Reflection: "God's Kingdom is Enough for All"Have you seen the musical “The Fiddler on the Roof”, where the main character, Tevye, sings a song called “If I Were a Rich Man.”
In that song he prays, “Dear God, you made many, many poor people. I realize, of course, that it’s no shame to be poor. But it’s no great honour either! So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?” When his friend Perchik reminds him that “Money is the world’s curse,” Tevye responds, “May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.” I think this is a good illustration of the way in which even a poor man may be seduced by the desire for wealth. Deep down, you and I are probably not very different from Tevye and by this, I mean that we need the warning of this week’s parable every bit as much as those whom we consider to be rich. When we read the parable of the rich fool, we can’t help but think of famous rich people like Howard Hughes, Bill Gates in the US, or our own Gina Reinhardt. I don’t know whether they’re fools, but I do know that they’re rich. I also know, from some of the reports that went out at the time of the death of Howard Hughes, that while he had accumulated a great deal of wealth, he didn’t enjoy any of it in his last days, perhaps his last years. In this sense, he’s a present-day example of what Jesus was warning us about in our text. The danger of us idolising a man like Howard Hughes, is that it implies the parable applies only to the rich. To put the matter more pointedly, thinking of the rich fool in this text as Howard Hughes, enables us to not think of ourselves as “rich fools.” This highlights a problem for all of us, as we probably think of this parable as pertaining to someone else – like someone really, really, wealthy, rather than someone like us! But we have to remember that it applies to us as well as to those whom we might regard as wealthy. By the standards of first century Palestine, most of us – if not all of us – would be regarded as wealthy, anyway. We’ll examine this parable of Jesus under three headings: Context, Communication and Consequences. Context of the Parable: As with a number of the parables, a request made of Jesus, or a question posed to him, provides the context. It’s not necessary to get into the Old Testament laws regarding inheritance, since Jesus doesn’t bother to do so. The point is that there’s an inheritance to be divided and that the man wants Jesus to take his side in the matter. Apparently, he sees Jesus as an authority whose word his brother would accept. The man doesn’t seem to be truly interested in justice, though, since he doesn’t ask Jesus to listen to both sides of the argument before rendering a verdict. The answer to the question Jesus poses: “Who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” is obviously a reference to the passage in John 5:22-27, where it states that God the Father has made Jesus the Judge of all! But I doubt that the man realizes this. The man has approached Jesus as though he’s a judge, and he should have stopped to think about the implications of this, especially since Jesus is going to address the real issue that needs to be judged – which is the man’s true motive in seeking help. The real issue with which the man needs help – is his own covetousness, which, as Paul clearly teaches in Colossians 3:5, is idolatry. In our story, Jesus is unconcerned about justice; but he’s all too aware that this man’s covetousness will do him more harm than him not having his share of the inheritance. Communication of the Parable: It’s been suggested that this parable can be divided into four movements. The First Movement – the Plentiful Yield of a Rich Man’s Field Notice the way Jesus emphasizes the fact that the field itself produced a great yield. He doesn’t credit the rich man with having accomplished anything great himself. And as we move on, we see that the man’s response to the abundant yield of his field is not to thank God for being the giver of such a bounty, but rather he focuses on what he can do with it – ie. for his own satisfaction. Thus, the man is falling prey to the very issue about which God had warned the Israelites when he brought them into the land in the first place. The Second Movement – the Problem Presented by the Unexpected Yield The man had clearly not expected, nor planned, for such a great harvest, therefore he has no room to store it. But this would also mean that he has ended up with more than he actually needs, doesn’t it? So, what will he do? What should he do? We find out in the next part of the parable. The Third Movement – the Solution to the Problem Here, there is no expression of thankfulness of God, or desire to use his unexpected gains for God’s purposes. Why, for example, doesn’t he think of giving a greater “thank offering” at the temple, or of giving some of it to the poor? What we see here is a selfish desire in the rich man to use everything for his own satisfaction and comfort. In the process, he’s looking many years down the road, but he fails to realize that there may be other unexpected events that could take place - like what happens in the final part of the parable. The Fourth Movement – the Unexpected Judgment of God In this section, we find that even the man’s life and soul, don’t really belong to him! This is why God calls him a fool, because he’s thought and acted as though all he has is his own, including his soul. In reality, everything we have is a gift from God and now God is demanding back the life that he‘s given to this man. What Jesus is doing in this parable is driving home a point that he’s made before, when he taught, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Luke 9:24-25 And so now – after having looked at the context of the parable and the communication of the parable – we’re lead, finally, to think about its consequences. Consequences of the Parable: One whose life is consumed with covetousness and earthly treasures, rather than seeing that all he has is a gift from God and therefore belongs to God, will end up like this rich fool – with absolutely nothing! Indeed, they’ll have forfeited their own soul! Being “rich toward God” means rightly acknowledging God as the source of anything good that we have, including our very lives, and we need to thank him for these things and set about using them to his glory, rather than for our own selfish and sinful desires. Now, in conclusion, we have a reminder from the Apostle Paul, who followed Jesus in teaching about the dangers of storing up earthly riches and about the need to be rich toward God. When we look at a significant portion of his teaching in 1 Timothy 6, there’s no doubt that Paul had learned the lessons of this parable and was duly inspired to teach the same principles to us. I pray that we will also rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to heed this teaching and keep God and his glory as the central focus of our lives! May we each come away from this teaching with a deeper reliance upon the Holy Spirit to enable us to “seek the things above, where Christ is,” as Paul said to the Colossian believers, and “to set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth.” After all, what God provides is more than enough for us. Blessings to you all……………….Pastor Rick
1 Comment
Lena Beryl Blok
29/7/2022 07:31:41 pm
Thank you Rick for another fine message. Something we must always remember.
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