Preaching Paths 3 August 2025

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

In today’s text (Luke 12:13-21), a man in the crowd calls out to Jesus, asking him to settle an inheritance dispute with his brother: “Tell him to divide the inheritance with me!” While it would not have been unusual for a respected rabbi to consider such a request, Jesus declines to take the role of arbiter. Perhaps Jesus suspects the man’s motive in making the dispute public; is this an effort to shame his (likely) elder sibling, who rightfully receives a double share, into making an unwise decision? In any case, Jesus warns the listening crowd to avoid “every kind” of greed and declares, “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (v 15). Jesus then offers a parable.

A prosperous farmer’s land produces an abundant yield. This is not ill-gotten gain; and certainly he has the right to do with his crop what he wishes. His barns are too small to accommodate the yield, so he contemplates his options—apparently finding it unnecessary to consult or consider anyone but himself. The reader pictures a soliloquy delivered on a stage heaped with grain. His ruminations are punctuated eleven times by self-referential pronouns. Just once, he resorts to “you;” but he is addressing himself: “Soul, you have ample goods . . .” (v19). The consensus? He shall build and fill bigger storage barns and then enjoy many years of self-sufficient, leisurely satiety. But his future takes an unexpected turn: God speaks, introducing an inconvenient wrinkle in his plans: that very night, he will die (“your soul is being required of you,” v 20a). “These things you’ve prepared,” God inquires, “whose shall they be?”  Lest the point be missed, Jesus adds: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” “Toward God,” this man is poor indeed.

The story itself is darkly humorous and worth retelling in the pulpit. One needs to be clear that the man has not stolen from or cheated anyone; his imminent death is not a stroke of divine judgment. It is simply that his range of vision has been foolishly myopic and naïve. Neither others’ needs, nor either God or his own mortality, have entered into his calculations. What causes him to congratulate his “soul” is that he believes he is now self-sufficient; he need not depend on anyone else for the rest of his life! The irony of the story, especially for Westernized cultural contexts, is that we can so readily identify with his sense of satisfaction: self-sufficiency “for many years,” resulting from careful saving and retirement plans, is precisely the goal that many of us have been encouraged to achieve!

Notably, the agrarian context in which this parable was constructed differs markedly from our own capitalist and investment-driven financial situations. This man could readily and immediately benefit his neighbors by sharing his abundant harvest with them. (They may well have been the ones who worked the land and harvested the crop!) By hoarding the fruit of their labors, he leaves them hungry and under-employed. Yet, the culture gap does not get us off the hook. The problem with this man is twofold: first, he lives in a universe of one, and second, he is “not rich toward God” (v21). What does this mean for us? Perhaps “investing in God’s concerns” is a helpful equivalent. Other-directed, we travel lighter. As we divest ourselves of our too-many possessions, we are freer to live lives, long or short, of generosity. Jesus presses us to discover—joyfully!—where true wealth lies.