In our Gospel reading today, Jesus tells a parable that begins with a man whose fields ‘yielded an abundant harvest’ (Luke 12:16). It’s a parable that speaks well to our times. Even in times of financial difficulty, our supermarkets contain an abundance of food beyond anything Jesus’ original hearers could have dreamed of. It’s right that we should be grateful for all God has given, even as we are mindful of those who do not enjoy their fair share of the modern world’s abundance.
But there’s also a warning in Jesus’ parable. Its message is that ‘life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’ (Luke 12:15) Unless we look beyond the abundance we have been given to the God who gives it to us, we will miss out on what is truly life.
Ed