Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Rembrandt, “The Parable of the Rich Fool”

Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13–21)

What therefore does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of so many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety he utters the words of poverty. He says, “For what shall I do?” The man who is in lack of necessities constantly spews this miserable language: but lo! one here of boundless wealth uses similar expressions. He determined then to build more spacious storehouses: he purposed to enjoy for himself alone those revenues that were sufficient for a populous city. He looks not 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 which are above in heaven: he does not cherish love for the poor, nor desire the estimation to be gained thereby: he sympathizes not with suffering; it gives him no pain, nor awakens his pity. And what is still more irrational, he settles for himself the duration of his life, as if he would reap this too from the ground, for he says, “I will say to myself, ‘Self, you have goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, enjoy yourself.’” “But, O rich, man,” one may say, “you have indeed storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? For by the decree of God your life is shortened. For God, it tells us, said unto him, “You fool, this night they shall require of you your soul. But whose shall these things be that you have prepared?”

It is true therefore, that a man’s life is not from his possessions, by reason of his having overabundance, but very blessed, and of glorious hope is he who is rich towards God. And who is he? Evidently one who loves not wealth, but virtue rather, and to whom few things are sufficient: and whose hand is open to the necessities of the indigent, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty, according to his means, and the utmost of his power. It is he who 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 upright and blameless life.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke 89