Dr.
Brant Pitre The Mass Readings Explained
The Rich Fool
(18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23—The Vanity of Toil
1. “Vanity”: word for “vapor, mist, breath” (Hebrew hebel) (1:1)
I loathe my life; I would not live for ever.
Let me alone, for my days are a breath (Hebrew hebel) (Job 7:16)
2. This World: “All is vanity” (Hebrew hebel) (1:2)
3. Toil: vanity of “toil” or “labor” for earthly possessions (2:21-23)
Psalm 90—Teach Us to “Number our Days”
1. Death: inevitable; you “turn men back to the dust” (v. 3-4)
2. Life: is brief; “like grass”—grows in the morning, fades in the evening (v. 5-6)
3. Wisdom: “teach us to number our days” (v. 12; cf. v. 10: 70-80 years lifespan)
4. Labor: “establish thou the work of our hands” (v. 17)!
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11—Think of Heaven, not of Earth
1. Above vs. Below: “seek the things that are above, where Christ is” (3:1)
Luke 12:13-21—True Wealth and the Rich Fool
1. Inheritance: division over “inheritance” or “property” (Greek klēronomia) (12:13)
2. Greed: beware of all “covetousness” (Greek pleonexia) (KJV; RSV) (12:13)
a. “Greed” (NAB; NIV; NRSV)
b. “the state of desiring to have more than one’s due, insatiableness” (BAGD,824)
3. Life: “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (12:15)
4. Rich Man: “rich” or “wealthy” (Greek plousios) (12:16)
5. Sloth and Gluttony: “take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (12:19)
6. Rich Fool: “lays up treasure for himself” (12:21)
7. [Wise Person]: “rich toward God” (eis theon ploutōn) (12:21)
The Living Tradition
Basil the Great: [W]hat do we find in this man? A bitter disposition, hatred of other
people, unwillingness to give. This is the return he made to his Benefactor. He forgot that
we all share the same nature; he felt no obligation to distribute his surplus to the needy.
His barns were full to the bursting point, but still his miserly heart was not satisfied. Year
by year he increased his wealth, always adding new crops to the old. The result was a
hopeless impasse: greed would not permit him to part with anything he possessed… You
who have wealth, recognize who has given you the gifts you have received… You are the
servant of the good God, a steward on behalf of your fellow servants. Do not imagine that
everything has been provided for your own stomach. Take decisions regarding your
property as though it belonged to another. Possessions give you pleasure for a short time,
but then they will slip through your fingers and be gone, and you will be required to give
!1
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Dr. Brant Pitre The Mass Readings Explained
an exact account of them. “What am I to do?” It would have been so easy to say: “I will
feed the hungry, I will open my barns and call in all the poor…” (Basil, Homilies on
Riches [trans. E. Barnecut], p. 104-105)
Questions for Discussion and Reflection (18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)
1. When Ecclesiastes says that “All is vanity” (1:2), what does the word
“vanity” (Hebrew hebel) mean? How does this view compare with your own experience
of how labor and possessions are valued in our culture?
2. What does Psalm 90 reveal to us about true “wisdom” regarding the brevity of life?
How, practically speaking, can we learn to “number our days”?
3. Why does Jesus say to beware of all “covetousness” (Greek pleonexia)? What are
some areas of your own life in which you need to grow in detachment from earthly
possessions? What role does almsgiving play?
For Further Study
1. Edith Barnecut, Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels Year
C (Hyde Park: New City Press, 1994), 104-105.
2. Pablo Gadenz. The Gospel of Luke. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018. Pp. 241
3. Gary A. Anderson, Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 54-55.
!2
For Bible studies on CD,DVD,MP3 visit www.BrantPitre.com
