The parable of the man building bigger barns

[mdgspencer]

What do you think is wrong with this man in the parable in Luke? He is a rich and prosperous man, who, having nowhere to store his crops, plans on building bigger barns. And he says to himself, I will have ample goods laid up for many years. Then God said to him, fool! This night your soul is required of you, and your things, who will have them?(Lk 12:16-20) The parable speaks of no particular wrongdoing on his part, but all the same God calls him a fool.
When thinking of this parable, I realized that his goal is the goal of many of us looking forward to retirement, and in fact I have been looking forward to an enjoyable retirement myself in a few years after piling up retirement money over the years. I thought it would be interesting to see what people think–why did God speak to him in this way?

 

[Della]

What the man has not done is provide for the poor out of his abundance. That is why God calls him a fool. He has laid up treasures on earth but none in heaven.

 

[Nechasin]

What Della said is correct. By just qouting Luke 12:16-20, you are missing the whole picture. The parable is the continuation of Luke 12:13-15.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Note that the parable says and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”

The Baltimore Catechism told us that we are here to know, love and serve God in preparation for the next world. This farmer has decided to cut short his learning period and take it easy. The Lord might as well call him to judgment; he doesn’t intend to do anything more in preparation for judgment.

 

[Steven_Merten]

Hello mdgspencer,

I know of a man who has an estimated ten million dollars in the stock market. The man goes to the soup kitchen to eat. I know him well. So I mentioned to him that hard working Catholics, without the finatial surplus that he has, sacrifice to donate to the soup kitchen in order to feed the poor. The donations from sacrificing Catholics is really not meant to feed millionaires with so they do not have to break into their stash. He just looked at me funny.

Regular tithing is good for the soul and good for one’s mental health. Greed has an evil way of distorting one’s mind.

 

[Lazerlike42]

I am currently doing a series of parables to take us through the six weeks of Lent. This was the first one, so I have had lots of thoughts about it, and gotten (name removed by moderator)ut from others when we discussed it this past Monday.

There seem to be a lot of things going on here. For one thing, the context of the parable clearly suggests that it is speaking against greed, as a teaching against greed immediately comes before it.

Immediately after, Jesus teaches that God willgive us what we need, so we don’t need to worry. It’s where He says that God takes care of the birds of the air, so He will take care of us, too.

In terms of the actual parable, I think there are a few points worth making. One is that the man is not condemned for any particular wrong, but for failing to prepare for God. He has spent so much time preparing for this life that he never gets around to preparing to meet God.

Another is that the man is not doing all this building because he actually needs it, but because he wants to eat, drink and be merry and not have to work. He is looking to store up all the wheat for himself so he can just sit around. It would be one thing if he actually needed more space for a good reason - but he is just looking to live the easy life.

Another point, one that I think is very important, is that Jesus says that the man got in trouble for being rich in the things of the world, but not rich in what matters to God - and the man had what he needed to do what mattered to God the whole time. He had enough wheat for himself. He could have taken what was left over and given that to the poor - in other words, he could have taken what he already had and with it become rich in the things that matter to God.

This leads into the last point I’ll make: what got this man into trouble wasn’t bad. In fact, it was given to him by God. At the beginning, Jesus says that the land produced a good harvest that year, or in other words, God gave the man a good harvest. From this we see a lot of things. God gives us what we need to become rich in the things that matter to God. Also, we sometimes must take a look at what God has given us and realize how we can use it to help others, and not merely to help ourselves.

 

[Nita]

This parable is one that has often prodded my conscience. We are quite attached to our material well-being in the U.S. and I think we have to guard against trying to rationalize away those Scripture passages that challenge that mindset.

How much is enough?? Personally, my husband and I have been blessed with more than “enough”. How much of the excess is to be given away; how much saved for future emergencies? I wish Jesus would have been more specific. With all the intercontinental communication we are constantly aware of people in dire need; and thru various charitable organizations, the means are in place to get needed money/goods to them.

I don’t have any definite answers. We chose a method of giving, but probably as long as we have a savings account I’ll wonder if God wants us to give more.

Nita