While Jesus taught his disciples, a man in the crowd asked him to tell the man’s brother to share the inheritance with him (Luke 12:13). Often questions of one’s worth come at a time of death or when one is writing his last will and testament. Some may say this man is or was worth millions. Of another, some may conclude that he wasn’t worth much at all! Yet, of the two who is to say which one enjoyed life more? Who, by taking into account only the accumulation of tangible wealth, could say for certain which of the two lived a richer life. Wealth can buy many desirable things, but it can’t buy love, long life or peace. Even the poorest of men could enjoy all three of these, so one’s worth in this context cannot be accurately put into tangible terms.
Instead of becoming an arbiter between the two brothers Jesus offered him advise. But, in order to express what he meant, Jesus offered a parable, which he spoke in the audience of the people. This parable has come down to us as The Parable of the Rich Fool! (Luke 12:16-21). Notice that in the parable the man refers to himself no less than twelve times with personal pronouns, more by far than any other parable Jesus is recorded to have preached (see Luke 12:17-19). So many references to self seems to suggest that the man in the parable was overly mindful of himself. In fact, the parable doesn’t even suggest he thought of anyone else. God refers to such a man as a fool (Luke 12:20).
Jesus concludes by saying that such will be the end of anyone who uses what he has for himself, but never thinks of God (Luke 12:21). The question is, then, does Jesus simply offer the parable as advice about greed in general, or does he have a particular person or certain people in mind, but doesn’t overtly point him (or them) out?
In Luke 11:23 Jesus drew the proverbial line in the sand, saying he who doesn’t gather (G4863) with Jesus scatters. The same word for gather (G4863) is used in Luke 12:17 for the rich fool not having a large enough place to bestow his goods. So the rich fool gathers (Matthew 23:15), just as Jesus does (Matthew 13:30; Luke 3:17), but the fool isn’t with Jesus but against him (cf. Luke 11:23), in that he intends to spend all his goods (that which he gathers – i.e. Matthew 23:15) for his own benefit (Luke 12:19). Jesus spoke a seemingly related parable in Luke 20:9-19, the Parable of the Householder. There the Householder hired husbandmen for his vineyard, but when they saw the Son of the Householder, they and decided to kill him in order that the inheritance (G2817) might become theirs (Luke 20:13-14). This same Greek word is the subject that prompts the question in Luke 12:13, which seems to tie the two parables together, exposing the Jewish authorities as God’s enemies!
Jesus then turned to his disciples in Luke 12:22. Therefore, the parable of The Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21) had been directed at the crowds who gathered around Jesus and the disciples, among whom were Jesus enemies, the Pharisees and the lawyers (rabbis). The context of the next twelve verses in Luke seems to concern life in the Kingdom of God, while understanding one’s own inability to change what is happening all around us.
The scribes and Pharisees who had been taunting and slandering Jesus earlier in the day (viz. Luke 11:14-16, 53-54) were still among the crowd of people who were listening in on Jesus’ teaching of his disciples, and they may still have been taunting him (cf. Luke 11:53-54) and interrupting him (cf. Luke 12:13) as he did so. In other words, Jesus taught his disciples in a very volatile environment. Nevertheless, he was in control of the circumstances and saw to it that things didn’t get out of hand.
This means that the disciples listened to Jesus and learned the lessons of his teaching under adverse conditions, indeed in a very explosive atmosphere (cf. Luke 12:4-5, 7, 32). I’m sure they were no different from us in that they would have preferred more peaceful surroundings, but they learned not to fear, because Jesus wasn’t afraid. They also learned how their enemies were fearful of what the crowds might think or do, if they (i.e. the Jewish authorities) used their authority unreasonably. Often, lessons are learned under such conditions that cannot be learned otherwise.
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