The parable of the Rich Fool appears in the Gospel of Luke 12:13-21, and the person referred to as a “rich fool” was a farmer. He owned large tracts of land having different types of grains. On one occasion, he had a bountiful harvest, and his fields abounded in grain. He stored his grain within large barns and went to bed that night, a truly happy man. He thought he had enough grain stored up for many years, and so he could relax and lead a life of ease, with no worry whatsoever. The man, however, had made a mistake. He was so delighted with his future pleasure that he forgot the current world wherein he lived and worked. He did not realize that he had duties to fulfil, responsibilities to see to, and promises to keep. So, at midnight, God said to him in a dream, “You Fool! You will die tonight. What will become of all the grain you have stored up?”
The farmer desired plenty of wealth, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. We notice in the Bible that many who were close to God were rich people. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were exceedingly affluent men. They owned large flocks of sheep and various herds of cattle, and besides, they retained vast lands. Isaac and Ishmael were tribal leaders, David and Solomon were kings, Job was immensely rich, and all of them were greatly loved by God.
In the New Testament, too, although Jesus mixed with both the rich and poor, many of his close friends were incredibly well-to-do people. Joseph of Arimathea, who took down the body of Christ from the cross and placed it within the tomb, was said to have been a trader of colossal wealth. Lazarus and his sisters, living in the city of Bethany, were well-off people, and Lazarus is said to have been a vendor dealing with spices and balms, which the Jews of those days used. Mary Magdalene was a woman of great affluence who helped the believers in numerous ways. Elizabeth, the cousin of the Blessed Virgin, was the wife of a priest, and Jewish priests in those days were men of great prosperity, and the apostle Matthew was a rich tax collector. Yet, these were all people whom Jesus deeply loved.
In the life of Jesus, we see that he often sought to stay far away from money matters. On a certain occasion, a man stopped Jesus and said, “Rabbi, tell my brother to give me part of his inheritance.” On hearing this, Jesus swiftly reacted and said, “Who has made me a judge or arbitrator between you people?” In other words, Jesus realized promptly that what the man spoke of was not an issue of theft or corruption. Rather, it was an issue of avarice and greed, and so he instantly withdrew from the discussion.
In Deuteronomy chapter 8, God told the Jews that if they stood by Him, they would become a rich nation, but if they did not, their wealth would cause trouble.
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
We come across two individuals in the Gospels, whose experience with Jesus is indirectly linked to that of the rich fool. One was a rich young ruler who appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the other is Zacchaeus.
The young ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.” The ruler said, “All these I have kept since my youth.” On hearing this, Jesus said to him, “There is one thing you lack. Sell all you have and distribute the money to the poor, and come and follow me.” When the ruler heard this, he grew very sad, because he had great possessions. That was when Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Zacchaeus was an affluent tax-collector who had made his money by dubious means. Jesus however, met Zacchaeus, and entering his house, he had a meal with him. As they ate, Jesus succeeded in fully converting Zacchaeus, so much so that he said to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus accepted the offer of Zacchaeus and said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”
This however, raises a question within our minds. Why did Jesus make this distinction between these two men? In the case of the young ruler, Jesus insisted that he sell all his possessions and distribute the money to the poor, but in the case of Zacchaeus, Jesus was quite satisfied when he said that he would distribute only half of all his possessions to the poor.
This distinction arose because God invites us to salvation along different roads. Some people are called by God to lead lives of total deprivation and rejection. They take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; they have no private property or bank account, and they lead solitary lives of devotion to God and His people. There are other people, however, who are called by God to lead normal lives within the world. Such people are sometimes married and have families, they own private properties, and some are even exceptionally rich. What we need to remember is that both these roads have been blessed by God, and both these roads are equally good.
The fault of the rich fool, therefore, was not that he desired wealth. His blunder lay in the fact that he ignored the virtues of mercy, compassion, generosity, and love, virtues that lead us to God.
By Fr. Cyril Veliath, SJ