Luke 12:18 — Community Reflections

LUKE 12:18 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.”

And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it — for the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them — the Father knows identifies the disciples' distinctive advantage over the anxious Gentiles: they have a Father who knows their needs before they ask, which transforms prayer from a communication of unknown needs to a response of trust in known provision.

Church Fathers on Luke 12:18

Having said that the life of man is not extended by abundance of wealth, he adds a parable to induce belief in this, as it follows, And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
Theophylact · 11th century

Not indeed about to reap any good from his plenty of fruits, but that the mercy of God might the more appear, which extends its goodness even to the bad; sending down His rain upon the just and the unjust. But what are the things wherewith this man repays his Benefactor? He remembered not his fellow-creatures, nor deemed that he ought to give of his superfluities to the needy. His barns indeed bursting from the abundance of his stores, yet was his greedy mind by no means…
Basil the Great · 4th century

O adversity, the child of plenty. For saying, What shall I do, he surely betokens, that, oppressed by the success of his wishes, he labors as it were under a load of goods.
Gregory the Great · 6th century

Read all 18 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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