Church Fathers Commentary Luke 12:16-21

"And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." — Luke 12:16-21 (ASV)

Theophylact of Ohrid: Having said that a person's life is not extended by an abundance of wealth, He adds a parable to encourage belief in this, as it follows: And he spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.”

St. Basil the Great: He was not about to reap any good from his plentiful fruits, but this happened so that the mercy of God might appear all the more, which extends its goodness even to the wicked, sending down His rain upon the just and the unjust. But with what does this man repay his Benefactor? He did not remember his fellow human beings, nor did he consider that he ought to give from his surplus to the needy. His barns were bursting from the abundance of his stores, yet his greedy mind was by no means satisfied.

He was unwilling to make do with his old barns because of his covetousness, and he was unable to undertake building new ones because of the sheer quantity, for his plans were imperfect and his anxiety was fruitless. Hence it follows, And he thought. His complaint is like that of the poor. Does not the person oppressed with want say, “What shall I do? From where can I get food? From where can I get clothing?” The rich man utters such things as well. His mind is distressed because his fruits are pouring out from his storehouses, for fear that when they are brought out they might profit the poor—like the glutton who would rather burst from eating than give any of what remains to the starving.

St. Gregory the Great: Oh, the adversity that is born from plenty! For in saying, “What shall I do?” he surely indicates that, oppressed by the success of his wishes, he labors, as it were, under a load of goods.

St. Basil the Great: It was easy for him to say, “I will open my barn; I will call together the needy.” But he has no thought of want, only of amassing. For it follows, And he said, “This I will do: I will pull down my barns.” You do well, for the storehouses of iniquity are worthy of destruction. Pull down your barns, from which no one receives comfort. He adds, “and build greater ones.” But if you complete these, will you again destroy them? What is more foolish than laboring on forever? Your barns, if you wish, are the homes of the poor.

But you will say, “Whom do I wrong by keeping what is my own?” For it also follows, “And there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods.” Tell me, what is yours? From where did you get it and bring it into life? Just as someone who gets to the public games early injures those who are coming later by appropriating for himself what is meant for common use, so also do the rich who regard as their own the common things which they have acquired first. For if everyone, upon receiving what is sufficient for his own needs, would leave what remains to the needy, there would be no rich or poor.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Observe also in another respect the folly of his words, when he says, “I will gather all my fruits,” as if he thought that he had not obtained them from God, but that they were the fruits of his own labors.

St. Basil the Great: But if you confess that these things have come to you from God, is God then unjust in distributing to us unequally? Why do you have an abundance while another begs? Is it not so that you might gain the rewards of good stewardship, and the other be honored with the reward of patience? Are you not then a robber for counting as your own what you have received to distribute? It is the bread of the famished that you hoard, the garment of the naked that you keep in your chest, the shoe of the barefooted that rots in your possession, the money of the penniless that you have buried in the earth. Why then do you injure so many whom you might have helped?

St. John Chrysostom: But in this he errs: he thinks those things are good which are, in fact, neutral. For some things are good, some are evil, and some are in between. The good things are chastity, humility, and the like; when a person chooses these, he becomes good. Opposed to these are the evil things; when a person chooses these, he becomes bad.

And then there are the neutral things, like riches, which at one time are directed toward good, as in almsgiving, and at other times toward evil, as in covetousness. In the same way, poverty at one time leads to blasphemy and at another to wisdom, according to the disposition of the one who experiences it.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: The rich man, then, builds barns that do not last but decay. And what is still more foolish, he counts on a long life for himself, for it follows, And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years.” But, O rich man, you do indeed have fruits in your barns, but as for many years—from where can you obtain them?

St. Athanasius of Alexandria: Now if anyone lives so as to die daily, seeing that our life is naturally uncertain, he will not sin, for a greater fear destroys a great deal of pleasure. But the rich man, on the contrary, promising himself a long life, seeks after pleasures, for he says, “Rest,” that is, from toil; “eat, drink, and be merry,” that is, with great luxury.

St. Basil the Great: You are so careless with respect to the goods of the soul that you attribute the food of the body to the soul. If the soul has virtue, if it is fruitful in good works, if it clings to God, then it possesses many goods and rejoices with a worthy joy. But because you are entirely carnal and subject to the passions, you speak from your belly, not from your soul.

St. John Chrysostom: We should not indulge in delights that, by fattening the body, make the soul lean. Such pleasures bring a heavy burden upon the soul, spreading darkness and a thick covering over it, because in pleasure our governing part, the soul, becomes the slave, while the subject part, the body, rules. But the body needs not luxuries but food, so that it may be nourished, not so that it may be strained and waste away. For pleasures are hurtful not only to the soul but to the body itself, because a strong body becomes weak, a healthy one diseased, an active one slothful, a beautiful one unshapely, and a youthful one old.

St. Basil the Great: But he was permitted to deliberate in everything and to reveal his purpose, so that he might receive a sentence such as his inclinations deserved. Yet while he speaks in secret, his words are weighed in heaven, from where the answer comes to him. For it follows, But God said to him, “You fool, this night your soul will be required of you.” Hear the name of “fool,” which most properly belongs to you—a name which no man has imposed, but God Himself.

St. Gregory the Great: The same night he was taken away, who had expected many years, so that he who, in gathering stores for himself, had looked far into the future, would not see even the next day.

St. John Chrysostom: “They will require your soul from you.” Perhaps certain dreadful powers were sent to require it. For if, when going from city to city, we need a guide, how much more will the soul need direction when it is released from the body and passes into the future life. On this account, the soul often rises and sinks again when it ought to depart from the body, for the consciousness of our sins is always pricking us, but most of all when we are about to be dragged before the awful tribunal.

When the whole accumulation of our crimes is brought up again and placed before our eyes, it astounds the mind. And just as prisoners are always sorrowful, but particularly at the time when they are about to be brought before the judge, so also the soul at this time is greatly tormented and afflicted by sin, but much more so after it has been removed from the body.

St. Gregory the Great: The soul was taken away in the night, for it had gone out in the darkness of its heart, being unwilling to have the light of reflection so as to foresee what it might suffer. But He adds, “Then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

St. John Chrysostom: For you will leave those things here, and not only reap no advantage from them, but you will carry a load of sins upon your own shoulders. And these things which you have laid up will for the most part fall into the hands of your enemies, but an account of them will be required of you. It follows, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

The Venerable Bede: For such a person is a fool and will be taken away in the night. He, then, who wishes to be rich toward God will not lay up treasures for himself but will distribute his possessions to the poor.

St. Ambrose of Milan: For he amasses wealth in vain who does not know how to use it. Nor are those things ours which we cannot take away with us. Virtue alone is the companion of the dead; mercy alone follows us, which gains for the dead an everlasting dwelling.