He told them a parable.
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, ‘Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!'”
But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God.” (Lk 12:16-21)
There’s a show on television dedicated to showing hoarders. I have never seen the show; but, I hear that it is quite revealing. Hoarders really have a terrible problem that makes them want to save, literally, everything.
We hear about a certain kind of hoarding in today’s Gospel. Now, the hoarding that is shown on television is generally the product of a sick mind and the stuff that those people hoard cannot benefit anyone, not even themselves.
But in the Gospel, there is a lot of “stuff” that is being hoarded that can be of benefit. However, instead of sharing their blessings, the people in the Gospel decide to build bigger storage bins so that they can have everything to themselves.
Jesus reminds them that nothing is forever in this world and that all the hoarding in the world will not keep them from perishing. However, preventing others from being blessed is seen as an abomination by God.
We have lots of stuff. We often prevent others from sharing in our blessings as well. That is a grave evil.
God did not bless us so that we can keep everything to ourselves. He blessed us so that we could share what we have with those in need.
FAITH ACTION: Have you needlessly been hanging on to something that someone else could truly use? Consider blessing them with it today.