The Story of the Foolish Man (Luke 12:13-21)

Jesus told stories to illustrate spiritual truths.

One of these stories is about a man who was productive financially when he lived but was unprepared spiritually when he died (Luke 12:13-21).

What prompted Jesus to tell the story was when a man shouted to Jesus telling him to tell the brother of the man to divide the inheritance with him.

Jesus replied to the man and his brother,

“Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:14-15)

Jesus did not seek to solve the inheritance problem, rather he used the inheritance problem to show the real problem.

The real problem for the men was a misunderstanding about the meaning of life.

To these men, the meaning of life was accumulation of material possessions; so, Jesus told them that life does not consist of the abundance of your possessions.

The real problem for the men was not an inheritance problem but an internal problem…a spiritual problem.

Their lives were about accumulating earthly possessions while living, with no regard for spiritual preparations for dying.

To illustrate their real problem was not an inheritance problem but a spiritual problem, Jesus told the story of a man who was prosperous financially but who was unprepared spiritually.

Even though this man did not neglect to prepare for retirement, he failed to prepare for death.

The day this man retired, he said to himself (Luke 12:19), “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

Sadly, that very night, he died.

Jesus put it this way (Luke 12:20), “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?’”

Let’s look at this verse a little deeper.

The word fool in this verse means to willfully reject spiritual understanding or insight when given the opportunity.

It means to reject learning spiritual truths because of egotistical pride.

According to Jesus, this man willfully neglected understanding spiritual truths, though he did not fail to pursue financial and material gain.

Additionally, this man willfully neglected preparing for death, though he pursued preparations for retirement.

Therefore, this many was foolish.

One more thing to notice…this man passed down a legacy of earthly gain to his children while planting no seeds of spiritual truths for eternal life.

It’s interesting that in the story Jesus quotes God as saying, “…then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

Could it be that Jesus is describing the men’s father…the men who are arguing about the inheritance?

Is it possible these two men are now doing exactly what their father did, willfully failing to gain spiritual understanding while purposefully pursuing material gain?

Is this the legacy the father left for the children?

Let’s continue to examine the story Jesus told about the foolish man and what God said to the man upon his death.

Jesus said, “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?’”

What does Jesus mean when he says that this man’s soul will be required of him?

It’s difficult to understand exactly what Jesus meant by soul.

Soul is also translated as life in many others verses of the Bible.

Jesus’ use of the word soul in the following two verses provides us with more understanding.

Matthew 16:26

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

Matthew 10:28 (Literal Standard Version)

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. [Gehenna was a trash dump in Jerusalem were trash and refuse were burned. Jesus is using the word Gehenna with his Jewish audience as symbolism for judgment when unbelievers are destroyed in the lake of fire - see Revelation 20:11-15].

In these two statements, Jesus seems to be using soul as the spiritual part of a person that continues beyond physical death that will be destroyed in judgment or that will live eternally with God.

I think we can discern from the context of the story that the foolish man’s life on earth had come to an abrupt, unexpected ending, and he was now facing judgment concerning his eternal destiny.

Jesus concludes the story by saying, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

In this statement, Jesus provides insight into the frame of mind of this man.

His frame of mind was to succeed financially and materially while ignoring his spiritual life and eternal destination.

It seems the man’s passion was to pursue financial and material gain in preparation for enjoying retirement on earth, while making no spiritual preparation for judgment following his death.

This man was rich financially and materially but was poor toward God spiritually.

What does it mean to be poor toward God?

Paul makes an interesting statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 when he says he was poor, but he made many people rich.

Paul was financially and materially poor; yet, he made many people spiritually rich by telling them about Jesus.

The heart of Paul’s message is found in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, where Paul writes:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In these verses, we discover Paul’s message for how he made people spiritually wealthy.

Paul says that God through Jesus removed the barrier of sin preventing a person from being in relationship with God, paving the way for anyone to be in a relationship with God.

