Sermon: Parable of the Rich Fool

That "life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" is little comfort for those who lost their homes and businesses in the recent floods.  From within the midst of people's devastation, from inside of their bewilderment at how such a thing could have happen; in their anger, at seeing all they've worked for ruined, these words of Jesus could sounds futile.  They could sound like the words of someone who just doesn't care. 

Life might not consist in the abundance of possessions but we do we need homes to live in and food to eat.  We need a level of stability in our lives.  You need to be able to go out knowing that when you come home at least your house, and your bed, and your pots and pans will still be there as you left them.   

Saying that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions is the kind of thing that's all too easy to agree with, when you have possessions:  A clean water supply, a roof over your head, some food in the fridge and maybe even some money in the bank. 

So if the words of Jesus are not futile, if we are to take his words with seriousness, then there is no getting around the fact that they present us with an extreme challenge.  A challenge which does no less than question the fundamentals of how we go about our daily thoughts and our expectations of this life. 

If we listen to the parable of the rich fool we hear about a farmer who is fortunate enough to have a bumper crop.  And, in all honesty, who doesn’t want a bumper crop?  Or to win a few million on the lottery? 

This crop is so big he can live of it for the rest of his life.  So, he builds bigger barns – big enough to house it all.   

And isn’t this, after all, a perfectly reasonable, and very sensible, thing to do? 

The Representative Body of the Church in Wales reports that “this year its investment return exceeded the benchmark for investment performance.”  So for the first time in seven years the Church of Wales is “back in the black”.[1]  And this is a blessing for us, is it not?  Because the Church needs money if it is to go on as it has been owning buildings, employing people and funding community projects. 

Going back to the farmer in the parable:  God calls him a fool, but, not because he is blessed with such fortune.  He calls him a fool because of his response to God's blessing.  He says to him self,  

“That’s it!  I’ve done it!  I'm made!  I'm sorted.  My life is now sweet.” 

And then just when he thinks he is assured of years of nothing but happiness, he drops down dead.  He is a fool, not because he is blessed with a bumper crop but because it takes the prospect of death to distract him from his "pre-occupation" with, only, "earthly success" and "earthly security."  Which can only ever be temporary.

And the sorry state is that we can live our whole lives without ever "awakening" to just how precious, how risky, how random and how fragile a gift this life is.  And in the end, in the face of inevitable death, there is actually no such thing as “earthly security.”  Even the most amazing “earthly success” pails into insignificance compared to the amazing gift which is life itself. 

What can we hear Jesus saying through this parable?  We might hear him saying that no one can afford to wait before they start living.  The time for living, the time for exploring the meaning of living and the time for praying, is now. 

In the gospel reading today a man comes to Jesus, from out of the crowd, and he comes wanting his inheritance from his brother.  He says: 

"Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 

And this is, presumably, after the death of their father. 

But, in his parabolic response, Jesus is asking this man to deepen his consideration of his own life.  With this parable Jesus is responding to him by saying that: "surely now is not the time for hoarding earthly treasures.  Surely, in the light of this death you realise that now is the time for living and praying.  Doesn't the death of your own father lead you to prayer and a deeper consideration of your own life?"

In the words of Saint Paul: 

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ.  Set you hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” 

For is it not true that what we set our hearts on then sets our course and can begin to dominate us.  And although we need possessions, and they are vital to us, possessions can become idolatry –they can distract us from life itself; and they can distract us from loving, both, God and our neighbour. 

Let us pray: 

Our days are as grass; as a flower of the field.

The wind passeth over it, and it is gone.

Bur your mercy, O Lord, is from everlasting to everlasting.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.  Amen.

Preached by: The Reverend Richard Carter at St St Peter's, Llanbedr on Sunday, 5th August 2007