Keep others in the equation!

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “tell my brother to divide the family property with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge or umpire between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against wanting to have more and more things. Life is not made up of how much a person has.”

Then Jesus told them a story. He said, “A certain rich man’s land produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have any place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my storerooms and build bigger ones. I will store all my grain and my other things in them. I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things stored away for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink and have a good time.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You foolish man! This very night I will take your life away from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“That is how it will be for anyone who stores things away for himself but is not rich in God’s eyes.”

Food for thought!

Last August we had this same gospel. We entitled it, "Keep God in the Equation." We have the same gospel today. And today, we are going to make a small twist to what we said back in August. Today, we are saying that keep others in the equation.

As we said in August, the man in the parable never saw beyond himself; he never saw any human need except his need. This is why he kept saying words as I, me, my and mine; he does not mention other people. The rich fool was indeed self-centred. This man had never thought of sharing with anybody his surplus. His equation did not include other people. He may not have expected a thing from others, but certainly the others expected much from him; the richer you become, the more others expect from you; the greater you become, the greater the people expect from you.

This man not only did not include God in his equation (as we pointed out in August), he also did not include man in his equation; he also ignored completely his neighbour. And this was his and our mistake. This is why Jesus asked him: "who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" This is the question we must ask ourselves every single day: who will get what I have prepared for myself? We should ask it when we get our salary. With whom am I sharing my salary, my money, my time…?

When we share with others our gifts and our blessings, they increase for us and for others, just the loaves and fish of Jesus increased when he shared them. So, what are some of your resources, inner and outer, that you may share with other people? Never say that you are too poor to give, just as never say that you are too rich to need anything from others. We are both poor and rich. Nobody is too poor not to afford to give anything. This is what Jesus was saying when he said, "I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded." (Mt 10:42). Even the poorest of the poor can afford to give water.