The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Chapter 12
Ver. 1. — In the mean time when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people. The Greek has “ the myriads of the multitude.” A myriad contains exactly ten thousand, and is consequently taken for an innumerable multitude, as here.
Ver. 2. — Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware, says Bede, that you do not imitate the hypocrites, for the time will certainly come when both your virtue and their hypocrisy will be revealed to all. I have explained the remainder on
Ver. 13. — And one of the multitude said unto Him. My brother is injuring me, for he wishes to seize the whole of our father's property, and he will give me no share of it. Command him therefore to do me justice, for Thou by Thy authority canst do this with a word, which I cannot effect by many suits and much litigation. For it is Thy office to defend the right and assist the oppressed, for Thou art the Lord of justice.
Ver. 14. — But He said unto him , Man , who made Me a judge or a divider over you? The word “ man ” is a Hebraism for an unknown person, as in chap. xxii. 58, Peter said, “ Man, I am not,” and v. 60, “ Man, I know not what thou sayest.” The meaning is, This is a matter of the courts which dispose of secular questions : it has no part in Me, who teach and dispense a heavenly heritage. Christ does not here deny that He has judicial power, for He was the King of kings and the Lord of lords ; but He wished to use His power over a covetous man to cure him of his greed, and to teach him to prefer heavenly to earthly things, and to give way willingly to them, according to His own words, vi. 29, “From him that taketh away thy cloke withhold not thy coat also.” “ He rightly sets aside earthly things,” says S. Ambrose, “ who came down to us for heavenly ones. Hence this brother is rebuked not undeservedly, for he would fain have occupied the dispenser of heavenly things with those of earth.” At the same time He taught that ecclesiastics and spiritual persons ought not to meddle with secular things, but to employ themselves in divine ones, as S. Paul says, 2 Tim ii. 4, “No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life.” So S. Ambrose, Euthymius, Bede, and de Lyra from S. Augustine ( serm. 196) — that is, unless the faithful have any suit; secular Bishops in former ages used to settle these, as S. Augustine says that he has done. Lib. de Opere Monachor , c. 29.
And He said to them , “ as well to His disciples,” the Syriac says, “as to the multitude,” especially to him who had spoken about his dividing the property, Take heed. In this contention of how much ill was caused by avarice. Whilst one from avarice refused to divide the inheritance, the other, with too much cupidity and out of all season, urged the division. Strife and dissention arose among them. Not only should we guard against the lust of seizing what is another’s, but also from too great cupidity to get possession of what is our own, for they who are too eager for earthly riches, neglect heavenly ones. S. Augustine, in his 28th Sermo . De diversis: “Not only is he avaricious who seizes what is another’s, but he also who covetously keeps his own.” The Arabic has, “ See and beware of all evil — for avarice is the cause of all evil,” as in 1 Tim. vi. 10, “ The love of money is the root of all evil.”
For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. That is, it is not because a man abounds in riches that his life is abundant, so as to be longer and happier on that account, for it is shortened and made unhappy from the anxiety and luxury which attend upon great wealth. The Syriac version has, “ Life is not in the abundance of riches ; ” the Arabic, “ Man has not abundance in his much wealth ” — that is, abundance does not prolong our lives, but rather shortens them. Theophylact says, “ The measure of life is not contained in its abundance. For he who has great possessions does not live longer for them, nor does length of life attend upon the multitude of his riches;” and Euthymius, “Not because a man abounds in riches, does his life abound from such abundance. The measure of his life does not depend upon this.” The meaning is, Thou, O man, who greedily seekest a heritage from thy brother, seekest it that thou mayest live long and comfortably . But thou errest; for the rich, from their cares and the gluttony they indulge in, often pass short and miserable lives. If thou wouldest live long and profitably, despise money, be poor in spirit, entrust thy hopes and wealth to God alone, for He is the only giver of length of life and happiness. To show this Christ adds the following parable. S. Augustine, On Abel and Cain, i. 5, at the end : “ If thou seek treasures, choose the unseen and hidden, those which are to be found in the highest heavens, not sought in the veins of the earth. Be poor in spirit and thou shalt be rich by every reckoning ; for the life of man consists not in the abundance of his wealth, but in virtue and faith. These riches make us rich indeed, if we be rich in God.”
Ver. 16. — And He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully . The ground in the Greek (χώρα) means a large extent of land, a number of fields.
And he reasoned with himself saying. What shall I do? &c. Behold the care, behold the poverty of this rich man — he who is overflowing with wealth and receptacles has need of some place in which to store his goods. He is in doubt and perplexity, says Euthymius, as if he were really poor, though he is in truth wealthy. And S. Basil, in his homily on these words of Christ : “ The earth did not return fruits but lamentations ; for this unhappy man is afflicted quite as much as they who are oppressed by want, and he cries out saying, ‘What shall I do?’ Does not he who is in straits from his poverty utter the same words? and he who has to beg?” From all the good things that flowed in upon him he derived no gratification. They rather annoyed his mind and troubled him.
Ver. 17. — My fruits . “Did he not,” says S. Basil, “collect his crops and incur the reputation of avarice when he called them his own?” For how many dangers are there before the harvest is gathered in. The hail often beats it down, and the heat snatches it out of the very grasp, and rains suddenly rush down from the mountains and sweep it away.
Ver. 18. — And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns, &c. All the harvests collected in past years. He took counsel of his cupidity, not of his charity, which would have said to him, “ Spend them on the poor.” “Dost thou want barns? Thou hast them in the bellies of the poor,” says S. Basil ; and S. Ambrose (Lib. de Naboth , cap . vii.), “ Thou hast storehouses ; the bosoms of the poor, the houses of widows and orphans, the mouths of infants. Let these be thy barns, and they will last thee for ever.” S. Basil again, in the homily above: “He is a despoiler who, when he receives what he ought to dispense, considers it as his own. The bread thou hast is the bread of the famishing, thy robe is the robe of the naked, thy silver that is buried in the ground is the silver of the indigent : wherefore dost thou wrong so many poor whom thou mightest support ?” He adds, “And when thou hast filled thy barns, what wilt thou do with the harvest of the following year ? Wilt thou pull them down again and build new ones for ever? Thou wilt always be consuming thy substance and thy wealth in pulling down the old and building new, that the fruits which sprang from the earth may return to it again. Thou wilt not bestow them upon the poor, because thou enviest others the use of them, and thus, when earth restored them again to thee, thou deprivest all men of their benefit, nay even thyself ; for as corn, falling into the ground, brings gain to the sower, so thy bread, if thou gavest it to the hungry, would bring thee much profit hereafter.”
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. This rich man again errs and commits sin. First, in promising himself very many years, when he was to die that night. “He who promised himself a long life did not see the following day,” says S. Gregory (22 Moral chap. 6). And S. Cyril, in the Catena, “Thou hast fruits in thy barns, O rich man, but whence hast thou many years?” Secondly, in giving himself up to gluttony and luxury, saying, “ Eat, drink, and be merry like an Epicurean.” For after death is no enjoyment.