THE FOOLISHNESS OF GREED AND THE WISDOM OF GENEROSITY

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Bible Readings: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21

A wealthy businessman once spent his life building a powerful empire. He had fleets of cars, houses and investments in different countries, and traveled round the world. One day, he was asked by a friend, “What’s your greatest fear?” He answered, “That I might die before I enjoy everything I have laboured for.” A few weeks later, he died in his sleep, just days before his 60th birthday. All the wealth he gathered? Left behind. The life he built? Ended in a moment.

This story captures the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel (Luke 12:13-21), where He speaks of a rich man who, after a successful harvest, decides to store up wealth and enjoy life, saying to himself, “Eat, drink, and be merry.” But God calls him a fool, not because he was rich (being rich is not foolishness), but because he built barns for himself and not a heart for God and others. “This night your life will be demanded of you,” God says, “and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”

The Gospel calls us to confront a hard truth: greed is a spiritual sickness. It hides behind hard work and success, but it leads us to live for things that perish. Jesus warns us not to measure life by possessions. “One’s life does not consist of possessions,” He says. The man in the parable was materially rich but spiritually bankrupt.

This warning in the Gospel reading finds elaborate expression in today’s First Reading from Ecclesiastes (1:2; 2:21-23), where the preacher cries out, “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” The Hebrew word hebel used here means something like a “breath” or “mist” - fleeting, temporary, and unsubstantial. The author reflects on the tragedy of a man who toils with wisdom, yet leaves his riches to someone who did not labor for them. In the end, even the most successful person cannot carry his wealth beyond the grave. So, what remains?

The Second Reading from Colossians (3:1-5, 9-11) gives us the answer. St. Paul tells us: “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is.” The real life is not in accumulation, but in transformation. We are to “put to death” earthly desires - greed, immorality, lies - and put on the “new self,” which reflects Christ, our true wealth.

When we look at these readings in synopsis, we see one clear message: we are called to live for what is eternal and to become rich toward God. This does not mean that the things of this world are evil in themselves. Possessions, success, and wealth can be good but only when they serve God’s purpose. The problem begins when instead of possessing the material things of this world, they possess us; when they become our security and identity.

So how do we become “rich toward God,” as Jesus advises? We do so by generosity - not just financial generosity, but generosity of time, love, forgiveness, and service. We do so by making room for Christ in our daily lives, by seeking the things that are above - truth, mercy, humility, and love. We do so by valuing people over things and character over possessions. St Ambrose says that the sin of the rich man is that built barns to store his rich produce when he would have stored it in the mouth of the poor.

Let me state it again that this homily is not a condemnation of wealth or planning for the future. As a matter of fact, he who fails to plan, plans to fail. It is always good to plan for the future. However, this homily reminds us that as we labor, plan, and save up for the future, we should keep in mind that life is short and eternity is long. If tonight your life is demanded of you, will you have something eternal to offer?

Dear friend, let us ask ourselves today: Are we building barns for this world, or treasures in heaven? Are we using our riches to serve others or are we just hoarding them for ourselves? Are we toiling for things that perish, or are we seeking the One who never fades? May we not be counted among the “fools” in the end but among the wise who built their lives not on vanity, but on Christ, the Eternal Good. Amen.