THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Rich Fool

 The Parable of the Rich Fool appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. According to Luke 12:16-21, the parable reflects the foolishness of attaching too much importance to wealth.

 He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I don't have room to store my crops?' He said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."'

"But God said to him, 'You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

 The rich man did not view himself as a servant of God, nor his resources as responsibilities entrusted to him by God. Rather he viewed himself as the one being served, and his resources as toys to play with. This is an attitude of greedy covetousness, which is quite common among the rich, who make it their goal to retire and take it easy, or to do whatever satisfies their passions. But the more we have, the more we will be held responsible for. To be rich toward God is not to be poor in material things, but rather to use what resources God has entrusted to us to the furtherance of His Kingdom.
  
Notice Jesus attributes the good crop not directly to the rich man but to the ground. The rich man did not produce the good crop, the ground did. When people are successful they are quick to congratulate themselves and attribute their success solely to themselves. But they are much more subject to circumstances and "luck" then they may admit.

Parable of the Rich Fool