The Rich Fool

Today’s reading is from Luke 12, continuing our series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. In this text a man asks Jesus to tell his brother to divide his inheritance with him, and in response Jesus tells a parable about a man whose crops produced abundantly, and he was concerned with storing all that wealth. In some senses, this fellow seems practical in that he does things we do, saving for hard times. In the parable, all the pronouns are “I,” indicating that the man views all of the wealth as his without any thanks to God. What if he considered others who work for him or live in the community? He speaks to his soul, self-satisfied, but missing out on the abundance of life with God.