The Parable of the Rich Fool
Mike Johnson
The parable of the Rich Fool is recorded in Luke 12:16-21. Here, Jesus said:
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Circumstances Surrounding the Parable
In the first part of Luke 12, Jesus is speaking to a group of people about such subjects as the Holy Spirit, not fearing persecution, and confessing Him. A person in the crowd (V. 13), perhaps in an interrupting manner, made a request of Jesus. He said, “Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.” According to the Old Law, the eldest son would receive a double portion of his father’s inheritance (Deut. 21:15-17). The man under consideration may have been the younger son who was trying to get more than his share. Jesus did not directly enter into the family dispute as He said, “Man who made me a judge or divider over you?” However, he does respond to the circumstance by first bringing up covetousness and then by presenting the Parable of the Rich Fool.
Applications
There is no indication that the rich man of the parable had done anything dishonest. We are not told that he was a drunkard or a murderer, yet, he was not pleasing to God. The man had hoarded selfishly that which he had and had no concern for the needs of others, considering only himself. The man, in his statement, used the word “I” six times and “my’ five times. This man, in his careful planning, did not take into account that he could die and not receive any further benefit from his abundance.
In verse 15, Jesus stated the need to take heed and to beware of covetousness. Thayer, on page 516 of his Greek Lexicon defines the word translated covetousness to mean, “greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice. . . .” Covetousness is condemned throughout God’s Word and is an ever present problem in our materially oriented society.
Jesus stated further, “for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (15b). In Matthew 16:26, Jesus said, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” When the rich man died, he could not take his money with him. In verse 20, after God said that the man’s soul would be required of him, He asked, “Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” His money, which he had selfishly hoarded and trusted in, would not keep him from dying nor would it help him on the Judgment Day. We should all place things of a spiritual nature above physical things, and, as we have learned, we should always be prepared for death. Christians should not be covetous or selfish as the man of the parable was.
After relating the parable, Jesus pointed out (V. 21), “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” The rich man had laid up treasures on earth, but he was not pleasing to God. He would be like the Laodiceans (Rev. 3) who were apparently rich physically but were poor spiritually.
Many people today are like the rich man in the parable, having a materialistic attitude instead of having proper spiritual values. They are covetous toward that which they do not have and are selfish with that which they do have. Money can be used for good. It can be used, for example, to provide for our own (I Tim. 5:8), to do good toward all men (Gal. 6:10), and in contributing on the first day of the week (I Cor. 16:1-2). However, money should not be our master. I Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some covet after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”