The Parable of the Rich Fool
A man builds bigger barns for a future he will not live to see.
A rich man's land yields so abundantly that he plans to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, then take his ease for years. But God says, this night thy soul shall be required of thee — and all he stored is left behind.
The parable
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Soul, take thine ease — but God says, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
What it means
Jesus told this parable to a man squabbling over an inheritance, prefacing it with a warning: take heed, and beware of covetousness. The rich fool's error is not that he was wealthy or that he planned ahead, but that his entire horizon was himself and this life. Notice the pronouns — my fruits, my barns, my goods, my soul. God is absent from every calculation.
His fatal miscalculation is that he owned the one thing no one owns: time. Soul, take thine ease... for many years, he tells himself — and does not survive the night. All his careful storage passes to others, and he takes nothing with him.
The lesson is not against saving or planning but against a life that is rich toward self and bankrupt toward God. Real wealth is what we send ahead, not what we pile up here. The fool is anyone who secures everything for the body and nothing for the soul.