50 Cent and Dallas Willard provide the introit for a reading of Luke 12:13-21 . . . .

My flow, my show, brought me the dough . . . that bought me all my fancy things . . . my crib, my cars, my pools, my jewels
— 50 Cent, In Da Club

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As a disciple of Jesus I am with him, by choice and by grace, learning with him how to live in the kingdom of God. This is the crucial idea. That means how to live within the range of God’s effective will, his life flowing through mine. Another important way of putting this is to say that I am learning from Jesus to live my life if he were I. I am not necessarily learning everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner that he did all that he did.
—  Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 283

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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.”

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 12:13-21

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Some Observations

• Jesus continues to teach the crowd, contrasting his vision of the kingdom of God with that of the prevailing religious leaders of the day.
• Someone brings up a subject Jesus has much to say about – his answer here outlines a comprehensive philosophy.
• Jesus’ first response to the man’s question (about dividing inheritance) is that he is not the judge or arbiter between them, but this provides a natural entry point to discuss what underlies the man’s question.
• Jesus is emphatic in his warning against greed: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
• Flick on the TV, flip through a magazine, replay the economic unwinding . . . this warning is more relevant than ever; “A man’s life consists of the abundance of his possessions” is precisely the message we are bombarded with literally or by proxy as we observe people organize and define their lives.
• Once again, Jesus flips things completely on their head and uses a vivid illustration to underscore his point.
• A rich man’s land produces a good crop; he tears down his barns to build bigger ones; he stores away his wealth for himself and kicks back to eat, drink and be merry.
• God says: “’You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
• Jesus concludes: “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
• If we start at the beginning of the story, we see that the man’s land produces a good crop – the first mistake the man makes is taking responsibility for his “success,” when in fact the blessing of land, seed, rain, sun, harvest workers, etc. all come from God . . . not the man’s genius; so it is with any resources God gives us.
• He compounds his error by hoarding the fruits of success completely for himself, tearing down his existing barns to build bigger ones (no, the original tear-down was not in Palo Alto).
• Finally, he arranges his life so that the wealth he has amassed allows him to live an insulated, self-indulgent life . . . spending what wealth he has on his own desires (eat, drink and be merry)
• (But wait, isn’t that the American way playbook?)
• Jesus drops the hammer: It is God who is the giver of life and this very night the man’s life will be demanded from him.
• Flipping this around, we see the upside down attitude to wealth Jesus teaches us.
• We are to acknowledge the absolute danger of greed that lies in our flesh.
• We are to acknowledge that any success or resources we are given come from God and not from our own cleverness, effort or genius – God creates us, gives us the talents and provides the circumstances that generate resources.
• Any resources we are given are not to be hoarded or deployed to create security and comfort for ourselves, but rather to be rich towards God.
• We know that God does not need our money, but our money is to be used to “love others as ourselves” and to serve “the least of these” as if they are Jesus – we are to live with open hands, creatively seeking ways to glorify God by blessing others with the resources God has entrusted us with.
• But shouldn’t we be concerned about the future and planning for it? . . . Jesus anticipates this question perfectly when we pick up with his next teaching . . . .

Solomon West works in the private equity industry.