Swallowsrest

Pentecost 8 – 2025

Luke 12:13-21

Marian Free

In the name of God Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. Amen.

In many rural communities today, and certainly in first century Palestine, farming land is/was divided evenly among the sons. The intention being that the land would remain in the family and that each son would be able to raise his own children on the produce of the land. As you can imagine, a major flaw with this system is that as the land is divided into increasingly smaller lots it becomes unviable to farm. 

An alternative practice is that illustrated in the novels of Jane Austen. Families who owned large estates “entailed” the estate on the eldest living male relative – usually a son, but sometimes a nephew or an even more remote family member. This meant two things one was that any other son, despite having been raised in privilege, had to find a way to make a living – in the armed forces, in the law or as a clergy person. Women, as Austen’s novels illustrate, were particularly vulnerable. They had to submit to a planned marriage to someone whose income was in a similar range to their father’s – love rarely came into it or, as a single (or widowed) woman she would be entirely dependent on the good will of relatives for her food and board.

We are no longer governed by such laws, but inheritance can be an ugly business as battles through the courts demonstrate. Rich relatives, even parents, can use wealth as a weapon to manipulate their potential heirs. Children who feel unfairly done by take their stepparents – even their remaining parent – to court. Those whose parent has remarried may have to witness a totally unrelated person (and maybe that person’s family) receiving the entirety of that parent’s estate. So often the division of an estate does not seem fair and more often than not, it leads to a focus on money and possessions to the detriment of relationships.

Inheritance is a messy business, so when Jesus is asked to tell someone’s brother to divide the family inheritance with him, Jesus judiciously refuses to be drawn in. Instead, Jesus chooses to reflect on the dangers of greed – of wanting more than we need, of being jealous of what others have, of always striving for the next thing rather than enjoying what we have in the present, or of focussing so much on our possessions (gaining them or protecting them) that we neglect our families and our friends and fail to enjoy the moment.

To this end, in response to the man’s question, Jesus tells the parable of the man with the unexpectedly large crop.

As is the case with all the parables Jesus doesn’t worry about details – the size of the man’s property, his marital or family status. The man is a generic “rich” man – the implication being that he already has more than enough. He is not, like the majority of his fellow Palestinians eking out a miserable existence on a minute piece of land. The rich man already has barns (plural) in which to store his excess crops, the problem is that now they are not large enough. So, he has a dialogue with himself^[1] -the solution he comes up with is to pull down his existing barns and to build bigger ones.  (This, of course, is impractical – what happens to the stored and recently harvested grain in the meantime? Jesus’ parables are not meant to make sense, but to make a point.)

We, who live longer and who are encouraged to plan for our financial future, might see some wisdom in the rich man’s behaviour, but the point of Jesus’ story is that the man is so focussed on his future, so determined to build (not share) his wealth that he fails to enjoy his present. Planning for a future that cannot be manipulated or controlled, the rich man has not noticed the riches he already has.  All his preparation will be for nothing, for in this case he has no future, and he will die not having achieved his goal.

As we will see again next week, Jesus has much to say about being content in the present, enjoying what we do have rather than striving for what we do not have, being content rather than living in a state of discontent. Think of “give us today our daily bread”, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink” (12:22), “can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” (12:25).

Our situation and culture is very different from that into which Jesus speaks. There are expectations that those of us who can, will set aside funds so that we don’t become a burden on others and that is good and wise, but if building wealth for the future becomes our sole preoccupation we may miss opportunities (family time, travel, experiences) in the present. 

None of us know how long our futures will be. Like the rich man we may lose our life or our health at any moment and never have the opportunity to enjoy those things that we have put off. 

Interestingly, the evangelist has used this parable as a condemnation of greed, but taken without the commentary, and in conjunction with the sayings that follow, Jesus appears to be urging his listeners to live in the present moment , to take time to smell the roses, to appreciate the blessings and opportunities they have now and to trust God with both the present and the future. 

In a few verses Jesus will say: “For where your treasure, there your heart will be also” (12:34). What do you treasure and how do you make that known?

^[1] Luke often provides an inner dialogue so that we know what the person in the parable is thinking.