Sermon - Thanksgiving 2021 - Luke 12:13-21

The Parable of the Rich Fool, Rembrandt, 1627

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is helpful for us Christians to have our minds and hearts properly reoriented toward the Giver of all good gifts. Between Halloween and New Year’s Eve American life is all about the stuff; it’s all about having ample goods and relaxing, eating, drinking, and being merry. Even though Thanksgiving is for many people little more than another day to fill our bellies with food, this is a great opportunity to take a break from consuming and be reminded of what truly matters. Namely, life is not all about the abundance of possessions and living comfortably, but life is about seeking the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus reorients our minds toward heaven when He teaches us the parable of the rich fool. This parable is a challenging one for us to listen to mainly because we so easily identify with the rich fool! Here’s a man who’s already rich, he has land and barns to store the crops. He has everything and more to meet his needs and wants. But then he has a bumper crop, record yields, now his problem is finding a place to store up his great wealth! So what does he do? He tears down his perfectly good barns and builds big new barns to hold all of his wealth!

If that weren’t enough we then get a glimpse into this rich man’s heart, which is more or less a mirror unto our own hearts. He says to his soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” The focus of this man’s life was in the abundance of his riches. His life was aimed at building a paradise on earth in which he could relax in luxury and ease. His joy and gladness and reason to celebrate was on account of an abundance of possessions. 

“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.” God calls such a man a fool. The Bible has a couple different words for fool, one of those is moros, from which we get the word moron, and that’s what that word means. The word used here though is aphron, and it means one who is lacking perspective because of being short-sighted. That’s ultimately what happens when we spend our lives as rich fools, when our whole lives consist just in the abundance of possessions, storing up for ourselves treasures on earth.

Dedicating our lives to laying up treasures for ourselves on earth is shortsighted because this world and its pleasures are temporary, whereas we are eternal beings. Our treasure on earth only lasts for a short time, and once Christ returns all of this will be burned up. We however will live forever, so that which we seek on earth is what we will spend eternity with. If we seek the kingdom of heaven and are rich toward God, we shall spend eternity in paradise. But if in our shortsightedness we seek only worldly treasures, then our eternity will be spent in a burned up trash heap: hell. 

So, in a society as wealthy as ours, what is there for us to do? Seeing how we’ve lived, how do we move forward from here? How can we stop being the rich fool? Jesus answers these questions a few verses later, He says: “Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus’ answer for what to do with all of your extra stuff is to quite simply give it all away. Instead of brothers bickering over an inheritance, which precipitated this parable, Jesus’ solution is to give all of your stuff away first so that there isn’t an inheritance to fight over. Instead of building bigger barns to hold all of your wealth, Jesus’ solution is to give the extra away to those who need it. Just as God has so abundantly given all things to us, likewise, shall we share what we have with others. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

This is important as well. God loves a cheerful giver. Instead of complaining and bickering and groaning when we volunteer or donate money, God wants us to give cheerfully. Remember that God cheerfully provides us with everything, whether we have an abundance or just barely enough, all of it is still an undeserved gift from God. More often than not God provides us with an abundance!

“You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.”

Just consider for a moment all that God has freely given to you. He doesn’t complain and begrudgingly clothe and feed you every day, but He does it out of great joy and gladness because you are His people and He loves you. Or consider for a moment the magnitude of your sins, and how God still cheerfully clothes you with His righteousness. Jesus willingly suffered and died in order to lavishly wash away your sins and make you God’s dear child. God happily clothes you, body and soul alike, all out of His generosity and charity.

Instead of being greedy and covetous, longing for treasures on earth, let us learn thanksgiving to God and generosity toward our neighbor. The past couple years have in many ways been more difficult and stressful than usual. But in spite of all that, God’s generosity knows no bounds and He continues to provide and protect. There have been many bad changes the past couple years, but remember all of the good things that God still provides you with. We’ve been richly blessed by God and have countless reasons to give Him thanks. If anything, perhaps we can learn from these past couple of years that this world is fleeting, and that our treasure in heaven is of inestimable value. We have much to give thanks for, even if we should lose everything on this earth like Job.

Thanksgiving teaches us that our life is not about our stuff and living comfortably, rather this life is all about God’s many gifts here and in eternity. Let us always rejoice in all the good that the Lord our God has given to us and to our house. Happy Thanksgiving!