The readings for the 18th Sunday in ordinary time reflect on the nature of our lives and the choices we make. We are challenged to examine our priorities, especially in light of our earthly desires and aspirations. In the first reading from Ecclesiastes, we encounter the profound insight of the teacher, who declares that “all is vanity”. Here the author poignantly reminds us that our earthly pursuits – wealth, success, and worldly pleasures ultimately fade away. We work tirelessly, yet we may leave behind a legacy that feels fleeting and unsatisfactory. This reflection serves as a call to examine what truly matters in our lives. Today’s Psalm extends this theme by highlighting the brevity of human life. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a wise heart”. Time is a gift, yet it is finite. Our awareness of its passage should inspire us to seek wisdom and to invest our time in what aligns with God’s purposes. In the second reading from Colossians, we are encouraged to set our minds on things that are above. Paul calls us to set our minds on things that are above. Paul calls us to live in alignment with our new identity in Christ. If we are to find true fulfillment, we must turn our attention away from worldly distractions and focus on the eternal.
Today’s Gospel from Luke presents us with the parable of the rich fool, a man who hoarded his wealth, believing that security and happiness lay in his possessions. Yet God labels him a fool storing up treasures for himself while failing to be rich toward God. It was common among Jews who quarreled to refer the matter to a Rabbi, a religious teacher, for him to decide who was right; today we call this arbitration. “Someone in the crowd said to him, ” The teacher tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. ” But he said to him, friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”. This interruption introduces a real-life concern. Inheritance disputes were under the jurisdiction of religious teachers. The Gospel shows Jesus as a person always ready to help, but when a man, probably the younger of two brothers, went and requested him to convince his brother to yield the share of the inheritance that belonged to him, Jesus refused to intervene. He had not come into the world to pass judgement on who was what, but to teach people the right use of God’s gifts. He rebuffs the man by saying: greed has caused you and your brothers to quarrel over the inheritance. Go and learn that possessions are not as precious as you make them out to be. Jesus took the opportunity to teach a lesson about possession to those present, a lesson which people of all times need to learn that is, “that it is foolish to put someone’s trust in earthly good”, they cannot be relied up on, and what is more important, that is a stumbling block to entering God’s kingdom.
Jesus conveys this lesson by means of a parable of a farmer, who, having obtained an abundant harvest, made plans for the future. At first sight, his plan should have worked, but they did not, all his apparently wise reasoning ended up in smoke. Let us examine the parable: the farmer was a self-centered person. He uses the words ‘I’ and ‘my’ repeatedly (over 10 times in Greek) showing a mindset of possessiveness and isolation. His newly acquired wealth led him to think that he was in need of no one; that abundant harvest could take care of his every need. He had not a thought of his neighbor; had he been concerned about them, he would have distributed what he did not need, among the hungry people around, and the problem of storing would have been solved. In the midst of his abundant harvest, the farmer forgot about God. In his conversation with himself, the farmer does not even mention God, not a word of gratitude towards him, for the harvest obtained. Comes from his lips: I will say to my soul, soul you have ample goods, relax, eat and drink, be merry. He speaks to his own soul, treating it like a bank account to be filled. The sudden shock we seem to hear Jesus uttering aloud “fool” the word he puts on God’s lips: “you fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you, who will get all these things you have kept for yourself? Luke 12:20. The man is called a fool not for being rich, but for being unwise, shortsighted, and spiritually blind. The phrase “your soul is required” implies a kind of divine reckoning. Everything he saved is now worthless to him, and his control was an illusion. You can be sure that those who were gathered there must have thought much the same “how foolish of him, to believe that his abundant harvest was all he needed to be happy”. In all the reading today, we are reminded that life is not about accumulating things but about relationships with God, with one another, and even with ourselves. We are invited to contemplate over priorities, to ensure that our earthly existence does not overshadow our call to follow Christ.