“The Parable of the Rich Fool”

Scripture – Luke 12:13-21

Sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Gregory Knox Jones

Sunday, September 29, 2024

You may have heard this before, but it bears repeating. A young woman wrote the following letter on a delicate subject to advice columnist Abigail Van Buren. Dear Abby, I am a 23-year-old liberated woman who has been on the pill for two years. It’s getting pretty expensive, and I think my boyfriend should share half the cost, but I don’t know him well enough to discuss money with him.

Unlike this liberated young woman, Jesus was never hesitant to talk about money because he knew it was such a powerful, and potentially dangerous force in our lives. It can be put to good use putting a kid through college or building low-income housing, and it can become such a glittering image of desire that it can blind you to what is truly important.

In today’s parable, Jesus tells the tale of a rich man who was suddenly faced with an extraordinary dilemma. He had a bumper crop that eclipsed anything he had ever had; a problem most people would love to have. His crops were so bounteous he could not store it all in his barns.

He pondered his dilemma. He thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said to himself, “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. Then, once my super-sized barns are built and my grain is stored, I’ll kick back and live a life of pleasure.”

However, before he can instigate his plan, God says, “You fool! You’re not going to kick back; you’re going to kick the bucket! And your barn full of goods – whose will it be?”

To be clear, Jesus did not tell this parable simply to pummel people who are prosperous. But rather to warn all of us of what wealth can do to our soul. As one scholar put it: This man was “drowning in self-absorbtion.”¹

Did you catch how many times the wealthy man used first person pronouns? I have no place to store MY crops. I will pull down MY barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all MY grain and MY goods.” Perhaps more importantly, did you notice who he was talking to about his dilemma? Himself. We have to wonder if his self-centered nature had driven everyone else away.

Greed distorts our perspective. The rich farmer believed that his abundance was entirely the result of his own efforts. It never crossed his mind to express thanks to God for the soil and the weather patterns that produced the extraordinary crop. It never crossed his mind to thank the laborers who helped plant and harvest the record-breaking yield.

If you peruse the gospels, you find that Jesus talks more about wealth and possession than he does prayer. This is not because Jesus believes earning money and owning nice things are sinful and we are expected to take a vow of poverty. It’s because he knows that wealth and possessions have a subtle way of skewing our perspective. Greed is often easy to identify in others, but it can slip under the radar and lodge in our own hearts without us noticing.

Recently, while I was waiting in a doctor’s office, I could not miss hearing the music that was playing in the background. It was a constant stream of songs from the 60s and 70s. I remember hearing the Mamas and the Papas belting out their hit song, “Monday, Monday,” but I can’t remember the others. Except for one. The British rock group Manfred Mann was singing the inane line that is repeated over and over and over: “Do wah diddy, diddy, dum diddy do.” Isn’t that one of the worst lines ever sung? Even worse than “Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.”

I must have heard seven or eight songs waiting for the doctor, but of course, of all of the different songs that were played, the one that refused to stop playing in my brain was: “Do wah diddy, diddy, dum diddy do.” Arrrrgh!

Don’t you just hate it when an annoying song won’t stop playing in your head? To rid myself of it, I muster my will to focus on some more edifying music to override the inelegant one.

But in addition to almost driving me mad, the experience prompted a thought. What song is in your heart? Instead of the irritating song that’s playing over and over in your mind that you’d like to delete, what song is routinely playing in your heart? Is it worry? Is it joy? Is it frustration? Is it gratitude? In our parable, Jesus says that some have a ravenous hunger for selfish pleasure.

Professor Tom Long notes that “In the UK, they enjoy telling a story about the Irish soccer player George Best. In the 1960s, he played for the legendary team Manchester United and was considered the greatest soccer player in the world. The dashingly handsome and wildly celebrated Best was known not only for his athleticism on the field but also for his playboy lifestyle off the field. He once said, ‘I spent a lot of money on booze, women, and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.’”

“One evening Best and his date, the reigning Miss World, were gambling in a Spanish casino. Like the rich man in the parable, Best hit a lucky streak and had an abundant harvest; he won thousands of dollars at the tables that night. He and Miss World retired to their hotel room to celebrate with champagne and caviar. When their supplies ran low, Best called room service to order more. When the bellman arrived with the food and drink, he entered the room to see the famous George Best on the bed, intertwined with a scantily clad beauty queen, a glass of champagne in his hand, and the bed strewn with thousands of dollars of newly won cash. Placing the champagne and caviar on a table, the bellman looked over at Best and said, ‘Mr. Best, when did it all go wrong?’”

“Years later, an older and more reflective Best observed, ‘He saw something in me that I did not…The bellman saw something different from what George Best saw, different from what most people see. The bellman saw a reality in which a fabulously wealthy, famous, and fortunate man, who according to the accepted rules, had everything going right, actually had gone all wrong.’”²

What song is in your heart? Is it a yearning to show the world you are a success; a desire to be the envy of others? The song that was playing over and over in the heart of the man in today’s parable was: “Relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

Scottish theologian, William Barclay, who wrote a commentary on all 66 books of the Bible said, “No book condemns selfish wealth with such searing passion as the Bible does…It does not condemn wealth as such; but there is no book which more strenuously insists on wealth’s responsibility and on the perils which surround those who are abundantly blessed with this world’s goods.”³

The wealthy man in today’s parable made the mistake that so many people make today. He did not discern what really counts. His sights had narrowed to personal pleasure and a life of ease. He failed to understand the deep joy that comes with a generous spirit and the meaningful challenges and beautiful adventure that come with following Jesus.

