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.