Someone approaches Jesus with a very practical problem: an inheritance dispute. “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
Perhaps we can understand him. Family disputes over inheritance are nothing new. Sometimes, while the parents are still alive, the children already know which piece of land they want!
But Jesus sees something deeper than the inheritance. He sees the heart.
And so He warns us: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had an abundant harvest.
Notice: being rich was not his sin. Having a good harvest was not his sin. Planning for the future was not his sin.
His problem was that his blessings ended with himself.
Listen to his words: My crops. My barns. My grain. My goods. I will say to myself: Relax, eat, drink, be merry.
There is plenty of “I” and “my”—but no God, and no neighbor.
That is the danger Jesus is warning us about.
We can have a full barn but an empty heart. We can have many possessions but very little compassion. We can prepare carefully for retirement but forget to prepare for eternity.
And then God says to the man: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you.”
Not because God is against success. But because the man had spent his whole life accumulating things he could not keep, while neglecting the things he could bring with him into eternity.
My dear friends, everything we possess is temporary. Everything we give in love becomes eternal. One day, we will leave behind our houses, our bank accounts, our titles, our positions—even the clothes in our closets. We came into this world with empty hands, and we will leave with empty hands.
But perhaps our hands will not really be empty.
If these hands have helped the poor,
if they have comforted someone who was suffering,
if they have forgiven someone who hurt us,
if they have served our families and communities,
if they have been folded often in prayer— then we will come before God rich indeed.
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There is a beautiful story about a wealthy man who died. Someone asked after his death, “How much did he leave behind?”
The answer was simple: “Everything.”
And that will also be true of us.
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So perhaps the better question is not, “How much will I leave behind?”
The better question is: “How much love will I bring with me?”
Because in the end, the richest person is not the one who has accumulated the most. The richest person is the one who has learned to give.