“African American Oseola McCarty was born poor and abandoned by her father in rural Mississippi. Living with her mother, grandmother, and an aunt, family responsibilities forced her exit from school in the 6th grade. Like her grandmother, for whom she provided care, she became a washerwoman, an occupation which carried her deep into her 80s when arthritis forced her retirement. McCarty never married and she had no children. She owned no car, nor, at least until very late in her life, an air conditioner, which she turned on only when guests visited. She subscribed to no newspaper, pushed a grocery cart a mile to the grocery store, and lived a very modest lifestyle because she had a very modest income.”

“But McCarty saved her money. In the mid-1990s, bank officers contacted McCarty in her 80s, both impressed by and concerned about her mounting wealth. What were her plans for it? Scattering Dimes across her kitchen table to represent her accumulated fortune, she outlined the parameters of what would become her irrevocable trust. Three Dimes represented the percentage designated for her living relatives. One dime denoted her tithe that would go to her church. Six Dimes symbolized the coming bequest that would set the press a flutter, the inspiring news that Oseola McCarty, a poor African American Mississippi washerwoman, would leave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to underwrite tuition for students who otherwise could not afford the education she had herself been denied…And she decided not to wait for her death to launch her dream. Immediately her money was set loose. Six hundred neighbors found her generosity so remarkable they added their gifts atop hers. Soon her money more than tripled.”

“Oseola McCarty knew that giving is its own pleasure. When a journalist from People magazine asked her why she didn’t spend the money she had saved on herself, she answered with a smile, ‘I am spending it on myself.’”⁴

McCarty knew the generosity of God and could not help but partner with God by being generous herself. And she knew the joy that comes with being a generous person.

“CNN mogul Ted Turner heard about McCarty’s generosity and was so moved by her example that he donated a billion dollars to charity. The New York Times quoted Turner on his motivation. He said, ‘If that little woman can give away everything she has, then I can give a billion.’”⁵

You do not have to be Oseola McCarty to be generous, but her example underscores the importance of using whatever level of wealth you have to expand God’s kingdom on earth. And the joy that accompanies a generous spirit.

Westminster’s budget for 2025 is showing a $90,000 budget deficit. You heard that right. We need everyone to do what they can to erase that deficit. You can increase the amount you give to see that Westminster’s ministry and mission continue. However, I hope you will not simply give to help us make the budget. I hope you will give because in your heart, you want to be a generous person and because you want to draw nearer to God.

What song is playing in your heart? Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

NOTES

1. Debie Thomas, “Rich Toward God,” July 28, 2019.
2. Thomas G. Long, Proclaiming the Parables, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2024), p.285.
3. William Barclay, Daily Devotions with William Barclay, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), p.237.
4. Karl B. Travis, God’s Gift of Generosity, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, p. 41-42.
5. Ibid., p.43.

Prayers of the People

Randall T. Clayton

Generous God, we are grateful that life truly is more than food, and it is more than clothing, Grateful that in you we have the possibility of life that abounds in hope and joy. Help us to turn our gratitude into giving, our hope into sharing, and our joy into actions that build up your church and shares your love near and far.

You are the God of fertile fields, and yet earth now groans in pain from our mistreatment of it. Fields that once produced food no longer do; forests that provided shade and protection are gone, and seas and temperatures rise. So, O God, show us a better way, and give us the energy to care for creation so that all may enjoy it and generations to come will find it hospitable and life giving.

In the wake of a hurricane this week, we pray for those whose homes were damaged or destroyed, whose businesses were flooded, whose livelihood was hurt in the winds and waters. We lift up those in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee as they seek to recover from devastation. We especially lift up to you those in and around Asheville as they encounter homes that were washed away, roads and bridges that are no longer, infrastructure that is now gone, communication difficult at best. We pray for rebuilding, for healing, for restoration too.

Where populations are terrorized or tortured, where lands are taken by force and people live in fear, we pray for peace. Where hospitals are destroyed, homes are invaded, and infrastructure is destroyed by acts of violence and warfare, we pray for peace.

We pray especially this day for the people of the middle east and the people of Ukraine, may they find peace. Fearing the potential for larger warfare, we pray so hard for peace. We pray for those whose lives have been impacted by the violence and devastation of war and ask that you help us to work for that day when swords might be turned to plows. We pray for leaders of warring peoples that they may have the wisdom to know the things that make for peace.

Remembering the vows we made when we joined the church to support it, remembering your gracious acts of love and redemption, remembering that all we have is really help in trust, enable us to prayerfully consider our generosity in the coming weeks.

Guide the session, the deacons, and the trustees as they seek to lead this church in this new world. Endow their deliberations and decisions with your Spirit. We pray for the work of the interim associate pastor nominating committee, for the work of the joint finance team, and our mission and education committees, and for our all our committees, task forces. Guide their processes, and their work, so that what we do here at Westminster might be pleasing in your sight.

Bring comfort to those who mourn; bring hope to those who fear; bring healing to those who hurt.

Remembering the needs of the world, and our own concerns, we also remember the prayer which Jesus taught saying,  “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”