The rejection of Christ leads to an important change, both in His position and in what men would find in and from Him. A Jew would naturally have looked to the Messiah as the judge of every vexed question. Even he who valued the Lord Jesus for His unblemished ways and holy conversation might well seek His aid. But it is here shown that His rejection by man changes everything. One cannot reason abstractedly therefore from what the Messiah was as such; we must take into account the fact of the state of man towards Him and God's action thereon. The cross of Christ, which was to be the fruit and measure of the rejection of the Lord, would have in its train consequences immense, and of all possible difference from what had gone before; and this not only on man's part, but on God's.
Hence, when one of the company said to Him, “Master speak, to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me,” the Lord answers, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” He was not come to judge. The rejection of Christ leads into that infinite salvation He has wrought, in view of which He declines the settlement of human disputes. He was not come for earthly purposes, but for heavenly. Had He been received by men, He would undoubtedly have divided inheritances here below; but, as they were, He was no judge or divider over men or their affairs here below. But Luke, as is his manner and habit, presents the Lord immediately looking at the moral side of the matter, as indeed the rejection of Christ does lead into the deepest manifestation and understanding of the heart.
The Lord therefore addresses the company on a broader ground. “He said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” This anxiety for Christ's help to settle questions flows from the heart's desire of something that one has not here below. Maintenance of position is here judged, eagerness after earthly righteousness is exposed” beware of covetousness.” The rejection of Christ and the revelation of heavenly things led into the true path of faith, of confiding in God for whatever He gives, of trusting, not man but Him, for all difficulties, of contentedness with such things as we have. God arranges all to faith. Nor is this the whole matter. The heart has to be watched. “Beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” And this too He illustrates, as well as its awful end. There is exceeding selfishness, folly, and danger in what might seem to be earthly prudence. Hear the next words of the Lord. “He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” Clearly this man counted that the prime good lay in the abundance of the things that he possessed. His desire was to employ what he had so as to get and keep more of present things.
Systematic selfishness was there, not the reckoning of faith either in its self-sacrifices of suffering or in its active and generous devotedness. There was no eye upon the future outside this world. All was in present life. It is not that the rich fool made a bad use of what he had according to human judgment, not that he was immoral, but his action did not go beyond gratifying his desire of ever-growing abundance. “He said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.”
This conduct stands in marked contrast with what the Lord afterward brings into prominence in chapter 16, where is seen the sacrifice of the present for the future, and that such only are received into everlasting habitations. It is not the means of deliverance from hell, but the character of all who go to heaven. So far they resemble the steward in the parable, whom the lord commended, not for his injustice, but for his wisdom. He sacrificed present interests, his master's goods, in order to secure the future. The rich proprietor here, on the contrary, is ever casting down his barns and building greater, in order the better to secure all his fruits and increase his goods. His sole and entire thought was for this present life which, he assumed, would go on unchangeably. The steward looked out for the reverse that was at hand, and acted accordingly. May we feel ourselves stewards in what men would call our own and act with no less prudence. It was not so with him who says to himself, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” There was both self-satisfaction in what he possessed, and withal the desire for a long enjoyment of present ease. It was the practical Sadduceanism of unbelief. “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?”
He never considered this. God was not in all his thoughts. He had reduced his soul to the merest slavery of the body, instead of keeping under the body, that it might be the servant of the soul, and God the master of both. But no: God was in none of his thoughts; yet God said to him, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” He had looked onward for an uninterrupted prosperity in the world. “This night!” Little did he think it. “This night thy soul shall be required of thee So is he that layette up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Riches before God cannot be without what men shortsightedly count impoverishment of self, using what we have not for ourselves but for others. Only such are rich toward God, be their means great or small. If their means are small, they are nevertheless large enough to let them think of others in love and provide for wants greater than their own: if their means are great, their responsibilities are so much the greater. But in every case the gathering up is not for self, but for the service of grace; and this can only be by bringing God into the matter. Such only are rich toward God. Laying up treasure for oneself is the hard labor of self and the unbelief that reserves for a long dream of enjoyment which the Lord suddenly interrupts.
Then the disciples are addressed, and the Lord accordingly rises in the character of His appeal. The other was a warning for men, but for the disciples there was a new path opening. “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment.” That is, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what put on. This was a great advance in the instruction given to souls—a guard against anxiety, which depends on faith in God. The Lord gives them an instance from the birds around them. “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them.” God's care condescended to watch over even an unclean bird like a raven. “How much more are ye better than the fowls?”
But we have more than this: the utter powerlessness of man, in what most nearly concerns him, is brought out with matchless beauty and truth. “Which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?” What concerns the body is least. “Why take ye thought for the rest?” Then we are given a still more graphic instance from the flowers of the field. “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not.” God's care of the vegetable, no less than the animal, world affords striking and familiar proofs which cannot be gainsaid. “They toil not, they spin not.” The ravens might seem to do somewhat; but as to the lilies, what can they do? “They toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” This was not said as to the ravens. “If God then so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven” —the meanest thing as it were that He has made in the vegetable kingdom, that which is both common and transient— “how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?” The one, therefore, the ravens, rebuked their care for their food, and the lilies their care for their clothing. “If then God so clothe the grass how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Hence they were to beware of resembling the nations of the world, which know not God. “Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after.” They were without God. “And your Father [not only God, but your Father] knoweth that ye have need of these things.” He advances now until He puts the disciples into the enjoyment of their own relationship with a Father who cared perfectly for them, and could fail in nothing towards them. The God who watched over the ravens and the lilies—their Father—would surely care for them. He knows that we have need of these things, and would be trusted by us.