The Rich Fool and the Fear That Matters

The crowd was so dense that people stepped on one another. Jesus spoke first to his disciples, but the multitude heard it too. The opening warning was sharp: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing covered would stay hidden. What was whispered in the dark would be shouted from the housetops. The Lord was not building suspense. He was telling them that secrecy was an illusion.

Then he shifted tone. He called them friends and told them not to fear those who kill the body and can do no more. The real fear, he said, belongs to the one who has power to cast into hell after killing. That was the fear that mattered. But immediately he softened it: five sparrows sell for two pennies, and not one is forgotten before God. The hairs on your head are counted. You are worth more than many sparrows. The fear of God was not terror. It was the ground for trust.

A man from the crowd interrupted. He wanted Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance. Jesus refused the role of judge or divider. Then he turned the interruption into a lesson: Keep yourselves from all covetousness, because a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. That was the hinge. The rest of the chapter swings on it.

He told a parable. A rich man's land produced so much that he had nowhere to store it. He decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. Then he would say to his soul: Soul, you have plenty of goods laid up for many years. Take ease. Eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him: Fool, this night your soul is required of you. The things you prepared—whose will they be? That was the whole point. The man stored up treasure for himself but was not rich toward God.

Jesus turned back to his disciples. Do not be anxious about your life—what you will eat or what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. He pointed to the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no storehouse or barn. God feeds them. You are worth more than birds. He pointed to the lilies. They do not toil or spin. Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of them. If God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you? He called them people of little faith.

The nations of the world chase after food and drink. But your Father knows you need these things. Seek his kingdom, and they will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms. Make purses that do not wear out—treasure in heaven that does not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Then he told them to be ready. Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning. Be like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding feast, so that when he knocks they can open immediately. Blessed are those servants the master finds watching. He will dress himself for service, make them recline at table, and come and serve them. That image was startling: the master serves the watching servants. But the warning was equally stark: if the master of the house had known when the thief was coming, he would have watched. Be ready, because the Son of Man comes at an hour you do not expect.

Peter asked whether the parable was for the disciples or for everyone. Jesus answered with a question: Who is the faithful and wise steward, whom the master puts in charge of his household to give them their portion of food at the right time? Blessed is that servant if the master finds him doing it. He will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if the servant says in his heart, My master is delayed, and begins to beat the servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master will come on a day he does not expect and cut him in pieces, assigning him a place with the unfaithful. The servant who knew his master's will and did not do it will be beaten with many stripes. The one who did not know and did things worthy of stripes will be beaten with few. To whom much is given, much will be required.

Jesus then spoke of fire and division. He came to cast fire on the earth, and he wished it were already kindled. He had a baptism to undergo, and he was constrained until it was accomplished. He did not come to bring peace on earth, but division. From now on, five in one house will be divided: three against two, two against three. Father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. The kingdom would tear families apart.

He turned to the multitudes again. When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say a shower is coming, and it happens. When the south wind blows, you say there will be scorching heat, and it happens. Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. Why do you not know how to interpret this time? He pressed them: Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? When you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, make an effort to settle on the way, or he may drag you before the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the officer, and the officer will throw you into prison. You will not get out until you have paid the last mite. The urgency was not about money. It was about the time they were living in.