to divide the rest of the inheritance. So, this is the younger brother, trying to have Jesus decide that he is to deserve more than the law allows him to.
V. 14: Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Christ alerts the crowd to a teaching moment. This man, the younger brother, is caught in a moment of greed. But greed isn’t always about money. That’s why Christ say ALL kinds of greed. Greed is not defined simply as a love for money. Webster’s Dictionary defines it as intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. Intense and selfish desire are good descriptors. You can plug just about anything into that description and you have the broader meaning of greed. Why is greed so devastating? Because it takes the focus off your dependency on God and places it on yourself. There are many reasons why wealthy people are not especially happy, but one of the overall reasons is because the dependency has been misplaced. We simply can’t do it on our own. We’re not built that way.
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Christ tells the crowd a parable. The gist of it is simple. There is a RICH man who has a big payday. In verse 16 and 17, we get the story. What’s he going to do with this great windfall of grain? He has a choice to make. First, you’ll notice the man never consults, or thanks, God. He wonders what HE will do with MY grains. This is a common problem for us all, especially when we have windfalls. Immediately we shift into “how do I manage this” mode instead of “what do you want me to do with it” mode. We will also note that this man is already rich. So this is not someone who has suddenly come into riches; he is adding to his riches.
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
He ends up making a fatal decision. Instead of sharing it with others, he decides to build bigger barns to store it all. This gives him the freedom he deserves. He can now store it all up, take it easy, live the good life.
It sounds like a reasonable concept. Store it up, sit back and relax. And to be honest, the modern western world would applaud such prudence. What a great financial maneuver! What a smart man! He has the resources to be self-sufficient into his old age!
When we look at life from a temporal point of view (just this life, nothing more), it does seem smart. But this isn’t where the parable is going. Christ knows that people around him already live like this, and the cold hard fact is that people around us, perhaps even us, do the same thing. We obsess over having enough, over preparing for the future, over fattening our coffers so we can one day live the easy life, finally get what we want. But there is a problem with this theology, and we find it in the next verse.
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
The fact is this: the rich man prepared for this world only. He took no notice of others and prepared for himself. Where did that ultimately get him?
Christ’s message is as important 2000 years ago as it is today: we need to have our eyes set on eternity, not on the temporary. When we set our eyes only on this life, we can become self-involved. That happens naturally, because if there is no eternity, then there is no need really to help others, to contribute to anything but what pleases us. But that isn’t where God wants us to be.
When we set our eyes, mind and heart on the eternal, we recall that we have a much longer eternity than the short time we have on planet earth. The eternity in God’s light is dependent on who we follow. If we turn toward God and follow His plan, then there will be a bright eternity. If we choose to placate ourselves, then there is another eternity. The point is this: if we understand that either way we are headed to an eternity, then we can submit to that way of living. Setting our foundation on the temporary makes little sense.
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. - Matthew 5:24-27