How to become "rich towards God" (Luke 12:13-21; 3 August 2025)

A reflection on the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA. 

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
3 August 2025
Luke 12:13-21, the parable of the rich fool

Welcome
We are all aware of a cost of living crisis in Ireland and elsewhere. Basic things like food and electricity have shot up in price and everyone has had to make adjustments. It might seem an unfortunate coincidence that today and next Sunday, we hear teaching from Luke’s Gospel on money and possessions. Of course, in the real world, we all need a place to live, an income, some kind of social security and so on.

Topic
Nevertheless, it is good, if we can, to stand back and reflect. Here, the wisdom teaching of Jesus can help us, as handed on in the Gospel of Luke.

Steps
The writer of the Gospel of Luke seems to have come from what we would call a comfortable, educated background. He has travelled widely and he is not only gifted as a writer but has enjoyed a decent education. Odd details or slips can be revealing. When Luke mentions money, the amounts are always larger than in Mark, who always deals in the smallest coinage. In the story of the paralysed man let down through the roof, in Mark is a mud roof. In Luke, the roof has tiles on it, so we’ve gone up a grade. And so on.  Given his background, it is all the more remarkable, therefore, to hear what Luke has to say on money and possessions, explored this Sunday and next Sunday. 

There is no need to labour the parable of the rich fool and its message. We’ve all come heard of people who have amassed wealth, only to die suddenly and unexpectedly. As we used to say, shrouds have no pockets. The warning stands, of course, as Luke intends it to stand. But to me, the more interesting remark is at the tail-end of story:

So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.

How would you make yourself rich in the sight of God?  Three things come to mind.

The first is not to sleepwalk through life. This is easier and more common that we might imagine. We are all busy and it is easy to be constantly occupied or even pre-occupied. Even relaxation can become another programme and a distraction. It is never easy to give yourself time for the deeper questions: is there a God? What may I hope? What should I do? Every so often, we all get a sharp reminder, the jolt of illness or even mortality. It is up to us to pay attention to these wake-up calls.

The second is to put others first, with compassion, generosity and love. There are people for whom the phrase “it’s all about me” really fits, alas. They themselves are the real centres of their lives, and every decision, every manoeuvre is focussed on themselves and their apparent well-being. Such self-centred people come across as chronically unhappy. They have not yet made the spiritual break-through that true inner well-being comes from being focussed not on myself but on the love, well-being and happiness of others.
The third aspect is to realise that what you have is not who you are. In our Gospel, we read: for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns. In newer translations, the teaching of Jesus is sharper and more direct:

For life does not consist of abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15; RNJB)

In our better moments, we all know this to be true. The Roman philosopher Seneca, who did not always practice what he preached, but who liked paradoxes, once said: Poverty is not not having enough; it is always wanting more. Much wants more and always wanting more, in other words, greed, is a kind of disease or, better, the worship of a false god.

In Acts 20:35, St Paul is speaking and he quotes an otherwise unattested saying of Jesus:

In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35)

Conclusion
So, there is a wisdom teaching from Jesus: don’t sleep-walk through life; put others first; money, important as it is, is emphatically not who you are. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” 

When you look around, the happy people are those who have discovered this art of living: generosity and kindness, love and, yes, service of the other. In the context of faith, this makes absolute sense. As our second reading puts it, such people have “put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator.” And we know who the creator is: God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God. That is how we become “rich towards God.”