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May 26, 2026 06:00am

Walking Through Luke: The Parable of the Rich Fool

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It’s really easy to get jealous of things other people have. You would think that it’s easier to become jealous when we lack something that someone else has. But in fact, I’ve found that it’s often easier to let jealousy creep in when you do have something, but someone else happens to have something we perceive to be superior to ours.

When we don’t have something, it can be easy enough to bite our tongues and move on with life. We accept that it’s something we can’t afford right now, or maybe that we don’t really need. We can make do with a complete absence of something. But when we have something, and we are used to its presence in our lives, and then we see someone with what we perceive as superior to ours, it can make us feel inadequate, insecure, and envious.

The Internet makes this even easier. We see social media posts from friends, and we envy their clothes, their cars, and their lifestyles. “I wish I could afford a jacket like that,” we might think. I like clothes, particularly fall and winter clothes, so when I see a nice jacket or pair of boots, it can be easy for me to wish I had some like that and quickly forget to be grateful for the ones I do have.

I remember once, when I was a kid, my brother had taken something from my toy box. It was a cheap, meaningless toy, the kind you’d get as a prize from Chuck E. Cheese or somewhere similar. Somehow, he broke it, and even though the toy didn’t matter to me at all, I called my parents and said, “He broke my toy!” They said that to be fair, he had to give me one of his toys instead. A more mature response would have been to recognize that what he had broken was a cheap prize that I would not give a second thought about once it was gone, but unfortunately, I had a selfish streak growing up that I’ve had to work hard to overcome as I grow older.

In that selfishness, I thought of something he had that I wanted: a Jack Sparrow action figure. Pirates of the Caribbean was a big hit in our house that year, and while I had multiple toys from that movie, I didn’t have that Jack Sparrow figure. So I went to his toy box, pulled out the Jack Sparrow action figure, and said that’s what I wanted in exchange. Thankfully, my parents recognized the unfairness in that and told me no. But in that moment, my envy showed through. It’s a moment I look back on to remind myself how easy it is to be greedy.

In Luke 12:13–21, we find Jesus warning His listeners about greed and jealousy. A random man in the crowd called out to Jesus and said, “Tell my brother to split his inheritance with me!” While we don’t know the backstory behind this request, what most likely happened is that this was a younger brother. Older brothers in those days received a double portion of the inheritance. So, if there were two brothers, the older brother got two-thirds and the younger brother got one-third. Maybe this younger brother felt he had been cheated by the division and wanted the inheritance to be split evenly instead. Whatever the case, he approached Jesus with this request, believing Jesus had some kind of authority to arbitrate a legal dispute between brothers.

Jesus responded to the man appropriately: “Who gave Me the authority to judge this matter?” Imagine a divorced man going to his pastor and saying, “Hey, my ex-wife is making me pay too much alimony. Can you get her to stop?” A pastor doesn’t have the authority to make that call. And while Jesus has all authority as God over Earth and nature, He did not hold political authority during His earthly ministry. However, He used this opportunity to springboard into an important discussion about covetousness.

In a nutshell, He said, “Guard yourself against covetousness. Life is more than abundant possessions.” Life is about more than possessions. If getting stuff is all we care about, our lives will never be as full as they could be. We will never be satisfied with enough stuff because there will always be something else to get: a nicer pair of shoes, a better car, a bigger house, the next book in the series, or a new video game. It’s okay to have possessions, but it’s not okay to constantly live with a mindset of wanting more. We need to be content with what we have and focus on things that matter more. When the opportunity to get something new comes along, that may be fine, but we shouldn’t spend our lives constantly striving for more.

As He usually did, Jesus made His point through a parable. He told a story about a rich landowner. One year, his land produced a particularly abundant crop. The man became concerned because he worried his barns would not be large enough to store everything he had grown. There were many solutions to that problem. The most obvious one might have been for the man to give away the excess. He could donate it or, if he felt financial pressure, sell some of the crops. If someone has that much, they can afford to be generous with it. He could have fed the poor people in his village and focused on others instead of only on himself.

But the rich man did not come to that conclusion. Instead, he decided to tear down his old barns and build bigger ones. His intention was that, with all the crops he had harvested, he could relax for many years without having to work.

But God spoke to the man. That night, his soul would be required—in other words, he would die. And what would his life amount to then? Would he be able to take his barns and crops with him? Who would those things belong to? Certainly not the dead man. Jesus warned that whoever spends life focusing on gaining wealth rather than building treasures in God’s kingdom will face the same reality.

The saying is true: you can’t take it with you. Whatever possessions you gain in this life stay here when you die. Jesus is clear. There is more to life than having things. The best way to spend our time is serving God and helping others, not living selfishly. Having the nicest house, the best clothes, or the coolest car won’t earn you anything in God’s kingdom. What will matter is the difference you make for Him while you’re alive. Are you representing Him well? Are you taking care of the people around you? Are you standing up for those who are bullied and mistreated? Are you using your possessions to help others?

Think carefully about the things God has blessed you with. How are you using them? The rich man could have distributed his abundant crop, and countless people in the area would not have had to worry about food. He had the power to bless many people, but instead he hoarded what he had.

The best thing we can do with the abundance God blesses us with is not to hoard it, but to use it for others. God gives us opportunities to be a blessing. Sometimes it’s financial. Sometimes it’s through abilities or time. But we all have something we can give. And how we use those gifts will be rewarded—or not—in God’s kingdom.