Luke Reflections: The Rich Fool
Written by Very Reverend Peter Howell-Jones, Luke 12:13-21
Scottish businessman and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter started out selling trainers from the back of a van. At just 37, he sold Sports Division for £260 million and went on from there. Hunter makes money but his dream is to give £1 billion to charity. £100 million to the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative in Africa is not a bad start.
Hunter wanted to give well so he took advice from philanthropic thinker, Vartan Gregorian who at their first meeting and to Hunter’s astonishment said, ‘Tom, remember none of this is yours’. It’s this challenge that lies at the heart of our gospel story.
The Rich Fool and the Illusion of Ownership
The farmer knows his business and his actions seem reasonable. He probably gave alms to the poor and tithed his harvest. We all want a pleasant retirement with a decent pension. Yet he is a fool because, as we say today, ‘It’s all about me!’’ He believes himself accountable to no one, the owner and beneficiary of all he has. He may worship in the synagogue but in his heart, his soul and his business mind there is, as the fool says, no God (Psalm 53:1; Isaiah 32:6; Jeremiah 4:22).
Wealth Without Worship Breeds Injustice
This is not only a matter of personal discipleship. In Old Testament thinking not honouring God as owner and giver must result in injustice and in neglect of the poor and disadvantaged. To store the harvest drives up the price of grain. ‘People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell,’ says Proverbs 11:26.
Generosity Rekindles Worship
One of the problems of increasing affluence is that it can blind us to our obligations to the poor when in fact this is at the heart of true worship: ‘to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8). Recovering our spiritual sight requires practical action. Generosity of giving and living can help reignite the heart of true worship. The key that unlocks generous giving and living is the recognition that he is the true owner and that all we have is a gift entrusted to us. In his poem Father to Son Carl Sandburg writes:
A tough will counts. So does desire. So does a rich soft wanting. Without rich wanting nothing arrives. Tell him too much money has killed men And left them dead years before burial: The quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs Has twisted good enough men.
Money can bless or burden us and others. God grant to us a tough will to make those hard decisions at home, at leisure and in work. God give us a rich, soft wanting that is more than the accumulation of more lest we are dead years before burial.
‘Righteousness and generosity are inseparable. The person whose heart longs for God also longs to give to others.’ (Dillon Burroughs)
Reflect
The idea of God as the true owner of all that you earn, have and own is a challenging one. How does that make you feel and why?
Is there one item or decision or lifestyle choice you would find it especially difficult to ‘sign over ownership’ to God?
In what ways can affluence blind us to our obligations to the poor?