RICH TOWARD GOD
Luke 12:13-21
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C
Analysis by Bruce K Modahl
13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.”
(Parable of the Rich Fool)
From Wikimedia Commons
“He takes our avarice upon himself and carries it to the cross and grave. He rises from the grave and gives us his life. He exchanges our avarice for his selfless generosity.”
Author’s note: The short story “How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy reads like a midrash on this text. You can find it at archive.org or by clicking on this link, How much land does a man need? : Leo Tolstoy : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.
DIAGNOSIS: The Hedonic Treadmill
Step 1: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem) – Insatiable Need
In several studies, people from all income levels report that they need approximately 20% more income to have enough. If you want the statistics, the 2023 Bankrate Financial Freedom Survey was one of these studies. Behavioral economists refer to this as the hedonic treadmill. As incomes rise so do our wants. Satisfaction remains always just out of reach.
Our needs are insatiable. We never seem to have enough. And it is not just money. Jesus advised the crowd to beware of all kinds of greed. We run on more than one hedonic treadmill. There is always someone smarter, stronger, better looking, richer, more accomplished at our profession, more popular, and on, and on. We never have enough. We are never enough.
Step 2: Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem) – Disaffection
We are dissatisfied with our lives. So, we step onto the treadmill. Our faith is in success. How will we achieve it except by our own efforts. The reason for this must be that we take the measure of our lives from other people rather than from God. Living on this treadmill is exhausting. Our legs can’t keep up. The treadmill dumps us.
Step 3: Final Diagnosis (Ultimate Problem) – Finally, Enough
God said to the rich man, “You fool, this very night your life is required of you.” He was buried in a plot of land that measured 10 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet deep. It was just enough.
PROGNOSIS: Sacred Abundance
Step 4: Initial Prognosis (Ultimate Solution) – A Benefactor
Jesus concludes his parable saying, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.” Being rich toward God is not something we can accomplish. We need a benefactor, someone who can supply us with those riches. Consider the riches Jesus supplies.
He takes our avarice upon himself and carries it to the cross and grave. He rises from the grave and gives us his life. He exchanges our avarice for his selfless generosity.
Samuel Wells writes. “One thing we learn from Jesus’ resurrection body is that there is genuine continuity with who he was before. Jesus is still incarnate: God’s purpose is still fundamentally to be with us in Christ.”
Jesus gives us not the benefit of the doubt but the benefit of forgiveness. There is no doubt about our need for forgiveness. Jesus provides us an endless supply.
Jesus benefits us by giving us to one another as his own body. He gives us a community in which we live in the world as the people of God.
Step 5: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution) – Affections Kindled
The Holy Spirit uses these benefits to kindle faith in us. Sunday after Sunday the gospel is preached into us; we encounter the resurrected body of Christ in the Eucharist; we return to the baptismal font to die and rise with Christ. We do so with every confession and hearing of the absolution.
The Holy Spirit uses these means to kindle faith, which in turn changes our hearts. With these benefits and more, our affections are renewed for God and for the life God gives us. The Holy Spirit turns our anxiety into confidence. The Spirit transforms our anxiety over not having or being enough into confidence in the sacred abundance God provides.
Step 6: Final Prognosis (External Solution) – Beneficence
The dictionary defines “beneficence” as the principle of acting in ways that promote the well-being of others. In the context of this text study its specific meaning is making use of Christ’s benefits for the welfare of others.
Our attention turns from ourselves to those who truly do not have enough. Some of us have more than we need while others have less than they need. I believe God has provided enough for the physical needs of all the people in this world. That’s what we say when we repeat Luther’s explanation of the first article of the Apostles’ Creed: “God abundantly provides all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life.” As God’s agents, it is on us to care for those in need and on behalf of the poor to advocate with our elected leaders through organizations such as Bread for the World.
In so doing we give witness to the glimpse we have been given of the consummation of the kingdom of God in which all find shelter in Jesus, God’s banquet table abounds, there is no more sickness, death is no more, and the only tears are those of joy.
