15 Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. 17 He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! 18 Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods. 19 I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.”
Reflection
A quiz: How many square feet of rentable self-storage is there in the U.S.? What do you think?
a) 150 million square feet
b) 600 million square feet
c) 1.2 billion square feet
d) 2.1 billion square feet
What’s your guess? Well, according to 2024 industry statistics, the answer is (d) 2.1 BILLION square feet. That’s equivalent to more than 3.3 times the land area of Manhattan. Or, put another way, it’s enough to store everything in over 850,000 average US homes.
Truly, if anyone ever needed to hear Jesus’ words of warning about “bigger barns,” it’s us. We have waaay more stuff than we know what to do with.
How do we know when “enough” is “enough?” That’s the spiritual question behind Jesus’ story. Rather than celebrate a wonderful harvest by giving excess food away, the “fool” in the story is ready to tear down perfectly good barns in order to build bigger ones. I’ve never understood that – why not just buy new? This ridiculous detail just drives home Jesus’ point about a guy so anxious for the future that he hoards for himself rather than sharing his bounty.
And to what end? In the story, his life is cut short. And all that he owns – all his money, all his land, all his barns, all his stuff – goes to someone else anyway.
It’s not the stuff itself that is the enemy. It’s the feeling of insecurity that drives the need to acquire more and more of it. So when do we have enough stuff to feel like we’ve made it? When do we have enough money in the bank to feel secure? That’s the real spiritual question.
by Joe Monahan
For Pondering and Prayer
Do you feel anxious for the future, and your ability to care for yourself and those you love? Is it hard for you to decide when enough is enough? Two antidotes to that sense of unease are gratitude and generosity. Thanks + giving are powerful together! How can you add either a practice of gratitude or generosity to your life?
Prayer: God, help us to recognize that our real need is not for bigger barns, but bigger hearts. Enlarge our hearts so that we might become ever more trusting, more faithful, more generous, and more grateful. Amen.
