The Fool Straining At The Eye Of The Needle - Take Note And Learn Series

THE FOOL STRAINING AT THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE - TAKE NOTE AND LEARN

THE INTRODUCTION

{{Luke 12:20 but God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?’}} -

In verse 20 why did God call him a fool? Well there is one thing we know - and that is, he was not a fool because he had a good farm and managed his affairs well. He planned ahead. So, then, why is he called a fool.

THE REQUEST FROM “SOMEONE”

But God called him a fool so there was a reason for this. The answer lies in what had occurred before this verse. It began with a request from “someone” who approached the Lord asking Him to decide a matter on his behalf. Verse 13 is the start and verse 14 is the Lord’s response to that, and it would seem on face value that He was a little abrupt with the “someone”.

{{Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me,” Luke 12:14 but He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbiter over you?”}}

The reason why the Lord dealt with him a bit abruptly lies in what follows in the parable resulting from this request. The divine One knew the end from the beginning and He knew what lay in the heart of the inquirer. Before the parable, the Lord said this in verse 15 by way of introduction -

{{Luke 12:15 and He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”}}

Well, very importantly, in verse 15 the Lord exposes greed and because He knows the heart of man He knew the request was linked with greed. The man had the wrong motive with regard to his brother and the inheritance. The Lord knew that. He knows everything. Thank God we have a Saviour who knows everything. He knows my problems and the desires of my heart. He knows my failures, every one. That verse was a rebuke to the “someone” who asked but it is so important a principle in life that He addressed His answer to all of them.

MOVING TO THE PARABLE

Let us read the Parable carefully – {{Luke 12:16-20 “He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a certain rich man was very productive, and he began reasoning to himself saying, ‘What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops?’ and he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry,”’ but God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?’}}

This parable is about a rich farmer with a productive farm. As I said already he seemed to manage his farm well. The man was enterprising – good business practices. He planned for the proper use of this productive land. He assessed the potential and planned accordingly by replacing his old barns with bigger in order to accommodate the harvest. He worked hard his whole life we would think, and retirement was near so he began to map out some activity. Is that wrong? Is it wrong to get to retirement age and go cruising or travelling or doing what you were not able to do earlier because of work and family? We don’t think so. We could even say he was honest and treated people fairly and maybe conducted good works. We could argue all that from silence.

Therefore why did God judge him so harshly in verse 20? Some say it was because he was rich. The Lord said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. THE FOOL AT THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE. {{Luke 18:24 and Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! Luke 18:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Luke 18:26 They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”}}

He was rich but that was not the reason for God calling him a fool, for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were rich. He was successful but that was not the reason because Joseph was successful in Egypt and Daniel was in Babylon. He wanted to retire with a good superannuation system and go cruising and eating out and enjoying himself, but that was not the reason either, for Jonah went cruising and David and Solomon ate and drank well in kingly palaces, and the household of the prodigal son did what the father of the household stated, “Eat, drink and be merry”.