The Story of the Rich Fool
By Peter Amsterdam
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The parable of the rich fool is one of three parables that touch on wealth and personal possessions. While these three parables (the Rich Fool, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Unjust Steward) aren’t the only teachings of Jesus on wealth and its use or misuse, they are instances when Jesus told stories to teach about it.
Luke chapter 12 begins with Jesus teaching His disciples within earshot of a crowd of many thousands. At one point someone nearby addresses Him: “‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But He said to him, ‘Man, who made Me a judge or arbitrator over you?’” (Luke 12:13–14).
It would not have been out of the ordinary for someone to ask a teacher (the term used in Luke’s Gospel, synonymous with rabbi) to arbitrate a legal dispute such as this one. Rabbis were experts in the laws of Moses and spent much of their time giving legal rulings on such matters. In this situation perhaps the father died without a will, either written or oral, resulting in a dispute between two brothers. The man calling out to Jesus would most likely be the younger brother, as the father’s inheritance could not be divided if the older brother did not agree.
Jesus’ response is rather brusque and could seem to indicate a hint of displeasure. “Man, who made Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” The younger brother is not asking for arbitration, or for Jesus to mediate between him and his brother; he’s asking Jesus to side with him and to tell his brother to divide the inheritance. In a sense he’s trying to use what he perceives as Jesus’ position of influence as a rabbi or teacher to pressure his brother.
Jesus follows up with: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).
In so doing, Jesus gives a warning to all present to be on guard against all types of greed (or covetousness)—the burning or insatiable desire to have more. Rather than addressing who is right or wrong in the situation, He warns against greed. The resolution to this dispute that will bring healing and restoration isn’t dividing the inheritance but getting rid of the covetousness or self-serving attitude within the heart.
Jesus then proceeds to tell the parable of the rich fool. In order to fully understand this parable, it helps to bear in mind that Scripture teaches that God created everything and that it ultimately belongs to Him, and that we are stewards of what God has given to us. As it says in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”
Author Kenneth Bailey wrote:
In biblical thought we are stewards of all our possessions and responsible to God for what we do with them. … Christians everywhere are called to be stewards of their private possessions and of the whole earth. The parable of the rich fool is one of our Lord’s primary teachings on this subject. The story is about a man who failed to recognize that he was accountable to God for all he owned.1
In response to the brother’s appeal to divide the land, following His comment about greed and possessions, Jesus told this 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 (Luke 12:16–21).
What we find out about the man is that he was already rich and his land had just produced a bumper crop. It was probably one of those years with just the right amount of sunshine and rain. There’s no indication that he worked harder on this crop than he had on any other, but this year there was a huge surplus, so much so that he didn’t have room in his present barns.
He apparently doesn’t consider that this abundance was God’s blessing or that ultimately God is the owner of his crops and land, and of all that he possessed for that matter. We are given a glimpse into his internal dialogue about what to do with the abundance, and it’s all about “my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods, my soul.” There’s no mention of God or God’s blessings.
As we’ll see, he has no thoughts of using this abundance in a way that would benefit others or glorify God. Rather he says to himself: “I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” This self-indulgent rich man, who already has plenty, plans to store the crops in new, larger barns, with the assumption that once he does, he will be financially set for many years. He says to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks of eating, drinking, and being joyful, but it also reminds us that God has given us the days of our lives, and our lives and our time on earth belong to Him (Ecclesiastes 8:15). Jesus makes this very clear as the parable continues: “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” Jesus calls this man a fool. Those listening might have been reminded of the verse in the book of Psalms that says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). The word fool is used in the Old Testament to refer to one who refuses to acknowledge dependence on God.
The rich man is called a fool because he’s left God out of the picture. He sees his material goods as what secures his future. In his mind, if he’s financially secure, then his future is taken care of. He can eat, drink, and be merry. What could go wrong?
The rich man is not taking into account that God is the one who gave him the increase, both the abundance and life. When this man’s life ends, it will be evident how meaningless and foolish his plans were. His possessions offered him no real security.
James made a similar point in his Epistle when he wrote:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:13–15).
The rich man didn’t include God in the equation. He was mapping out his future with no thought of God or of God’s role and rule over his life. According to his way of thinking, everything was his, including his life. But Jesus made the point that everything we have is on loan in a sense—it all belongs to God.
Jesus continued by saying: “And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” We see a similar message in Ecclesiastes and Psalms:
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun (Ecclesiastes 2:18–19).
Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him (Psalm 49:16–17).
As the old saying goes, you can’t take it with you. All physical wealth is left behind upon death, and it no longer has any value to the one who owned it. After succinctly making this point, Jesus then concludes the parable by saying: “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).
The rich fool saw the blessing of the abundant crop as a means to provide for his own enjoyment and security. He thought only of himself, his future, and his pleasure. There was no consideration that perhaps God had given him this increase for a reason beyond his own desires, such as helping the poor and needy.
The conclusion of the parable speaks about being rich toward God. What does that mean? In the verses that follow this parable in Luke 12:22–34, Jesus speaks about trusting God for our lives and our provision, saying that if God will feed the ravens, who have no storehouses or barns, and if He clothes the lilies of the field, that He will take care of us. He teaches us to put our trust in God and to seek His kingdom, and He will take care of us. It’s in doing these things—trusting God, seeking Him, doing His will—that we provide ourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with treasure in heaven which will never fail.
Jesus teaches us to lay up treasure in heaven. We are rich toward God when we acknowledge Him, when we do what He asks, when we live according to His teachings, when we seek to do His will, what He’s asked us to do.
This parable speaks to all of us. We all need resources to live. It’s wise to set aside money for the future if we can. There is nothing inherently wrong with having the possessions or finances we need. Riches aren’t evil in themselves. However, Scripture teaches not to trust in riches (Proverbs 11:28), and Jesus warned of how the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the Word (Matthew 13:22).
A good question to ask ourselves is: Do we recognize that all that we own actually belongs to God? And if so, do we look to Him regarding how we use and manage our finances? Do we thank and praise Him for what He’s provided for us? When He blesses us financially, do we in turn bless others in need? Do we bless God by giving back to Him and His work through our gifts and offerings?
No matter what our financial situation, Jesus taught with this parable that as Christians, we are called to be rich toward Him, to lay up treasures in heaven. We are taught to not “set our hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).
May we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness in all our decisions (Matthew 6:33), and strive to follow His will and purposes in the use of our material goods and in every aspect of our lives and Christian service. May we be rich toward God.
Originally published June 2014. Adapted and republished February 2025. Read by Jon Marc.
1 Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 298–300.
