Luke 12 - Indepthbible.org

2579(...continued)the death of the individual. The same thought of the imminence of death is also present in thestory of the rich man and Lazarus.” (P. 524)Nolland states that “The foolishness of the farmer’s narrow aims is highlighted by thecontrast between his many years of supply and the few hours that remain to him of life. He hasconsidered only his own present life, but his stockpile of good things will be of no benefit to thatlife, for God has now asked for its return...[This wealthy farmer has] a foolish confidence that insecuring his economic future, [he] has secured the future of his life itself as well–he has notreckoned with God.” (2, p. 687)2580The entirety of verse 21 is omitted by Bezae and the Old Latin Manuscripts a and b.The phrase tau/ta le,gwn evfw,nei o` ev,cwn wv ,ta avkou,ein avkoue,tw, “These things saying,he was crying out, ‘The one have ears to hear, let him hear’” is interpolated into the text by U,Family 13 of Minuscules, Minuscules 579, a corrector of 892 and some other Greek manuscripts.This interpolation has originated in lectionary usage, and does not change the meaning ofLuke. This same reading is found in Gospel of Thomas # 63, see footnote 1.Marshall comments that “The real life of a man is not dependent on the abundance...orperhaps superfluity...of his possessions; hence avarice is dangerous, since it leads a person todirect his aim to the wrong things in life and to ignore what really matters, namely being richtowards God...The rich man gathered treasure...for himself...but failed to grow rich as regardsGod. He thus failed in the end even to gather wealth for himself.” (Pp. 523, 524)Fitzmyer comments that “The amassing of a superabundance of material possessions forthe sake of la dolce vita [‘the sweet life’] becomes the height of folly in the light of theresponsibility of life itself and the assessment of it which will take place once it is over...Jesus’words do not merely refer to ‘the approaching eschatological catastrophe, and the comingJudgment’ [as J. Jeremias holds], but to the death of the individual person and his / her individualfate. The point of his story is brought home in the realization that the rich man was on the point ofachieving an ambition in this present life, without ever reflecting on what would be the aftermathof his ambition, either in his own existence or for the stores so amassed. Jesus’ words thus bringa consideration of death into human existence: A human being shall one day answer for theconduct of life beyond all the foresight exerted to enhance one’s physical well-being withabundance. In the story the ‘rich man’ is a farmer; but he stands for humans seduced by ‘everyform of greed’ (12:15), whether peasant or statesman, craftsman or lawyer, nurse or doctor,secretary or professor. All can become fools in God’s sight.” (2, pp. 971-72)Nolland states that the teaching is “...The need to be rich in a God-ward direction...In bothcases the person gets rich, but in the second case he is accumulating his treasure in heaven(compare Matthew 6:19-21; Sirach 29:8-17; Tobit 4:9...) This wealth is accumulated primarily(continued...)1247