Stories of Riches in Luke

Luke gives us the most of the Savior’s teachings about riches.  We have four stories in the gospel of Luke that relate to riches and giving to the poor.  I heard it noted that this is significant because Luke himself was a physician and likely had wealth; he was probably the richest of the gospel writers.  So his inclusion of these teachings that talk about wealth may reflect his own efforts to put aside wealth and put the kingdom of God first.  Two of the stories are parables, and those are not repeated elsewhere in the other gospels.  Luke gives us the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) as well as the parable of the rich man who was built bigger barns to hold his wealth (Luke 12:13-21).  The other two stories are accounts of actual people and the decisions they had to make regarding money.  One is of a rich man to whom Jesus told to give all that he had to the poor (Luke 18:18-25), and the other is of the widow who cast in a mite to the treasury and was praised by the Lord for her sacrifice (Luke 21:2-4).  I think we see at least two themes from these stories: we should be more concerned about our wealth in the next life than in this life, and the Lord is more interested in our level of sacrifice than our amount of riches.  

                A common principle in the two parables and the story of the rich young ruler is that our level of “riches” in the next life is of far greater importance than our worldly wealth in this life.  In the first parable the man had to tear down his barns and build bigger ones in order to hold all of his earthly goods.  He found happiness in the fact that he was rich in terms of the world, but soon the Lord came to him to tell him that his life was over and all of his worldly wealth would be gone.  The Savior commented, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).  In other words, we need to focus on those things that make us “rich” in the eyes of God, the treasure that will endure in the next life.  In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus we see this taught even more directly: the rich man focused only on his riches in mortality and in the next life he was in hell “in torments”.  Lazarus on the other hand had very little while on earth but in the next life was “carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22-23).  Unlike the rich man, we should be focused on things that bring an eternal reward, not on the worldly reward of this life.  In the story of the rich young ruler we likewise see this principle: Jesus told the young man, “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).  It’s the treasure in heaven that should most concern us, not the possession of goods in this temporary existence. 

                Another important principle found in these stories told by Luke is that the Lord wants us to sacrifice in order to give of our wealth.  The rich man in the story of Lazarus clearly failed to make any sacrifice at all as Lazarus was laying at his gate without any help from the rich man.  The man was condemned by the Lord for this sacrifice he had not made.  The rich young ruler was asked to make a significant sacrifice and to sell everything he had in order to give to the poor—that was what he “lacked” according to the Lord (Luke 18:22).  And in the story of the widow’s mite, the Lord was unimpressed with those who “of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God.”  Even though others gave much more in actual quantity, it was the widow who really gave the most because she “of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had” (Luke 4:21).  Our own alms that we give mean less to the Lord if it requires no sacrifice on our part.      

                Ultimately from these parables and stories I think the bottom line is that when it comes to riches the Lord is concerned about where our heart is.  He wants our hearts upon the things of God that will bring us a reward in heaven, and He wants us to be able to sacrifice the things of this world in order to serve His children and show our love to Him.  Perhaps this quotation in Luke provides the best summary statement of the four stories: “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:33-34).