The Parable Of The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21)

Greed. We probably have all experienced Greed in some sort of way, shape or form. And this passage is directly focused on this specific sin. God preaches a parable to a man who wants part of his brothers inheritance.

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

¹⁴Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" ¹⁵Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

¹⁶And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷He 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 all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things 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 anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

luke12:13-21

Well, this passage can teach and show us many things. In the very first verse,...

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

It shows that this person is taking Jesus for granted. I think, in a way. Because in previous verses, this man was not talked about and in the verse, it says that SOMEONE in the crowd said. Therefore, it can mean that this man knew about this "Jesus" and wanted to use his power to get what he wanted. He wanted Jesus to order his brother to divide his inheritance.

Then Jesus on the other hand, in verses 14-15, was smart and even used this man as a opportunity to teach and use him as an example.

14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" ¹⁵Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Jesus asks who made him the judge of things? because the man was using him for his own benefit. In verse 15, Jesus spoke to THEM. Not the man, the CROWD. And used the man as an example to watch out for greed. Our lives does not and should not consist in materialism.

Jesus then starts to explain through a parable in verse 16-20...

16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷He 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 all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things 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?'

Here the parable is simple and pretty self-explanatory. Firstly, in verse 16, we learn that there is a rich man who has many crops but one day, he has no more space for storage, so he chooses to destroy his old storage spaces to then build bigger ones for more space, to make more money, to live a good life. Like verse 19, he'll have plenty of good things for years to come.

But God in verse 20 gets angry and knocks some sense into him. Because he has been so greedy and not willing to share with others, what will others live on? How can they eat if you save and keep everything for yourself?

Lastly, in verse 21, Jesus sums up the parable with the consequence.

²¹"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

God will treat people like verse 20, if they keep everything for themselves. God made EVERYTHING. Everything we own, want to own, and have own all belong to God. He made all of it for us to enjoy or to worship God in a certain way. Because we are so fortunate to have all these amazing things and be blessed by God, we must give back. We simply cannot keep all of this for ourselves. Like tithing, we should give back at least a tenth of what we have. We need to learn to be RICH TOWARDS GOD.

If you are dealing with Greed, we must learn to put it to DEATH like it says in Colossians 3:5. We must place it at the foot of the cross and ask God for forgiveness.

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

colossians3:5

SUB it,

Smij Nahc † [Put your sins to death, give back to God for he has given you so much more.]
God Bless You ♥