PROPER 13, YEAR C

August 3, 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Ecclesiastes 1: 12-14; 2:18-23

Psalm 49:1-11

Luke 12:13-21

 

As we go through today’s readings, we notice a recurring theme of pessimism, even cynicism. The Old Testament reading from Ecclesiastes sets the tone: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”

 

I must admit that I love the Book of Ecclesiastes because of its brutal honesty and realism. The author, who calls himself “the Teacher,” laments that he’s destined to leave everything he’s worked for all his life to those who will come after him, and who knows whether they’ll be wise or fools? What have we gained from all our toil and labor under the sun? All our days are filled with pain; our work is a vexation; even at night, our minds find no rest. All is vanity and chasing after the wind. 

 

I’m sure we all have days like that. I suspect most of us undergo moods when we can relate to those sentiments. Ecclesiastes is utterly devoid of sanctimonious piety. A somewhat vulgar contemporary saying sums up its message: Life is a [you-know-what] and then you die!

 

Psalm 49, ingeniously chosen to complement the Old Testament reading, takes up the theme: “There be some that put their trust in their goods; and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches” … but “we see that the wise die also; like the dull and stupid they perish and leave their wealth to those who come after them.”

 

Then in the Gospel reading, we have the Rich Fool: again, one of my favorites among all Our Lord’s parables. A wealthy landowner’s land yields abundant harvests, so that he pulls down his barns and builds larger ones to store his crops. Then, noting with satisfaction that he has goods laid up for many years, he says to himself: “Relax, eat, drink, be merry,” only to be told by God, “You Fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

 

What a bummer. After reading these lessons, the question I find myself asking is: Where’s the good news here?

 

At my seminary, incidentally, we were taught always to ask ourselves that question when preparing sermons. Our job as preachers is to proclaim the Gospel. And the word Gospel means good news. That’s a valuable question to ask ourselves as we listen to sermons. Where’s the good news here? If we can’t find an answer to that question, then that’s a sign that the preacher isn’t doing his job. So, when a sermon begins, always expect to hear, always listen out for, the good news!

 

In today’s Gospel reading, I think that the good news comes in Our Lord’s statement preceding the parable: “Take care, and be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” That statement is good news because it implies that there is a life available to us—true and everlasting life—that we can enjoy apart from material wealth and possessions. That life is equally available to rich and poor alike; and it’s the one thing worth seeking above everything else that competes for our time, attention, and effort. (To circle back to the Old Testament reading for a moment, part of the beauty of the Book of Ecclesiastes is that it describes so accurately the futility of a life lived apart from God.)

 

So, then, the question becomes: How do we gain this life of which Jesus speaks? Here, I think part of the answer can be found at the end of the Gospel, where Jesus contrasts laying up treasure for ourselves with being “rich toward God.”

 

The rich fool’s mistake lies not in accumulating wealth per se, but in what he chooses to do with it: hoarding it and then settling down to relax, eat, drink, and be merry. He’s seeking first his own interests, his own comfort and enjoyment, rather than trying to understand how he might use this wealth in God’s service for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. He could donate at least some of those stored crops to the poor and the hungry, but he doesn’t think of that. That choice, to lay up treasures for himself rather than to be rich towards God, is what makes him a fool in the end.

 

So, the parable’s point is not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong—for those who are that fortunate—with pensions, 401ks, investment portfolios, and homes with paid-off mortgages. The question of eternal importance for us is, instead, how we use our wealth and our possessions: to what end and to whose benefit?

 

Indeed, no matter how much or how little material wealth we may enjoy in this life, the crucial question for each of us is whether we’re laying up treasures for ourselves or being rich towards God. So, in the days of this coming week, let’s each of us reflect and pray about this question. What does it mean in my unique circumstances to be rich towards God? What does richness towards God look like in my life? The answers might not be immediately apparent, but sometimes the best we can do is keep on asking the right questions, and that is absolutely the right question to ask.

 

For by being rich towards God, we take hold of and enter into that life which does not consist in the abundance of possessions. And that life, in the end, is the only one that matters.