Being Rich Toward God--Luke 12:13-21 (II)

So, Jesus tells a story. We are not told if his interlocutor stands there listening with mouth agape or with willing ears. Jesus has his agenda, however, and he will pursue the story. Everyone loves a story, and Jesus seemed to be able to come up with them at will to explain the deep points of his ministry. In this regard, Jesus is a model teacher. He knows what the heart of his message is and he has developed a method to communicate that message with ease to all. He is an imaginative teacher--for he knows that we retain a message not simply by hearing it stated in a propositional form but also if we see it through a word picture. But notice that Jesus does both. He paints a story but he also delivers a principle. He has learned to illustrate the central points of his teaching, but he also knows how to express these points in pungent and accessible language. The goal of teaching, in my mind, is to make the central points of what you are communicating crystal clear, so that even slow and partially attentive people can get the thrust of what you are saying.

We read Jesus' parable, and it is clear and to the point. He states the issue in one verse (16). A man had fields which produced abundantly for him. Actually, the Greek word for "produced abundantly" is euphoreo. The crops, literally, were "euphoric." That Greek word combines the two words "eu," meaning "well," and "phoreo," meaning "to grow." Originally the term euphoria, in English, was a medical term to express "well-being or the perfect ease and comfort of healthy persons" (OED). Now, of course, it has lost its technical significance and means "cheerfulness or well-being, esp. one based on over-confidence or over-optimism." In any case, the fields yielded an impressive harvest.

Abundance brings problems. We often think that if we just had a little more, or if we were "swamped" with business, that all would be well with us. But this abundance made the man think for a while. He "dialogued within himself" (v. 17) to determine what he should do. Actually, I think that this is a pretty natural process which even a rather abstemious person must pursue. In fact, the story gives no indication that the man was a greedy person before the big money "hit." But the presence of abundance made him a greedy person. Perhaps that is the way for us. Abundance may "trigger" in us the "greed gene," a gene that is, for the most part, dormant and should remain dormant, but which can be triggered by overexposure to too much abundance. The man decided to build bigger barns. Again, this sounds like a reasonable course of action. But then the text says that the man decided to gather in these new barns not just the grain from the harvest but "my goods" (v. 18). He is now calculating about wealth, thinking about the way to maximize it. He is thinking of barns not just for the grain but also for his "goods." He can kill two birds with one stone, but in Jesus' parable, it is as if he is killing his soul by the expansion project.

But perhaps it isn't the expansion project alone that "kills" the man. It is the worldly ambitions that are triggered once abundance has hit. He builds an extra "loft" for his goods. And then this triggers other thoughts in him. He finally has "made it." He can kick back now. In a situation unique in the NT, we have four straight imperatives in v. 20. They are "take a break, eat, drink, celebrate." The last verb is used in the parable of the prodigal son to describe the festive atmosphere at the return of the prodigal. Thus, there may be some subtle "linking" of parables that Luke is trying to make. In any case, the man in this parable now can kick back and truly enjoy the fruit of his good fortune.

IV. Dynamic # 4--The Result

What is do bad about all of this? It is exactly the way that America wants to live today. The goal is to get rich (or richer), and then "relax" and enjoy the good life. That has been, in my judgment, the goal of the tax policy of the last 15 years, through Democratic and Republican administrations. We want to create another class of people in America--those with assets between 1 and 5 million, who can show the signs of their conspicuous consumption and then relax a good deal more than previously. That is America in 2007.

I am afraid that Jesus might not have too much patience with that, especially if we take the words of this parable seriously. It seems as if Jesus' point, as he concludes the parable, is that the celebration of one's riches through the fourfold imperative of v. 19 and being rich toward God are incompatible concepts. Why? Well, he gives the example of God requiring the soul of the person that night--and all his goods will profit him nothing. But his bigger point is that such a person, the person who has built bigger barns, the person who has moved up on the Forbes list of richest Americans, so to speak, is one who has done so at some expense to his soul. I don't think you really can be extremely calculating about making money and still have loads of time to focus on your richness towards God. Jesus says, literally, that "thus it will happen to the one who lays up treasures in himself and is not rich towards God" (v. 21).

Conclusion

So, we all want to become richer in America. That is a given. I don't think that ever will change about this country. Most hope that it never changes. The parable tells us about two different kinds of riches--those toward oneself and those toward God. He really doesn't give lots of wiggle room to those who think they can do both in life--pursue one's own economic fortune and be rich toward God at the same time. Maybe Jesus just didn't "get it"--i.e., he didn't know how someone could love him and love money at the same time in America in 2007...I don't know how to speak the Word of God today other than by saying that richness towards God is precisely what Jesus had in mind in this parable and in his teaching. That is where true riches lie--and they lie there not simply because the one saying it doesn't want to make money. It is a simple lesson of Jesus. Can we hear it today?

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