ACC ~ Luke 12 v13 - 21

OVERVIEW:

What one should seek is an inheritance of immortality, not one of money, and one should never call Jesus to be divider of the latter (AMBROSE). Covetousness divides, but charity gathers people together (AUGUSTINE). Covetousness is nothing more than a form of idolatry. This general principle leads to a parable that revolves around the concept of gift. Is he going to hoard the gift, as a proud and fearful Pharisee might do and thus be guilty of greed (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA)? The bellies of the poor are safer storehouses than one’s barns (AUGUSTINE).

He had not seen that the love of God creates a habit of good works that are the only preparation necessary for the life to come. Those who know they are mortal should not come to the end unprepared (LEO THE GREAT). Only virtue and compassion follow us after death (AMBROSE). To be rich toward God is to love virtue instead of wealth and to believe that God is the giver of all things, including life and salvation (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

12:13-14 | The Question of Inheritance

AN INHERITANCE OF IMMORTALITY SHOULD BE SOUGHT

AMBROSE: This whole passage is provided so that suffering may be endured for confession of the Lord. … Since greed is often accustomed to tempt virtue, the Lord adds the precept to remove this sin by stating the precedent, “Who has appointed me judge or divider over you?” He who descended for a divine purpose fittingly declines earthly tasks and does not allow himself to be a judge of lawsuits and an arbitrator of riches. He is to judge the living and the dead and apportion deserts. [1] You must not consider what you seek but from whom you request it. You must also not think that you must shout against big or little things. This brother is fittingly rebuked. He eagerly desired to trouble the steward of the heavenly with the corruptible. Not a neutral judge but piety as mediator should divide an inheritance among brothers, although people should seek an inheritance of immortality, not of money. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 7.122. [2]

[1] Acts 10:42; 2 Tim 4:1.

[2] EHG 279-80**.

COVETOUSNESS DIVIDES; CHARITY GATHERS TOGETHER

AUGUSTINE: He was correct when he did not listen to the man who, in disagreement with his brother, said, “Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” He said, “Master, tell my brother.” Tell him what? He said, “To divide the inheritance with me.” The Lord said, “Speak, man.” Why do you want to divide it except because you are human? Whenever someone says, “I am of Paul,” but another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not merely human? [1] “Tell me, man, who has appointed me a judge of the inheritance among you? I have come to gather, not to scatter.” He said, “I say to you, guard against all greed.” Greed wants to divide, just as love desires to gather. What is the significance of “guard against all greed,” unless it is “fill yourselves with love”? We, possessing love for our portion, inconvenience the Lord because of our brother just as that man did against his brother, but we do not use the same plea. He said, “Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” We say, “Master, tell my brother that he may have my inheritance.” SERMON 265.9. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 3:4.

[2] FC 38:418-19*.

12:15 | The First Principle - A Person’s Life Does Not Consist in the Abundance of Possessions

COVETOUSNESS IS EQUIVALENT TO IDOLATRY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Jesus does not leave us without instruction. Having found a good opportunity, he makes a profitable and saving speech. Protesting against them, he declares, “Take heed, and keep yourselves from all greed.” He showed us that covetousness is a pitfall of the devil and hateful to God. The wise Paul even calls it idolatry, [1] perhaps as being suitable for only those who do not know God or as being equal in the balance with the defilement of those people who choose to serve sticks and stones. It is a snare of evil spirits, by which they drag down a person’s soul to the nets of hell. For this reason, he says very correctly, as setting them on their guard, “Take heed and keep yourselves from all greed,” from great and small and from defrauding anyone whoever he may be. Greed is hateful to God and humankind. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89. [2]

[1] Col 3:5.

[2] CGSL 360**.

12:16-20 | The Parable of the Rich Fool

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, “What should I do?” … He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity. Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his life, as if he would also reap this from the ground. He says, “I will say to myself, ‘Self, you have goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’” “O rich man,” one may say, ‘You have storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? By the decree of God, your life is shortened.’” “God,” it tells us, “said to him, ‘You fool, this night they will require of you your soul. Whose will these things be that you have prepared?’” COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89. [1]

[1] CGSL 361**.

THE BELLIES OF THE POOR ARE SAFER STOREHOUSES THAN OUR BARNS

AUGUSTINE: “The redemption of a man’s soul is his riches.” [1] This silly fool of a man did not have that kind of riches. Obviously he was not redeeming his soul by giving relief to the poor. He was hoarding perishable crops. I repeat, he was hoarding perishable crops, while he was on the point of perishing because he had handed out nothing to the Lord before whom he was due to appear. How will he know where to look, when at that trial he starts hearing the words “I was hungry and you did not give me to eat”? [2] He was planning to fill his soul with excessive and unnecessary feasting and was proudly disregarding all those empty bellies of the poor. He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns. What he was stowing away in those barns was perhaps even then being stolen away by thieves. But if he stowed it away in the bellies of the poor, it would of course be digested on earth, but in heaven it would be kept all the more safely. The redemption of a man’s soul is his riches. [3] SERMON 36.9. [4]

[1] Prov 13:8.

[2] :1–24:53 PRELIMINARY REMARKS | ON THE GOSPEL

[3] Prov 13:8.

[4] WSA 3 2:180*.

THE HABIT OF GOOD WORKS

LEO THE GREAT: The devil, even in the midst of our efforts, does not relax his schemes. At certain periods of time, we must take care of the reenergizing of our strength. The mind, concerned with the goods of the present, can rejoice in the temperate weather and the fertile fields. When the fruits are gathered into great barns, it can say to its soul, “You have many good things; eat.” It may receive a kind of rebuke from the divine voice and may hear it saying, “Fool, this very night they demand your soul from you. The things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

This should be the careful consideration of wise people, that since the days of this life are short and the time uncertain, death should never be unexpected for those who are to die. Those who know that they are mortal should not come to an unprepared end. SERMON 90.4.1. [1]

[1] FC 93:382*.

THE COMPANIONS OF THE DEAD

AMBROSE: He uselessly accumulates wealth when he does not know how he will use it. He is like him who, when his full barns were bursting from the new harvest, prepared storehouses for his abundant fruits, not knowing for whom he gathered them. [1] The things that are of the world remain in the world, and whatever riches we gather are bequeathed to our heirs. The things that we cannot take away with us are not ours either. Only virtue is the companion of the dead. Compassion alone follows us. It is the guide to the heavens and the first of the mansions. Through the use of worthless money, it acquires eternal dwellings for the dead. The Lord’s commands testify when he says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.” [2] EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, HOMILY 7.122. [3]

[1] Ps 38:7 LXX.

[2] Lk 16:9.

[3] EHG 280-81**.

12:21 | The Second Principle - One Who Is Not Rich Toward God Is Such a Fool

TO BE RICH TOWARD GOD

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: It is true that a person’s life is not from one’s possessions or because of having an overabundance. He who is rich toward God is very blessed and has glorious hope. Who is he? Evidently, one who does not love wealth but rather loves virtue, and to whom few things are sufficient. [1] It is one whose hand is open to the needs of the poor, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty according to his means and the utmost of his power. He gathers in the storehouses that are above and lays up treasures in heaven. Such a one shall find the interest of his virtue and the reward of his right and blameless life. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89. [2]

[1] Cf. Lk 10:42.

[2] CGSL 362**.