Bigger Barns
- Gary Fritsch
- Oct 19
- 2 min read
We can easily be drawn into our own worlds. Literally worlds that we think we have made, we own, we control. We work hard to get ahead, to make a name for ourselves, to move up in the world. In doing this we can easily delude ourselves into believing that we are the source of all of the goodness that we have in our lives. This is the way the rich man in today's parable is living.
This man, even though his ‘land produced a bountiful harvest’ believed in the power of his own riches and capabilities. So much so, that he would tear down his barns, likely losing all of his current harvest, so that he would be able to have room for all of his great future harvests. He just assumed that he would be able to continue to produce great harvest after great harvest. He was confident in all that he was and all that he possessed.
Then at the end of the parable, the bombshell is dropped: your life will be demanded of you this very night. All of a sudden, all that he was and all that he possessed was worthless, and more importantly, his failure to recognize where all of his gifts originated and therefore how he should use them would likely leave him in an undesirable state at the end of his life.
Jesus often uses extreme examples to make his point clear and this is no exception. However, we cannot look at this and imagine somehow that this is not us at times. We spend a great deal of time and energy budgeting what we will do with OUR MONEY and OUR CAREER and OUR RELATIONSHIPS. One of my favorite prayers from St. Ignatius of Loyola reminds me of the source of all of the goodness in my life. It goes like this:
Take,O Lord and receive my entire liberty, my memory,
my understanding and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess, you have given me.
I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will.
Give me only your love and your grace –
with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more.
- Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556
He is the source of every good thing. We should want to offer it all back to Him because His will is the best possible thing for our lives.
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