Thousands of people gathered to hear him talk.  Some were there to try to see what sort of outlandish thing he was going to say next. Some wanted to twist every word around to mean something different.  The press was there, some in support, some in opposition.  There were even some of the opposite party who snuck in trying to plant seeds of discord. Some looked on and wondered how all those people could be so gullible, so ignorant, as to listen to man like this.  To some he looked good, others simply thought he was a fraud. Some hailed him the Messiah for all their problems, while the other side scoffed at the very idea and those who jumped on the bandwagon.  Some thought no matter what happened in the near future, it was simply a lose-lose situation. 

Just in case you’re wondering, no, I’m not talking about political conventions going on this week. I’m talking about Jesus.  Thousands had gathered to hear him this day, trampling over each other were trying to get close enough to Jesus to see Him and hear Him speak.  The Pharisees and scribes were disgusted by the whole ordeal, especially since He had just insulted them as the worst kind of hypocrites. As the crowds gathered around, Jesus warned His disciples of the leavening effect of the Pharisees and legalism, encouraging them not to fear those who could kill the body, but the one who has authority to cast into hell.  He spoke of how everyone who acknowledges Him before men will be acknowledge by Him before God, but who denies Him before men He would deny before the Father. 

And now this man speaks out of the crowd with an agenda to settle a family matter and obviously hadn’t listened to what Jesus had been saying.  He doesn’t get who Jesus really is, nor what His ministry is really about. Jesus has come to usher in the last days when God will bring salvation to Israel. Since the last days have come in Jesus Christ, Jesus’s disciples are not to worry about laying up treasure for themselves, but should seek to be rich for God.  Yet what does this man seek from Jesus? He wants help in acquiring “what is rightfully his” - to settle a dispute between his brother and himself over their inheritance - as if the last days have not already broken in with Jesus. Even if his complaint is legitimate, he is not seeking from Jesus the gracious things Jesus was sent to give - eternal salvation and the Holy Spirit.

So instead of judging in this dispute, Jesus tells them to guard against covetousness and earthly possessions and uses a parable to illustrate His point. Though this parable is commonly referred to as the parable of the Rich Fool, from a strictly human perspective everything the man plans seems to be wise in the way of the world. He plans to do what he must to preserve this unexpected bumper crop, and then he hopes to “take it easy and enjoy life,” one life goal of many Americans. What may be most troubling about this parable is that most of us would probably do the same thing. Have a good enough year, save up enough retirement, and never have to worry about money or finances again in this life.  What’s wrong with that?  It’s just good financial planning for the future. 

 The problem is not that the man was good at retirement planning, nor that he was rich, nor that he built up new barns, but that he was a fool.  Jesus had many disciples who were wealthy.  The Magi from the east who came to worship Jesus the toddler had the means to offer Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Matthew, or Levi, one of the twelve disciples was a tax collector, and Luke a physician, most likely were wealthy. Joseph of Arimethea who loaned his tomb to Jesus had the means to construct a tomb for himself in the honored real estate near Jerusalem.  Lydia, one of the early disciples in Philippi and Mary the mother of Mark the Gospel writer were wealthy patrons of the church.  Earthly wealth is not the problem.  The problem is letting wealth become a substitute for God.  It is making wealth the source of our security and comfort. The sin is not in the money, not in the possessions, not in the building or maintaining buildings, but in the attitude toward earthly material goods. The problem is one of idolatry.

Jesus speaks this parable to all of us even if we are not wealthy.  Jesus said, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."  Jesus warns us whether we are on welfare, middle income, or upper class, that the love of money can destroy our souls.  This means that rich and poor alike can be fools about money.  The rich can be slaves to the money and other things they have.  The poor can be slaves to the money and other things they want.  It’s the sinful nature of people to see money and possessions as the salvation from their problems. But there is salvation in no one else, in nothing else, than Jesus.

Our Old Testament reading for today comes from the book of Ecclesiastes.  In this book, King Solomon carefully documents his experiments with every life style possible.  The wisest man who ever lived sees the foolishness of all his works under the sun.  In the end he concluded that if this life is all there is, then everything is vanity and a striving after the wind.  Without God, nothing has any lasting pleasure or meaning.  What matters most in life is not how rich you are for your own purposes, but how rich you are toward God. In the person of Jesus God gives you all the riches of heaven. 

With Christ there is meaning, there is worth, there is salvation, but the treasure of God is not like the treasure of this earth.  Although He is the creator and owner of all things, became poor for us.  Although He has all authority in heaven and earth, He humbled Himself under the law.  Although He has all power, He made Himself helpless and submitted to the punishment we deserved as He suffered and died on the cross.  Although forgiveness, life, and salvation are worth more than we could ever pay, Jesus offers them to us as a free gift.  Although Jesus deserves our unending service, it is His desire to serve us.  It is Jesus who makes us rich toward God. Later on in the chapter Jesus tells His disciples to seek [God’s] reign and it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the reign (Luke 12:31, 32).

One who is rich for God doesn’t bicker over what he feels is rightfully his or greedily hoard worldly goods.  As Christians rich in God’s grace we live as if God’s gracious reign in Jesus has been given to us, because it has! We take care of families, we sacrifice for others, we take care of the possessions our Lord has given, our homes, our wealth, our church building, our school, our parsonage, not as means wherein we think we are doing God a favor or are better Christians if we have the latest and greatest. We do so only out of recognition that every good and gracious gift comes from God and are to be used for His glory. God has already given us everything in Christ. A person’s life does not consist of the abundance of possessions but it all depends on our possessing
God’s abundant grace and blessing in Jesus Christ, our Lord.