“Guarding against Greed” Colchester Federated Church, August 3, 2025, Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 12:13-21)

Today we heard the “Parable of the Rich Fool”/the “Warning against greed.”  This is a parable that’s only found in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Thomas.  Jesus tells this parable in response to someone asking Jesus to tell that person’s brother that he must divide the family inheritance.  Jesus answers that request by asking who set him to be a judge or arbitrator over these folks?  Jesus says, “Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”[1]  To further clarify, Jesus tells the Parable of the Rich Fool.

In the story there’s a rich man who has land that’s producing abundantly during a time of harvest.  The man wonders what he should do about this abundance because now he doesn’t have anywhere to store all these crops.  Then the rich man says to himself that he will pull down his barns and build larger ones, and in those larger barns he will store his grain and goods.  The man will say to himself, “You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years.  Take it easy!  Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”[2]  Though God ends up saying to the man, “Fool, tonight you will die.  Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?”[3]  Jesus concludes by saying that this is how it will be for those who hoard treasures for themselves but aren’t rich toward God.  This is a parable that could be sent to politicians, especially those who profess to be Christian.  Because Jesus had a lot to say about economics and taking care of the poor.  Jesus warned people about greed. 

Jesus once cautioned, “Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them.  Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them.  Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[4]

Though to be fair, the rich man doesn’t act in totally egregious and selfish ways.  In many ways, he’s being responsible with his land and resources.  This is someone who works hard and owns land that produces in abundance when it comes time to harvest the crops.  It takes hard work to farm and have one’s land yield an abundance of crops.  The man is working (probably with other folks) and planning for the future.  It’s wonderful that he has an abundance of crops, but the question becomes where he will store these crops.  He’s working, planning, and saving for the future—seeking to protect his belongings.  In so doing, he says to himself that he has goods stored up that will last him for many years, so he can take it easy—eating, drinking, and being merry. 

This way of life seems better than some alternatives.  This is a person who is working, planning, and saving.  He could have been reckless with his resources, wasting them in “dissolute living” like the younger brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  He could have not cared about anyone who may depend on him and just not saved at all for the future, living for the moment with no thought to times that could get harder (future famines for instance when the land wouldn’t be producing abundantly through no fault of his own).  The rich man also could have just been a little lazy and not worked hard.  He could have let that land always lie fallow and produce nothing.  Thus, the alternative ways could have been wasting resources, failing to plan for the future, and simple laziness.  The rich man doesn’t do any of those things.

So why is Jesus so hard on him?  It’s not because he lives a life of hard work and having good common sense.  It’s because the man appears to be consumed by his possessions.  The meaning and value of his life depends on those possessions.  New Testament Professor Arland Hultgren points out, “The man and his possessions are so intimately tied together that they are inseparable.  In English translation the personal pronoun ‘I’ shows up six times and the possessive ‘my’ five times (‘my crops,’ ‘my barns,’ ‘my grain,’ ‘my goods,’ and ‘my soul’) in the six verses of the parable.”[5]  The rich fool’s identity is tied up with the things he owns (and possibly his status and achievements).  Because of that, the rich fool can easily end up not paying attention to the calls of God and the needs of his neighbor.  He’s placing all his trust and faith in those temporary possessions as opposed to the permanent grace of God.  Jesus ended the parable by comparing a person who stores up treasures for themselves vs. someone who is rich toward God.  A person who doesn’t just turn inward, but looks out toward God’s good world and fellow children of God.

As most of you know, nine of our church youth and seven adult chaperones just returned this week from our youth mission trip to Providence, Rhode Island working with a group called Incredible Days.  Our group stayed at the Seekonk Congregational Church UCC in Seekonk, Massachusetts, and we volunteered with different organizations throughout the time away to be of service.  Our group served at several food pantries, a soup kitchen, a land trust, and a center for refugees.  We unpacked shipments of food and organized storage closets of items donated to help refugees who made their way to our country to begin life anew.  We worked in gardens to tackle weeds and put new soil into plots for future crops to grow.  On our last day some of us worked at the Progresso Latino Food Pantry where around 400 people are given food every Wednesday in Central Falls, Rhode Island.  These service experiences were eye-opening for our youth and our adult volunteers.  As we would spend time together processing our experiences each night after dinner (facilitated by Lucas from Incredible Days), we thought about different scripture passages and how the words of Jesus related to the work that we were doing. 

We heard Jesus’ instruction to serve others and took his words to heart: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”[6]

There is a reason that Jesus warned us about greed over and again in different ways.  Because a focus on material goods is at odds with wholeheartedly pursuing the Kingdom of God.  Accumulating wealth can lull us into a false sense of security.  Because ultimately God is the provider of good things in our lives.  We are invited to be of service to God’s children, to love our neighbors, and to love God.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Luke 12:15, NRSV.
[2] Luke 12:19, CEB.
[3] Luke 12:20, CEB.
[4] Matthew 6:19-21, CEB.
[5] Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary, 109.
[6] Matthew 25:35-36, NRSVUE.

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash