The Danger of Riches (12:13-21).
We now come to the first of a series of parables in this section. It is the first demonstration of how distorted Israel (and the world) is and how it needs to be made straight (Luke 13:10-17). This passage results from the approach of a man who, while being among His audience, has not been listening very carefully. For his father has died recently, and his heart is taken up with the question of his inheritance. Significantly it deals with the grip that riches have on men's lives, and is therefore in strong contrast with what has gone before. There Jesus has faced His disciples with life and death decisions, decisions which were vitally connected with the question of how to inherit eternal life as mentioned in Luke 10:25. He has faced them with God and with the Kingly Rule of God. And now here is this man who, instead of being deeply stirred, comes to talk with Him about his inheritance of a few paltry earthly riches which demonstrates only his love of Mammon (see Luke 16:13; Matthew 6:24).
The passage commences with his approach to Jesus concerning his inheritance, which is immediately followed by the parable of the fool who built up wealth and then decided that he could sit back and enjoy rich banquets, totally ignoring the needs of the poor. The latter was clearly completely bereft of the love of God and his neighbour, and it was only on his death bed that he again thought about God and realised what a fool he had been. It was there that he awoke to the folly of his choice, and the result was that he suffered the unforeseen consequences of losing his wealth to others who benefited unexpectedly. By his life he had denied Jesus on earth.
It will be noted that in the chiasmus for the Section this passage was placed in parallel with an example which Jesus gives of inviting the poor to dinner (the opposite of the acquisitiveness of the man seeking his inheritance, and the opposite of the selfish and greedy fool), which is followed by the parable of a rich banquet which resulted in the unforeseen circumstance that it became a banquet for the poor, because those for whom it was intended excused themselves from it and lost out (Luke 14:12-24). There we find the opposite picture to that of the fool. The poor were fed because it was the Lord's banquet.
Analysis of this passage.
a One out of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13).
b He said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” (Luke 12:14).
c He said to them, “Take careful note, and keep yourselves from all covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses” (Luke 12:15).
d He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully (Luke 12:16).
e And he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits?” (Luke 12:17).
d He said, “This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods” (Luke 12:18).
c And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19).
b But God said to him, “You foolish one, this night is your soul required of you, and the things which you have prepared, whose shall they be?” (Luke 12:20).
a So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God” (Luke 12:21).
Note that in ‘a' the man is covetous for his inheritance, and in the parallel such laying up of treasure for oneself is warned against. In ‘b' Jesus refuses to judge and divide, while in the parallel it is God Who questions men's attitudes. In ‘c' man's life does not consist in the abundance of what he possesses, and in the parallel the man enjoys the abundance of what he possesses. In ‘d' the rich man's ground produces plentifully and in the parallel he makes plans for his plenty. Centrally in ‘e' he asks himself the crunch question, ‘what shall I do with what I have received?'