Parable of the Rich Fool: Difference between revisions
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The parable is introduced by an audience member who tries to enlist Jesus' help in a family financial dispute:<ref name="Green">[[Joel B. Green]], ''[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wzRVN2S8cVgC&pg=PA487 The Gospel of Luke]'', Eerdmans, 1997, ISBN 0802823157, pp. 487-491.</ref> |
The parable is introduced by an audience member who tries to enlist Jesus' help in a family financial dispute:<ref name="Green">[[Joel B. Green]], ''[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wzRVN2S8cVgC&pg=PA487 The Gospel of Luke]'', Eerdmans, 1997, ISBN 0802823157, pp. 487-491.</ref> |
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{{quotation|Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."|Luke 12:13-15, [[New International Version]]}} |
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But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" He said to them, "Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man's life doesn't consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses."</p>|Luke 12:13-15, [[World English Bible]]}} |
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Jesus then responds with the parable: |
Jesus then responds with the parable: |
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{{quotation|And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' |
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"But God said to him, 'You |
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."|Luke 12:16-21, [[New International Version]]}} |
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==Interpretation== |
==Interpretation== |
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Revision as of 21:01, 25 September 2010
The Parable of the Rich Fool is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament. Found in Luke Luke 12:13–21, the parable reflects the foolishness of attaching too much importance to wealth.
An abbreviated version of the parable also appears in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (Saying 63).[1]
Narrative
The parable is introduced by an audience member who tries to enlist Jesus' help in a family financial dispute:[2]
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
— Luke 12:13-15, New International Version
Jesus then responds with the parable:
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
— Luke 12:16-21, New International Version
Interpretation
The rich farmer in this parable is portrayed negatively, as an example of greed.[2] By replacing his existing barn, he avoids using agricultural land for storage purposes, thus maximising his income, as well as allowing him to wait for a price increase before selling.[2] St. Augustine comments that the farmer was "planning to fill his soul with excessive and unnecessary feasting and was proudly disregarding all those empty bellies of the poor. He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns."[3]
The farmer's conversation with himself is, in Luke's gospel, a negative.[2] It is also self-centred: first-person pronouns occur 11 times.[4] Arland J. Hultgren comments that the parable "provides an example of what one ought not to be like. The person whose identity is tied up with his or her possessions, status, and/or achievements — and is driven by acquiring them — can so easily end up unaware of the call of God and the need of the neighbor."[4]
The farmer's foolishness lies particularly in the fact that wealth cannot guarantee the future: the Day of Judgment arrives sooner than he expects.[5]
Depictions
This parable has been depicted by several artists, including Rembrandt, Jan Luyken, James Tissot, and David Teniers the Younger.
References
- ^ Gospel of Thomas: Lamb translation and Patterson/Meyer translation.
- ^ a b c d Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, Eerdmans, 1997, ISBN 0802823157, pp. 487-491.
- ^ Arthur A. Just, Luke, InterVarsity Press, 2003, ISBN 0830814884, p. 208.
- ^ a b Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary, Eerdmans, 2002, ISBN 080286077X, pp. 104-109.
- ^ John Clifford Purdy, Parables at Work, Westminster John Knox Press, 1986, ISBN 0664246400, pp. 41-43.