The Parable of the Rich Fool
We humans are the most perfect creatures in the world. We have reason and we can and think. So think! I am human and Christian. Let these two words guide us today in sermon and contemplation. Different voices are echoing and the main question arises, why do you live and what to do? As a Christian, that is, Christ, you are to follow Jesus Christ. As a man you are surrounded by worries about property, the needs of earthly life. So, how can you make it consistent so that you do not forget about God even in the everyday life? Most humanity is working hard for everyday bread and eventually, it has to be abandoned by everyone. Our generation favors material wealth, more to have more to be!
The world is dominated by consumerism. It’s bad? For God created the world for us people. The mistake is in misguided thinking. St. Paul the Apostle reminds: “You think of what is above, not only of what is on earth.” With the question of how we relate to property, someone came to the Lord Jesus and asked, “Share us, decide on the inheritance.” The Lord Jesus does not want to be a judge, a divisor of material possessions, stressing that he has come for the more important, to instruct the more necessary values of the clergy, which are more necessary than the material values.
He does not condemn property or heir, he wants to teach us what relationship we have to possess. He illustrates his teaching in the image of a man who has seen all the goal of life in wealth. “A rich man lived. You said, you have big supplies … eat, drink and cheerfully feast. ”Who wouldn’t want social security? But the greed of Jesus proclaims foolishness. From the African Republic of Togo a Christian came to Germany. The host led him to his friends, factory, shops and restaurants. After two weeks, the African said: People live as if they were not God. They only talk about money, property and entertainment. Only God in the church. The same was said by the Holy Father. Today people live as if they were not God. And how is it with us?
Once upon a time there were disputes about a piece of land, a displacement of the fence. When property, savings were taken away from us under totalitarianism, we learned that material things are merely a means and can be lived modestly. But even today, there is covetousness in humans. Private entrepreneurs want to get-rich-quick. This is bad because the necessary things for life must be given to everyone enough. Managers of the material resources of factories, industry should realize that they are meant to serve many people, not individuals. And is it not a sin if the master, the throw expert for the daily wage raises the amount up to a thousand? In addition, theft is spreading, newspapers bring news of burglary, assault, murder. Many people really live as if they were not God.
Lord Jesus, God and the Church do not condemn property. Jesus names covetousness by foolishness because whoever is content with material goods, who has nothing but money, is pathetic, literally crazy. The one who has God is truly rich. We will leave material wealth, but God will remain forever. The second danger of greed is that it blinds the eyes. The miser does not see the needs of a neighbor. Greed tied his hands and heart, so he couldn’t shoot them to the other. Whoever likes to give out is rich and has the greatest treasure, love. He gets God because God is Love. Think of Zacchaeus. He was rich, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted to see Jesus, and when Jesus came to him, he was glad to give away what he had previously accumulated. Today there is little joy in the world. Why? People have lost their sense of God and spiritual things. There is no joy, for there is no love. One who has no love does not seek beauty, it is difficult to bring to God.
There are two ways. One leads and emphasizes only worldly joys. Are you human. Eat, Fri, have fun, death will end. – The second way leads to the eternal joy and says: Use the gifts of God in the world as they bring you closer to God and renounce what distracts you from God. Do you want to be holy? I want and you will. Marx says, “It’s hard to be holy when you want to be human.” Jacques Maritain says, “It’s hard to be human if you don’t want to be holy.” We started with the idea: I’m human and I’m Christian. I cannot separate these two terms’. Man and saint, it belongs together. Be a true man and thus a Christian and saint! If you are a Christian, you will be God’s creation and you will be a true man. Then the Lord God created us to enter into his fellowship in heaven once. But we should cultivate God’s community here on earth in speech, in deeds, in the human community of love. Lord, let us hear your voice and not harden our hearts. Amen.
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