 |
working
together for the future of faith |
|
|
|
working
together for the future of faith |
|
|
(1)
Thom 63:1
(2) 1Q?: Luke 12:16-21
(1) Thom 63:1
63 Jesus said, There was a rich man who had a great deal of money. 2He said, "I shall invest my money so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouses with produce, that I may lack nothing." 3These were the things he was thinking in his heart, but that very night he died. 4Anyone here with two ears had better listen! [Complete Gospels]
(2) Luke 12:16-21
12:16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 12:17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 12:18 Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 12:19 And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 12:20 But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 12:21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Biblical Parallels
Sirach 11:17-19
/11:17/ Some stint and save and thus become rich /18/ and think that they have achieved something /19/ and say, "Now I will make myself a good life, eat and drink of what I have" — but they do not know that their hour is near and that they must leave everything to others and die.
John Dominic Crossan
Item: 94
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Attestation: Double
Historicity: +
Common Sayings Tradition: Yes
Crossan [Historical Jesus, 275] notes that this parable is one of several complexes that express a criticism of wealth. In this case the farmer has not done anything wrong:
He is simply rich and has the planning problems of such status. But riches do not save you from death's unexpected arrival.
Text
Item
Source
JS Mtg
%Red
%Pink
%Gray
%Black
W Avg
Color Thom 63:1-3 Luke 12:16b-20 Luke 12:21
Samuel T. Lachs
Lachs [Rabbinic Commentary on the New Testament, 291f]:
Rabbinic teaching does not eschew the material things of life, but it does not make of them the ultimate goal of man's existence. Man possesses an insatiable appetite, hence the statement, "Man's nature is such that he is never satisfied." [B. Sanh. 29b] There are many admonitions about the evil of covetousness and avarice, e.g., "A Rich man is compared to a mouse lying on dinars." [Ibid. Cf. also Sira 2.1-11; Ps. 49.16-20; Job 31.24 ff]
Luedemann [Jesus, 345f] comments:
The authenticity of this passage is sometimes defended by designating it an 'eschatological parable' (J. Jeremias). But it is certainly not that. It is the narrative by a wise man indicating that riches mean nothing in the face of death. As one who knew the traditions of Israel, especially as he had called the poor blessed (6.20), Jesus may have thought that. But each time the context is quite different. If 6.20 is authentic, then 12.16-20 must be inauthentic. Jesus had other concerns than the fate of individual rich men, all the more so as the case mentioned in the parable was not and is not the rule.
Muslim Jesus Traditions
Tarif Khalidi [The Muslim Jesus] provides the following traditions that preserve a slight echo of this cluster.
/294/ Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he sells his soul for all that is in the world, and then leaves all that he sold it for as an inheritance to someone else while he himself has ruined his soul? Blessed is he who saves his soul, preferring it to all that is in the world." [eighteenth century]