The Scandal of Wealthy Christians
Gospel Reflection for August 3, 2025 - Luke 12:13-21
And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.
But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you?
And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.
And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits.
And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods.
And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer.
But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. (Luke 12:13-21 DRA)
“What’s wrong with being wealthy?” Whenever Our Lord speaks on the dangers of wealth, this question inevitably comes up, and many homilists, when preaching on readings like those today, anticipate it by reassuring, “it’s not that wealth is wrong in itself, it’s how you use it that is right or wrong!” This is true enough, and it’s the main reason why Christ did not say that owning possessions or property is inherently wrong, as if He were a Communist, but gave a far more profound answer: “a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.”
Nevertheless, as may be seen in all of the readings for today, Scripture makes it abundantly clear that wealth, though not inherently wrong, is spiritually dangerous. To be wealthy both in earthly and in heavenly riches at the same time is exceptionally difficult – there are examples of it in the lives of the saints, including the many king and queen saints who lived as though poor and used their wealth and power to help others, but it is rare, and as difficult as “for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle”. (Mk 10:25)
As Catholics, this warning against the spiritual dangers of wealth can seem contradictory. Don’t we believe that Creation is good and that we should be grateful for the good things with which we have been blessed by God? Of course! Doesn’t the Church also teach that private property is good, an expression of our dignity as made in the image of God? Certainly! Then why does Christ, speaking throughout Scripture, so often warn against wealth?
The reason is twofold: for ourselves and for others. For ourselves, we are called to love God above all and to love creatures for His sake – this is the theological virtue of charity, the only thing in life that makes us able to “merit to be co-heirs to eternal life” in Christ. The goodness of creatures is ultimately intended by God to point to Himself as the Source of all good, as Goodness itself, the only good that cannot fade or become corrupted and that alone is truly satisfying. When we treat creatures as goods-in-themselves, we idolize them, replacing the essential goodness of God with the participated goodness of His artworks.
One problem many people have today, however, is that they fail to think about the implications of their words and actions, how others may be scandalized or misled by how we live as Christians. This attitude reflects a deeper worldliness and lack of charity in ourselves. When we not only possess wealth but use it frivolously, buying expensive cars, large houses, designer clothing and jewelry, the latest iPhone or other device, instead of spending our money with modesty and thrift and giving in charity proportionate to what we spend on ourselves, we give others the impression that this is the only world, that we do not really believe in Heaven or prioritize its treasures. As St. John Chrysostom exhorted,
How then is it not of the utmost folly, where destruction and waste is the lot of all that is stored, there to heap up all, but where things abide untouched and increase, there not to lay up even the least portion; and this, when we are to live there forever? For this cause the very heathens disbelieve the things that we say, since our doings, not our sayings, are the demonstration which they are willing to receive from us; and when they see us building ourselves fine houses, and laying out gardens and baths, and buying fields, they are not willing to believe that we are preparing for another sort of residence away from our city.
Sadly, this phenomenon isn’t limited to Evangelical “Prosperity Gospel” communities but is all-too-common among Catholics. When nonbelievers drive by a church on Sunday and see it filled with Porsches, Teslas, Lexuses and BMWs, and see the congregation walking out of Mass, not in their Sunday best to glorify God, but often in casual and irreverent dress, all while carrying designer purses, hurrying to text on their new iPhones and shielding their eyes from the sunlight with the most expensive sunglasses, what do they think? That we are living for the other side, storing up treasure in Heaven – or that this world is what truly matters, the same message they get from secular sources? Are we truly acting as our brother’s keeper?
Death can come for any of us at any moment – no matter how often we get up early to go jogging or how many Greek yogurts we eat or kombuchas we drink – and when God does call us from this world, what legacy will we leave behind: one of worldliness, or one of otherworldliness?
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This is just excellent
If I were a priest I would ask the author if I could read it, word for word for the homily!
Luke 12:21 tells us that we need to be rich toward God. The neglect of God is the main problem when a person believes that riches can provide the contentment and peace that only God can provide. Riches are spiritually dangerous when they are a replacement for God.