Sermon for the ninth Sunday after Trinity

preached by The Revd Lucie Spiers, on Sunday 17 August 2025

There are more mentions of poverty and of the poor, in Luke than in any of the other Gospels, and not unsurprisingly far more about riches too. From the beginning of this gospel wealth, power and their opposites have been on the agenda, with the Magnificat proclaiming God’s levelling of inequality and the saviour of the world being laid in a manger with shepherds keeping watch nearby. It is a gospel concerned with social justice and social issues, but it does so by concentrating on those with some degree of privilege and wealth, as Jesus does in this particular passage and elsewhere.

While it is clear there is criticism of wealth, in Luke’s gospel, we see Jesus engage with those who possess it. He does not condemn them or shy away from them but speaks with them and accepts their hospitality even on occasion, suggesting they offer their hospitality to him. The numerous parables in Luke’s gospel include many that emphasise poverty and wealth as the Gospel follows Jesus’ prophetic journey to Jerusalem.

As we begin today’s text, Jesus is already among a large crowd, addressing his disciples about having courage in times of fear and danger. Suddenly, a man in the crowd calls out, asking Jesus to settle a dispute over the division of an inheritance with his brother. This was permitted in cases of inherited property but was regarded as not the desired outcome The preferred practice in ancient Israel, at least in principle within Judaism at that time, was to maintain the extended family and uphold mutual responsibilities.

The man asks Jesus using the common practice in which religious experts or legal teachers were seen as mediators of such a process. But Jesus refuses him and, in doing so, distances Himself from being regarded as either a judge or ‘divider’ (as this second term literally means). This response appears to criticise the man’s apparent desire to increase personal wealth at the expense of social obligation and forms the basis for a more general warning Jesus offers: “Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions.”

The subsequent parable will illustrate this, but the significance of what abundance or surplus can and cannot do might be overlooked. For it is not only that life is more than possessions; it is also that possessions cannot truly guarantee control over life.

In the parable, we hear how the rich man thinks only of himself. Talking to himself about all that he has and planning how he will store it, he fails to consider when he has more than enough and to wonder who else might welcome or actually need what he can offer. Instead, he continues with his plan and builds bigger barns.

The conversations he should have been having with friends and neighbours, the wise and the needy, he is in fact having with himself. He regards his abundance as something that requires thought and a new plan, and he is not wrong, but he does not understand what that plan needs to be or how it should be carried out, seemingly blind to the implication that he, one member of this deeply-connected farming society is automatically bound up in the needs of others. This abundance he received gave him an opportunity to express mutual obligation which was also the primary sign of understanding dependence on God.

In last week's gospel, Jesus taught that prayer for ‘daily bread’ was the most basic way to address God. Yet Cyprian of Carthage in the 3rd Century wrote “the bread of Jesus’ prayer is ‘our’ bread, not just mine”

The rich, and probably lonely, fool proves to be a poor friend and neighbour. He misses the point of the blessings of material success and is now to lose his ‘soul’. To die he has made no provision for the future. The man is too preoccupied with his own possessions and does not understand that he cannot make himself truly rich. In Pauline Epistles, ‘being rich’, or ‘acquiring riches’ is used at times as a metaphor for Christian life and if lived well is a constant acquisition of true wealth, a continuous movement towards God. This is what Christ says in this Gospel passage. Not to gather a treasure to ourselves, but to be rich towards God – and that could be answered quite simply by following the summary of the Law – love of God and love of neighbour. While we fear death by nature, it is not that fear which leads us to happiness. As Paul says, we are already dead, and our life is hidden with Christ. Heaven is God’s good idea, our very existence is God’s good idea, and there is no happiness that does not come from him.

While the Rich Man serves as a lesson on the dangers of wealth, he also reminds us that these dangers have both social and spiritual dimensions; they create distorted versions of people, entire groups, and even some nations, which fail to recognise that dependence on God and duty to neighbour are not merely closely linked but entirely inseparable.

For if we do not live with an awareness of those around us and with whom we share our lives, we are not only in separation from them but also from God. Money cannot buy the faith that will move mountains; it cannot buy the hope that only comes from the Risen Lord; it cannot buy you the forgiveness of sins; it cannot buy you eternal life. Money cannot buy the love that will never let you go.

So the choice we face is not between a harsh, world-denying morality or a holistic, world-affirming one, but between reality and illusion.

The reality is that the world was created by God and is utterly loved by Him. We are given the path to follow in the Way, and choosing to follow Christ means choosing to be part of what the world is truly meant for, unlike the Rich Fool.

Because it chooses to be part of God’s image, sharing in His life that fills and redeems the world. And you can decide to be part of that transformation.