Today’s sermon for the ninth Sunday of Luke tells of the Parable of the Rich Fool found in Luke 12:16-21. This gospel lesson usually occurs shortly after the beginning of the Nativity Fast and before the secular holiday of Thanksgiving. This is indeed appropriate as the Gospel has a dual theme of wealth and thanksgiving complimented by a period of preparation for the coming of the birth of Christ at Christmas time.
In this parable Jesus tells of an apparently successful man whose only problem seemed to be the abundance of his wealth, which to most of us would not necessarily be a major problem. However, in this parable, Jesus, rather than calling the man successful, refers to him as a fool. We all know the definition of a fool: someone who refuses to acknowledge to oneself a fundamental truth, a person who by their own self deception, commits a major blunder which could be devastating to their life.
It was precisely the Rich Fool’s greed which proved to be an obstacle to his own personal salvation in the eyes of God. Wealth is not evil in itself, it is rather when one’s wealth and greed so consumes us that we at the end basically are left with nothing.
Accumulating and hoarding just for the sake of wealth does not give us the true security we as humans need in our relationship with God. Rather, Jesus warns us in this parable that we are to be “rich in God’s sight”. We should be thankful for what we have and share what is not needed with those who are less fortunate, thereby helping our brothers and sisters in Christ and learning the true nature of sharing, for this will be well pleasing to God.
So as we embark on the period of Advent let us avail ourselves of the approaching Lord by preparing ourselves through fasting and sharing the many gifts God has blessed us with. In this manner we can truly celebrate our American Holiday of Thanksgiving acknowledging its origin in Christian love and sharing with all of God’s creation.
