Luke 12:16

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, for I have not where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do; I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat drink, be merry. But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

First, let it be observed that when blessings were multiplied upon this man, it only served to increase his covetousness. "Experience teaches that earthly losses are remedies for covetousness, while increases in worldly goods only arouse and provoke it."[22]

Behold also the blight of covetousness, signaled by the use of the first person singular pronouns eleven times in these few times! Barclay had a priceless analogy: "Edith lived in a little world, bounded on the north, south, east, and west, by Edith."[23]

I have not where to bestow my fruits ... A very ancient commentator has this:

It is mischievous error with which he starts, "I have not where to bestow my fruits"; and he (Ambrose) has answered well, "Thou HAST barns, - the bosoms of the needy, - the houses of the widows - the mouths of orphans and of infants."[24]

This man forgot God, his eternal soul, and others. The parable enables us to know what he said to himself, "Soul, ... take thine ease, etc." But the parable also enables us to know what God was saying at that very same time, "Fool, this night is thy soul required of thee."

Particularly, this man failed to recognize his status, not as the true owner of his goods, nor even of his soul, which were "his" only in the sense of his being temporarily a steward of them. The loan of an immortal spirit from God was about to be recalled, and the stewardship of his worldly possessions would pass, that very night, to others.

This night is thy soul required! "How awful do these words of God peal forth as thunder from the bosom of a dark cloud."[25] The contrasts in the parable are dramatic: "many years" vs. "this night," "much goods laid up" vs. "Whose shall these things be?" etc.

So is he that layeth up ... for himself, and is not rich toward God ... The person who is not rich toward God is poor indeed, due to the ephemeral nature of all earthly wealth, as well as of life itself. How pitifully brief is the span of life; how suddenly does the sun of life sink into the void; how quickly does the hope of mortal life decline! And, in the light of all this, which every man certainly knows, how obtuse must he be accounted who vainly imagines that he is assured of many years of pleasure, ease, and prosperity!

The most logical deduction that could be drawn from such a tragic story as that of the parable is that human anxieties about earthly possessions are futile and unrewarding. Christ promptly made that deduction the basis of the fourth warning in this sermon.

[22] Richard C. Trench, op. cit., p. 340.

[23] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956), p. 168.

[24] Richard C. Trench, op. cit., p. 341.

[25] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 253.