The Saturday after the First Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on June 13, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 12:13-21 (NKJV)
12:13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Devotion
Jesus doesn’t tell this parable because a rich man is trusting in his riches, but because a man sought what he believed was being unjustly withheld from him. We don’t know whether the man’s case was valid, but we know that it so concerned him that it took priority for him over what Jesus was teaching. For this reason, instead of truly honoring Jesus by taking to heart what He said, he sought to exalt Jesus’ status as a rabbi by drawing Him into settling a dispute. This is a crasser example of the error Martha made when she not only worried herself about her hosting duties, but wished Jesus to scold her sister for not helping her. Jesus, instead, made it clear that Mary’s honoring Him by listening would not be taken away from her. Here, He makes it clear that the man’s failure to listen was costing him a greater treasure.
Martha loved Jesus because she trusted in what she had already heard from Him; but love’s proper expression was to hear more. This man was so driven by covetousness that he assumed Jesus would love the authority of being made judge. If he had been listening, the peace of having an eternal inheritance would have honored Jesus through a heart filled with love for his brother.
Collect: O God, the Strength of all them that put their trust in Thee: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without Thee, grant us the help of Thy grace, that in keeping Thy commandments we may please Thee, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
