Jesus and Worldly Wealth: What do you need for a fulfilling life?
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me – and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labours under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil.
This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
Ecclesiastes 1.2,12-14; 2.18-25
[Jesus said to the crowd], ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.
Luke 12.13–21
What if time never ran out? What if every tomorrow was guaranteed? What if, before you do anything else, you already hold eternity in your hands? Would you chase bigger barns? And more luxuries? Or would you be happy to pause and rely solely on God’s daily bread, gift of breath and the companionship of those who share your table?
I guess we’d all like nice things, but instead, most of us just accumulate regrets, anxieties, unfinished dreams. We rush from task to task as if time were scarce. But Ecclesiastes gets to the heart of this folly: “All is vanity, a chasing after wind” We toil, we build, we labour—and still the completion of the dream is as far away as ever. Wisdom, pleasure, success: they vanish like mist, says the Teacher.
Yet in the midst of this “under the sun” despair, the Teacher offers a surprising remedy. It isn’t more planning, explaining, or perfecting, but simply this: learn to enjoy each gift from God—eating your bread with joy, drinking your wine with gladness (2.24–25). The breath that enlivens you, the pleasure of the work itself, the friendship you share—these are God’s daily gifts.
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Then Jesus gives us a parable, widely known as the Parable of the Rich Fool, that throws the issue into even sharper focus. A man’s harvest overflows. His barns burst. He thinks, “I will tear down what I have, build bigger and better, store every grain” (Luke 12.18). He plans the perfect retirement, the endless holiday of ease. But that very night, God says, “Fool! Your life is demanded of you” (12.20).
Actually, the Greek is curious here, because it doesn’t quite say that. It says, “Tonight, they (the ample goods of the previous sentence) will demand of you your soul. “You fool! This very night, your possessions will demand your life, your soul, from you.”
In other words…
he
owns
nothing:
his barns own him.
Today, fiscal fortresses do the same.
Like the Rich Man in Luke’s parable, some dream of endless ease, their treasure stored safely in ever-growing silos of wealth. But what if those very silos began to demand their souls?
To explain what I mean by that, here are some revealing facts about the mega-wealthy. The richest ten people in the world, together, hold more wealth than the entire GDP of most sovereign nations. In fact, there are only 15 countries that produce more wealth annually than those ten wealthiest people own.
Beyond those ten, the wealthiest 1% of humanity own 45% of the world’s wealth.
You could take $100 billion off Elon Musk. He would still be the richest person in the world, so I think it’s reasonable to assume that it wouldn’t really affect him. You could use that $100 billion to feed everyone in the world. It would cost less than that, so there would be a surplus, which you could invest in infrastructure that transforms the food system. To put it another way, the richest people on the planet have the resources to end world hunger – forever.
But the rich won’t do things like that, because they don’t own their possession: their possessions own them.
Which makes me wonder…
Is it just the mega-rich that this applies to? Or is it all billionaires? Do mere millionaires act as if their stuff owns them?
Or is there a risk that it might include me?
Which makes me wonder some more…
…if the things that we cling to claim our souls in death, what might we need to release, what do we need to surrender, so that it doesn’t happen to us and our lives and souls may truly return to God?
God did not intend for our possessions to own our souls. In truth, our possessions do not belong to us: we have merely borrowed them from the Lord for our sojourn here on earth, and in due course, we must return them to him. Our very being is what the Lord requires of each of us every day and night of our existence.
This tension between what we think we own and what we’ve in truth we’ve only borrowed creates some striking ironies in Jesus’ parable:
The Rich Fool wasn’t foolish – he did everything right. He wasn’t wasteful or wicked; he was prudent, industrious, responsible. He was preparing sensibly for his retirement. He didn’t harm anyone, only protected his own resources. Yet his resources did not protect him: instead, they claimed his soul. So, his planning proved worthless – because life isn’t measured by possessions.
Jesus takes the Teacher’s cynical diagnosis of life ‘under the sun’ and drives it home even deeper. According to Ecclesiastes, our labours and our plans feel endless and empty – vanity. But measured against eternity, even our success is empty and futile. We borrow every breath, every skill, every hope from the Lord—and in due time, we must give them back.
So what does living in eternity look like?
A life rooted in eternity is a life rooted in the here-and-now gift of God’s grace. In baptism, we receive eternal life already begun. It’s an unbreakable bond with Christ that no possessions can match.
A life rooted in eternity is a life of generous trust. Instead of hoarding, we share bread and wine, time and talent, joy and delight with those around us. Our “barns” become homes where neighbours find warmth.
A life rooted in eternity is a life alert to the invisible. We live not for what we see—wealth, comfort, control—but for what we know by faith: that God’s kingdom is here and yet to come.
The Kingdom of God isn’t a future bonus prize, a pie-in-the-sky reward. It is the world Jesus reshapes every time we feast at his table, speak words of mercy, and build relationships that last beyond death.
As the Teacher of Ecclesiastes bids us enjoy life’s simple pleasures and as Jesus warns the rich fool, do not let the ephemeral aspects of life take control. Eternity isn’t a distant promise: it’s with you today, in the breath you breathe, the companionship you share and the good things to receive at God’s table.
Time will eventually run out. Tomorrow may not be guaranteed. But you already hold eternity in your hands.
So refuse the rich fool’s shackles, refuse the illusion of self-made security, refuse the vanity of chasing the world’s empty promises. Allow your soul to revert to its true Owner, Christ, who bids you be a companion at his table for eternity. And then the Lord will never say to you, “You fool, your soul is forfeit”, and you can stand before God with no regrets, anxieties or unfinished dreams.
Scripture quotations are adapted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.