Voice:    The Rich Fool

A ‘parable’ is a story told by Jesus to illustrate a spiritual truth. In the Bible in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 12:13-21 we can learn a very important lesson about the danger of putting our trust in riches.

One in the crowd called out to Jesus, “Teacher,   tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me”. It seems that the father had left the property to his elder brother and he was very upset about this.

But Jesus issued a stern warning, for He would not be a judge or arbitrator in such matters. His response was, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15).

Jesus then told a parable of a certain rich man whose farm prospered greatly and his barns could not hold all the produce. So he went ahead to build bigger and better barns, saying to himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry”.

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:19-21).

But like many today, he failed to bring God into his thinking. We all need to realise that God will have the final say over our lives. Jesus taught, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

It is not wrong to have riches, provided they are gained by honest toil. But it is wrong to let them fill our hearts, so that we put our trust in riches and avoid our responsibilities to the poor, and above all fail to search for, and to find and fulfill the will of God for our lives.

God made all things, and the Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof”. So all these things are left in trust to us, to be used and not abused.

A fool in the Bible is not mentally deficient, but one who neglects his relationship with the Lord.

It is true that riches do not satisfy, and our lives do not consist in the value of our homes, real estate or shares. The true value of life in found in Jesus Christ who said, “I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

This life becomes ours the moment we accept Him into our hearts by faith. Through His death on the cross we have forgiveness of sins and receive this great gift.

Parables of Jesus

by Albert Fairweather

Clifton Franks Photographer