And he spoke a parable unto them, saying,
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
All Commentaries on Luke 12:16 Go To Luke 12
Basil the Great
AD 379
Not indeed about to reap any good from his plenty of fruits, but that the mercy of God might the more appear, which extends its goodness even to the bad; sending down His rain upon the just and the unjust. But what are the things wherewith this man repays his Benefactor? He remembered not his fellow-creatures, nor deemed that he ought to give of his superfluities to the needy. His barns indeed bursting from the abundance of his stores, yet washis greedy mind by no means satisfied. He was unwilling to put up with his old ones because of his covetousness, and not able to undertake new ones because of the number, for his counsels were imperfect, and his care barren. Hence it follows, And he thought. His complaint is like that of the poor. Does not the man oppressed with want say, What shall I do, whence can I get food, whence clothing? Such things also the rich man utters. For his mind is distressed on account of his fruits pouring out from his storehouse, lest perchance when they have come forth they should profit the poor; like the glutton who had rather burst from eating, than give any thing of what remains to the starving.
It was easy for him to say, I will open my barn, I will call together the needy, but he has no thought of want, only of amassing; for it follows, And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns. You do well, for the storehouses of iniquity are worthy of destruction. Bull down your barns, from which no one receives comfort. He adds, I will build greater. But if you shall complete these, wilt you again destroy them? What more foolish than laboring on for ever. Your barns, if you will, are the home of the poor. But you will say, Whom do I wrong by keeping what is my own? For it follows also, And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. Tell me what is yours, from whence did you get it and bring it into life? As he who anticipates the public games, injures those who are coming by appropriating to himself what is appointed for the common use, so likewise the rich who regard as their own the common things which they have forestalled. For if every one receiving what is sufficient for his own necessity would leave what remains to the needy, there would be no rich or poor.
But if you confess that those things have come to you from God, is God then unjust in distributing to us unequally. Why do you abound while another begs? unless that you should gain the rewards of a good stewardship, and be honored with themeed of patience. Are not you then a robber, for counting as your own what you have received to distribute? It is the bread of the famished which you receive, the garment of the naked which you hoard in your chest, the shoe of the barefooted which rots in your possession, the money of the penniless which you have buried in the earth. Wherefore then do you injure so many to whom you might be a benefactor.
You are so careless with respect to the goods of the soul, that you ascribe the meats of the body to the soul. If indeed it has virtue, if it is fruitful in good works, if it clings to God, it possesses many goods, and rejoices with a worthy joy. But because you art altogether carnal and subject to the passions, you speak from your belly, not from your soul.
But he was permitted to deliberate in every thing, and to manifest his purpose, that be might receive a sentence such as his inclinations deserved. But while he speaks in secret, his words are weighed in heaven, from whence the answers come to him. For it follows, But God said to him, you fool, this night your soul shall they require of you. Hear the name of folly, which most properly belongs to you which not man has imposed, but God Himself.
