Treasure in Heaven and the Thief

 Luke 12:32-34

"Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, 
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. 

Sell your belongings and give alms. 

Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, 

an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. 

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

Thomas 76

Jesus says: 

    "The Kingdom of the Father is like a man, a merchant, 

    who has a burden and found a pearl. 

    This merchant is a wise man: 

    he sold the bundle and bought the pearl alone. 

    You also seek his treasure which does not perish, which lasts, 

    into which the moth does not enter to consume and where the worm does not destroy."

Luke 12:35-40

Gird your loins and light your lamps 

and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, 

ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. 

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. 

Amen, I say to you, 

he will gird himself, have them recline at table, 

and proceed to wait on them. 

And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, 

blessed are those servants.

 

Be sure of this: 

if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, 

he would not have let his house be broken into. 

You also must be prepared, 

for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Thomas 21

Mary says to Jesus: 

    "Who are your disciples like?" 

He says to her: 

    "They are like little children 

    who have made their way into a field that does not belong to them. 

    When the owners of the field come, they will say: 

        'Get out of our field!' 

    They then will give up the field to these people and let them have their field back again."

    "That is why I tell you this: 

    If the master of the house knows that the thief is coming, 

    he will watch before he comes 

    and will not allow him to force an entry into his royal house to carry off furniture. 

    You, then, be on the watch against the world. 

    Gird up your loins with great energy, 

    so that the brigands do not find any way of reaching you; 

    for they will find any place you fail to watch."

The Parable of the Rich Fool

 

Luke 12:13-14

Someone in the crowd said to him, 

    "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."

But He said to him, 

    "Man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?"

Thomas 72

Some person [said] to him, 

    "Tell my siblings to share my father's possessions with me." 

He said to that person, 

    "My good fellow, who has made me into an arbitrator?" 

He turned to his disciples and said to them, 

    "So am I an arbitrator?"

Luke 12:15

Then he said to them, 

    "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; 

    for not even when one has an abundance 

    does his life consist of his possessions."

Luke 12:16-21

And he told them a parable, saying, 

    "The land of a rich man was very productive.

    And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 

        'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?'

    Then he said, 

        'This is what I will do: 

        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 many goods laid up for many years to come; 

            take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

    But God said to him, 

        'You fool! 

        This very night your soul is required of you; 

        and now who will own what you have prepared?'

    So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Thomas 63

Jesus said, 

    "There was a rich man who had considerable wealth. 

    He said, 

        'I shall invest my wealth so as to sow, reap, plant, and fill my barns with crops, 

        lest I run short of something.' 

    These things are what he was thinking in his heart, 

    and that very night the man died. 

    Whoever has ears should listen!"

Sirach 11:18-19

One becomes rich through diligence and self-denial,

   and the reward allotted to him is this:

when he says, ‘I have found rest,

   and now I shall feast on my goods!’

he does not know how long it will be

   until he leaves them to others and dies.