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The request that prompted Jesus to tell this parable might seem to be a rather innocent one. omeone in the crowd just wanted to receive his fair share of his family’s possessions.But to Jesus, the man’s concern with money betrayed the fact that he had missed the point—he had focused his attention on the things of this world rather than storing up treasures in the kingdom of God.
So Jesus distanced himself from this man’s personal concerns and proceeded to tell a story about a man with so much earthly wealth that he thought his future was secured. The rich landowner had “ample goods for many years,” so why not “relax, eat, drink, [and] be merry”? It’s easy to imagine this man at his leisure, enjoying the fruits of his labors.
So why is this man a fool? Don’t we all take measures to provide for our future security? The problem with the man in the parable is that he didn’t have his priorities straight. The wealthy man put all his trust in his possessions instead of putting his trust in God. He sought happiness and security by stockpiling his wealth, not even thinking of sharing it with others. We know from his monologue that he was self-centered—the personal pronoun “I” appears six times and the possessive pronoun “my” five times—so the possibility of sharing his abundance with others apparently never even crossed his mind. He didn’t thank God for his prosperity, nor did he seek advice from anyone about how to put his surplus to good use. His only thought was to build a bigger barn in which to store his wealth for his own future. He was so preoccupied with his possessions that he idolized them, letting them usurp God’s rightful place in his life.
Suddenly, when the man was confronted with his imminent death, the senselessness of his actions was made plain to him. God himself says: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20).
The wealthy landowner’s actions and his perspective on life were based on a set of falsehoods—which is why he was called a fool. How easy it is to deceive ourselves just as this rich fool did. We’re susceptible to the same all-too-human tendencies that he was, and our vision can be just as short sighted and distorted. We try to control our own destinies, when it is God who has ultimate control. Perhaps we base our security in riches and things we can see, forgetting that we can only be secure in God. Or, focused on our own well-being and interests, we neglect the needs of our neighbor. We forget that all we have comes from God—it’s not really ours. We mistakenly live for the present, giving no thought to securing our eternal future.
The parable of the rich fool is another of Jesus’ pointed and disquieting reminders that we are not to invest ourselves in the perishable riches of earth, but rather in the enduring riches of heaven, that will gain us eternal interest (Luke 12:21, 33). When we perceive the truth about God and the fullness of life that he offers us, we’ll be eager to be “rich toward God” (12:21). “For where [our] treasure is, there [our] heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34).