The Gospel Reading of the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Luke 12:13-21, contains Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (vv.16-21). The parable is about teaching against greed, which reflects at least two psychological problems: selfishness and anxiety due to a lack of faith.
The parable was given in response to someone in the
crowd asking Jesus to be an arbitrator for the dispute on inheritance between
this person and this person’s sibling.
And Jesus declined this request. Then, he said to the crowd:
Take
care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does
not consist of possessions (Luke 12:15).
This statement set a tone for the parable of the
rich fool (Luke 12:16-21) to describe what could happen to us if we fail to
guard against greed.
The rich fool did not start his life as rich. But he
just got lucky to have kept having unexpectedly abundant harvests. He was experiencing unexpected bonanza and
was not able to store all the harvested grains and other goods in the storage
he had. So, he began to think of tearing down the barns he had in order to
build new larger ones so that he could store more grains for his easy
worry-free retirement.
It sounds like what most of us would think, as we work hard to put more money into our
retirement accounts, like 401K or 403b. We call such accounts as “next eggs”.
Financial advisors on such accounts often tell, “That’s not enough saving for
your secure retirement! That’s not enough to sustain your retirement!”. So, we feel anxious about our future and
retirement. And we may open more retirement saving or investment accounts in
our pursuit of retirement security.
Though the rich fool’s thinking was like many of us’
thinking about retirement accounts, God took everything away from him,
including his life.
What was a problem with the rich fool in the eyes of
God?
What does it make the rich fool “fool”?
Why was he punished by God, ending up losing
everything he had accumulated, as well as, his life?
Had he trusted God, in particular, His providence, the rich fool would not have been “fool” but rather a wise rich man. By trusting Him and His providential grace, he would have had not have anxiety about his future. This trust in God and His care is reflected in this part of the Lord’s prayer: Give us this day and our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). We ask God for His providential grace, represented with “daily bread”, one day at a time. We do not ask God to give us “loaves of bread” to make it for an entire week. Only just for another day.
Do we worry after the daily bread is consumed for
the day?
It depends on the quality of faith.
If it is good, then, we know that God will provide
another fresh batch for the following day. But, for those who are with feeble
faith, anxiety may kick in, wondering if there would be more bread for days to
follow.
Remember, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has
taught to trust and depend on God and His providence in order not to worry
(Matthew 6:25-34).
So, a big problem of the rich fool is not to have
trusted God for His providence, which comes as “one at a time”, represented
with “our daily bread”. Had he trusted
God for His providence, then, he would not have greedily amassed all the excess
harvests by demolishing the original storages and building larger ones. Rather,
he could have given that to those in greater need around him. Because of this
problem, the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21 was like the rich man who did not care
for poor Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. And both of these rich men were punished by
God.
Rich life only to be punished by God? Is this a kind
of rich life you desire?
In light of the First Reading of the 18th
Sunday (Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23), it is a life of vanity. And the Second Reading (Colossians 3:1-5,
9-11), a true rich life to be blessed by
God is to seek the richness of above, not on earth. Not to know this truth shall make us “food”
as it was what made the rich fool “fool”. And God punished him for being “fool”.
Remember, Jesus has said:
Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy,
and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. Matthew 6:19-20
We shall not pursue richness in illusion because not only it leads to a life of vanity but condemnation by God.
This year (2022), the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time falls on the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola (July 31). In memory and honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in regard to the Gospel Reading's teaching against greed and a life of vanity, let us turn to his "Suscipe" prayer from his Spiritual Exercises (234).
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
All
I have and call my own.
You
have given all to me.
To
you, Lord, I return it.
Everything
is yours; do with it what you will.
Give
me only your love and your grace,
that
is enough for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment