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O how vulnerable the fallen human heart is — mine is — to feeling that having lots of things equals being really alive. And Jesus is urgent and passionate (verse 15): your life does not consist in having lots of things. Life consists in knowing God. John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Life is not having things. Life is knowing God. Now Jesus is coming to that.
So Jesus tells them a parable. Not just for the man who asked the question, but for all of us. We are all listening in. So it says in verse 16, “He told them a parable.”
The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
It is not a bad thing when your “land produces plentifully” (verse 16). It is not a bad thing when your business prospers. It is not a bad thing to receive a promotion and with it a pay increase. It is not a bad thing when your investments increase in value. That is not the evil in this parable. He is not called a fool for being a productive farmer. God knows this broken world needs productive farmers and profitable businesses.
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