SOMEONE in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed Me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then He said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions."
Then He told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."
The Word
The meaning of treasure (Greek
thesaurus) is given by Jesus Himself: It is where our "heart" is (Lk 12:34). A treasure can be any material possession. By extension, it can be a person we love.
People in ancient times invested in garments, grain, animals, gold and other precious metals or stones. The rich man in the gospel has a lot of grain due to a bountiful harvest. But treasures are perishable. Moths destroy garments (Is 51:8), rats and mice eat grain, rust "eats" by corrosion, and thieves "dig through" the mud wall of Palestinian houses and storerooms and steal what is stored there. People accumulate treasures in their desire for security and to eliminate anxiety. But "treasures on earth" are always unstable, and those who rely on them are pitiable indeed. In the gospel, God calls one such person a "fool."
Storing up "treasures in heaven" does not mean setting out to make sure of a place in heaven. It means relying on God as the source of our security. It means having a genuine and sincere relation with God who knows us, accepts us, and gives meaning to our lives. It means having God as the singular object of our "heart." We are totally committed to seeking out God’s kingdom, confident that God will provide us with what we truly need (Mt 6:33). If we have the Lord as our "treasure," then there is nothing more we need desire
. We can forego anything else.
SOURCE:
"365 Days with the Lord," ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph. 
