The greedy man eats with both hands, but still complains that the soup is not enough. Jesus instructs his disciples to guard against vainglory. He says, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (Luke 12:15). Jesus illustrated his point with the parable of the “Rich Fool” who amassed so much wealth and was thinking about expanding his barns and making bigger storage. He died before he completed his expansion project (Luke 12:16-20). Jesus concluded the parable by saying, “Thus will it be for those who store up treasures (money and property) for themselves and are not rich in matters of God” (Luke 12:21). It is not a sin to be rich and to expand one’s wealth. The sin of the rich fool was the sin of omission, which is the charitable deeds he failed to do with his money. He excluded the poorest of the poor, the marginalised, the orphans, widows, and the helpless sick from his budget. He made his possessions his obsessions. He considered his valuables to be more important than the value of charity. He was self-centred, egoistic, inordinately ambitious, and greedy. He was enjoying the gift of life and forgetting about the goodness of the giver. He was attached to the good gifts that life had given him, and he was detached from the Giver of all that he possessed. When the applause fades and the possessions decay, what will remain of us, our greed and self-glory, or the love and generosity we planted in others? Can we resolve to use what we have to glorify God and help others? ********************** Luke 12:13-21; Monday, 29th Week