 Taken from today's Gospel (Luke 12:13-21) ‘…a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’ Today’s Gospel speaks about the rich man who built bigger barns to store up all of his grain and goods so that he could relax and live a good life; living off the masses of grain and the goods he had stored up. Yet Jesus, in telling this parable, suggests this may not be the best way to go about things. I don’t necessarily think Jesus is telling us to not have any material wealth whatsoever. We will all have some portion of material wealth, though some will be more fortunate than others. What Jesus is suggesting here, however, is that we put that material wealth into perspective. This wealth we have accumulated - however pleasant it may be as we enjoy it here on earth – is not going to give us eternal life. What will give us eternal life is following Jesus and following His commandments. And this can be summed up in two simple instructions….love God, and love your neighbour. Are we prepared to follow Jesus into Heaven by listening to him and following his instructions? Or would we rather stray from his instructions, building up material treasures here on earth at the expense of loving God and loving our neighbour? |
