Sermon-Jesus' Definition of a Fool

Jesus was talking about living the life of faithfulness. He warned his followers about the dangers of hypocrisy. He urged them not to undervalue their lives. Each person is important to God.^[1]

While he was talking about these matters, one of the men in the crowd wanted Jesus to settle a legal problem regarding his inheritance. I understand that man. There is no telling how many times I have come to worship or studied the Bible not to hear what God is trying to tell me, but rather to hear the message I wanted, the message that would solve my problem the way I wanted it solved.

Jesus told the man that he did not have the legal authority to deal with or settle inheritance issues. Then, Jesus went to the heart of the matter. “Be on your guard.” Jesus told him. “Be careful; Watch out for all kinds of greed. Life is more than an abundance of things.” (By the way, the word translated as “greed” can also be translated as “covetousness”.)

It was then Jesus told the parable about the rich man who used all his time and energy making more and more until all his warehouses could not hold all he possessed. So, the man decided to tear down all his warehouses and build bigger ones. He was confident that if he did this, he would really have it made in life and would never have to worry again.

Jesus said God called this man a fool. He was a fool because he had been so focused on the accumulation of things he missed what life is really all about. The man was rich in things, but poor in soul, and therefore God called him a fool.

The problem was not that the man was a financial success to the point of being wealthy. The problem was he misspent his life. He did not place a high priority on his relationship with God or his relationship with his neighbors. He invested all his time, energy and resources on himself.

Sharing himself and sharing his resources were very low on his list of priorities. What mattered was making more and more and keeping all he made. Now and then, he might contribute to this charity or that cause. If he was not too busy he might help someone. If the right people were involved, he might even give a few hours of service for some cause. But by and large, he was busy filling his barns and warehouses, and then when they were filled, building bigger barns and warehouses. His priorities were very clear—priorities that, according to Jesus, caused God to call him a fool.

Why was sharing of himself and his possessions something that man did not value? Why was he so focused on making more and more and keeping it all for himself? Where does this kind of thinking—what God evidently calls foolish thinking—get started? I think this human tendency begins very early in life—at least it did in mine.

One of my happy memories from childhood is playing farmer and plowing in the dirt under the big, old pecan tree in our back yard. My tractor was a special stick I had found. I would mimic my grandfather and pretend to break the land, sow it with seed and harvest the crop. Playing farmer in the shade of that tree, I had a good time, a happy time.

But when one of my friends came to see me and brought with him a toy tractor that pulled a toy plow, suddenly I was no longer able to enjoy pretending my stick was a tractor and plow. I had seen my friend’s toy tractor, and I wanted it. I could not have defined envy at the time, nor did I know what the word “covet” meant, but they are what had taken hold of me.

I made a nuisance of myself begging my parents to buy me a toy tractor and plow. I began to save my nickels and even steal change my parents left on their dresser. Finally I had enough. But when I played in the dirt with my new toy Farmall tractor and plow, I did not have any more fun than when I had plowed with my stick. Without realizing it, I had been seduced into thinking that although I had enjoyed playing with my stick tractor, I could not really have fun and be happy if I did not have what my friend had.

This childhood experience of trying to “keep up with the Jones” is a very old human problem. When we envy and covet what others have, we are unable to enjoy what is already ours, and our priorities are distorted, and that means our lives are distorted. My envy of my friend and coveting his tractor had not only prevented me from enjoying what I had, it also distorted my relationship with him and even put strains on my relationship with my parents.

The tenth Commandment is that we are not to covet what others have.^[2] This commandment and the other nine are not just some arbitrary rules God made up—a sort of human hazing we must go through to be accepted into God’s heavenly club. In these Ten Commandments are guidelines for living, and when we violate these guidelines, we make a mess of our lives, and we contribute to the mess the world is in.

When we envy and covet what others have, we become dissatisfied, even contemptuous, of what is ours. Worse than that, when we covet what others have, it is not long until our relationship with them and others is distorted.

It is all the byproduct of the foolish thinking illustrated in the parable Jesus told. When things become inappropriately important to us, we waste the precious few decades of life that are ours. We waste our days, months and years unable to be satisfied with what we have. And the top priorities in our living begin to be those of seeking fulfillment in the accumulation of things, the collection of gadgets, and an impressive financial statement.

These are not the priorities Jesus taught. And we know it. I suspect everyone here knows that at the heart of Jesus’ teaching are the core commandments: to love God with all that we are and have, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to care. We are to care about God and the purposes of God. We are to care about our neighbors and what they need. And our caring is to motivate us into action.

What a missed opportunity is illustrated in the parable about the man whom, according to Jesus, God called a fool. That man had the resources to do amazingly good things, but apparently the thought of using his wealth to serve others never crossed his mind. But it was not just his wealth this man hoarded. He was obviously a man of intelligence, ability and energy. But he used all this only for himself. His focus was on himself and his possessions—obtaining more possessions, and building bigger warehouses so he could hang on to his possessions and really have it made in life.

The reason this man was a fool in the eyes of God is not just because of what the man did or failed to do with his money. It is what he did and failed to do with his life. He was a fool because, as God sees things, this man wasted his life.

His priorities were wrong. The result was he made bad, foolish, investments of his time, his energy and his resources. He was so focused on himself and his possessions, and what is sometimes called “success,” that he had little time or energy left over for seeking God’s will for his living. The result was, the man lived his life insensitive to God and the priorities of God. In the eyes of God, he wasted his life, and for this reason, Jesus said, God called him a fool.

God, don’t let us live the lives of fools. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

            God, as we think about making the commitments to ministries of service, we confess we know a whole lot more about what you want us to do than we are willing to admit or do. Forgive us when our priorities are so distorted our schedule has no room for what you want us to do. Forgive us when we are so focused on what we want, we are insensitive to your will for our lives. Forgive us when we so are afraid of what others might say or think our faithfulness is intimidated.
            Empower us so that we will respond to the needs around us the way you want us to respond. Transform us so that your priorities are our priorities. Give us the commitment, the compassion, the wisdom and the courage we need so that we will rearrange our schedules and do what you want done. Empower us by your grace to live as you would have us live.
            This is our prayer as we make decisions about our commitments to ministries of service and as we come to receive this holy sacrament. Amen.