Ever since I first came into contact with the rich fool of Luke 12, I've been intrigued by the stupidities of his personality. He is a man so rich that he can even afford to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. This is a strange piece of non-thriftiness that a friend from a farming background assured me is still not unknown in rural Australia—something which I witnessed, in modified English form, for myself just the other day. (Well okay, watching Grand Designs on the telly may not count as ‘witnessing’, but let's just say that there are enough rich fools about for any of us to recognize the type.)

The real heart of his foolishness is not, though, the total wastage of his hard-earned cash in deciding to build bigger barns when he could have thought of any range of money-saving alternatives. Nor is it the pathetic state of his personal life, revealed in that instant when we realize that, so alone and friendless is he that he has no-one he can trust to talk to about his plans, except for himself (vv. 18-19). The depth of his dopey-ness is revealed when we realize that he is going to die and face judgement, alone and unready to meet God.

It's a terrifying tale that shows how ready the Lord Jesus is to remind those who have ears to hear about God's coming judgement.

Let me add one unsupportable speculation—based, I admit, on my own fascination with this solitary Bill Gates type (though I note for the record that Bill Gates, the man with the Sunday School upbringing, has better plans for his money).

I speculate that the rich fool of Luke 12 reappears four chapters later as the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. Can you see it? There he is again, this time in a new setting. He lives and dines alone (apart, we may assume, from the team employed to keep him comfortable), while daily ignoring poor, sore (sorry) Lazarus who sits by his gate and begs. Later, when he is cast into Hades, we discover that he was never quite as alone as he appeared, and he begs Father Abraham for the opportunity to send Lazarus back to warn his five brothers about the terrible, flamey fate that awaits them. To which Abraham responds that if they didn't bother to read their Bibles, there's not a hope in hell that they will listen to someone who rises from the dead. Or words to that effect.

Do you see the similarities? The same solitary, self-centred personality—the same bucketloads of wealth at his disposal—the same attitude of ignorance towards God—the same born-to-rule attitude that can see him tear down barns on a whim (in Luke 12), and now, post-mortem, see him greeting fellow rich man Abraham as a near equal, asking him to send off Lazarus to run a little errand or two for him. And it actually makes more sense, knowing a little of the lifestyles of the rich and famous (well, we all have TVs, and as well as watching them, it is possible that we are them), to think of the rich man of Luke 12 as not so much alone as friendless by choice. The reality uncovered in Luke 16 illuminates what was really going on in Luke 12.

Okay, I admit this theory of mine may have bells on it. Both stories of rich fools come out of Jesus' head, and it is equally possible that Jesus had more than one rich fool in mind when he invented his stories. After all, there were plenty of these types around for Jesus to base his story on (16:14).

But whether you like this bit of kite-flying or not, there is plenty of reason for anyone with the money to read this online at home to live in fear. The fires of hell are waiting for anybody who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. (Jas 5:1-6)

1 Comment »