In these verses, we discover that God is not counting our sins against us because they were all counted against Jesus in his death.

Not only did Jesus take upon himself our sinfulness [sins and guilt for sins], but Jesus offers everyone his righteousness [innocence, as if one had never sinned], which is received by faith….trust or believe (Romans 3:21-24; Romans 4).

When people place their faith in Jesus, they receive forgiveness of sins and righteousness-as if they had never sinned.

They are then reconciled to God, meaning they begin a relationship with God.

As a result, they have become spiritually wealthy, or rich toward God.

Paul uses the word grace to describe our becoming rich toward God.

He does this because it is not our religious or moral efforts that make us rich toward God, but it is God’s effort in Jesus at the cross that makes us rich toward God.

When people place their faith in Jesus, the spiritual wealth of God through Jesus is placed into our spiritual accounts so to speak.

Paul uses the phrase “the riches of God’s grace” in Ephesians 1:6-8 when he writes,

…to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.

Grace is God kindly supplying through the blood of Jesus (the blood of Jesus is his death that pays our sin debt in full and cleanses us from all sins) the spiritual riches we need to escape the judgment to come and to experience eternal life with God in the age to come (see also Ephesians 2:1-9).

These spiritual riches include forgiveness of sins and righteousness, which are freely offered to us by God and are received by faith in Jesus.

Paul prayed that the internal eyes of people would see the riches of God’s grace that he has provided freely for us in Jesus.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance…(Ephesians 1:18).

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:7 about the incomparable riches of God’s grace that we will see in the coming eternal age.

He writes that in the coming ages he [God] will show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Paul then writes in Ephesians 2:8-10,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in.

Paul explains in these verses that a person does not become rich toward God by works or effort, rather a person becomes rich toward God by faith in Jesus, where a person receives salvation [escaping judgment to come and experiencing eternal life to come] by faith in Jesus.

God then has prepared good works for this person to walk in.

These good works have nothing to do with earning salvation.

These good works are an expression of salvation to others.

These good works are prepared by God and produced by God in the life of the person who has believed.

These good works are produced in a believer in Jesus as a believer grows in relationship with God.

Let’s return to the story Jeus told about the foolish man who was consumed with earthly success but ignored gaining spiritual wisdom while living and who ignored the judgment to come upon death (see also Hebrews 9:27).

Let’s read it once more (Luke 12:15-21).

Then he [Jesus] said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Notice the word whoever in the last statement of Jesus.

Jesus also used the word whoever in John 3:16-17.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish [in the judgment to come] but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him [through the blood of Jesus and his resurrection].

So how does a person become rich toward God so they are saved from perishing in the judgment to come then live eternally with God?

Simply by believing in Jesus for salvation.

Today you can believe in Jesus for salvation.

Jesus said that blessed are those who are poor in spirit…meaning, blessed are those who humbly admit they have nothing to offer God for salvation…no good works…no morality…they admit they have sinned and are spiritually poor.

This person is blessed because he realizes his only way of salvation is the spiritual riches (forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life) that God has freely provided for him in Jesus, which are received simply by believing.

If you would like to receive the spiritual riches of God’s grace freely provided for you in Jesus, the prayer below may be helpful for you to express your belief in Jesus.

Jesus, today I believe in you for salvation. I believe you died for all my sins and rose from the dead. I believe you died for my sinfulness. You now offer me forgiveness (not guilty for my sins) and righteousness (innocent of all sins). Through belief in you, I receive forgiveness and righteousness and now possess eternal life. I have now begun a relationship with God. I do not understand all spiritual truth but I do understand that by believing in you I am saved from judgment and will live eternally.

If you made the decision to believe in Jesus today, we would love to know. Send us a message from the Contact Us page letting us know you have believed in Jesus.

If you would like to learn more about Jesus, Brad has many resources on this website that can be accessed from the Home page.

One article that may interest you is an article Brad wrote, Three Reasons I Believe In God.