The meaning/moral of this parable is; a man should not devote their lives to the accumulation of material goods because in the end what is to happen to them once the person dies. Usually, the things will depreciate, be given away to others who have not earned them, they will rot ,and will eventually won't be appreciated.
The person who puts all his effort into increasing his/her wealth, is not wealthy in the eyes of God. Christians should not put all their efforts into becoming wealthy. Instead, they should give priority to being rich spiritually so that they can be closer to God. This will also help them for getting eternal life in God’s kingdom of Heaven.
In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus tells us; to not store up riches for ourselves here on Earth, where they are not eternal, where they can decay, and be stolen. Instead, he tells us to store up the riches for ourselves in heaven. He tells us not to be ‘fussy’ about the food we eat, or the clothes we wear. He then gives the example of birds, that they do not store up food for a greedy harvest, but yet they are in their millions because God is looking after them. Then he asks the rhetorical question, ‘Aren’t you worth more than birds?’ He tries to implement that God will look after you aswell.
The moral of the story is; no-one can serve God and money. It tells us to not store up material wealth on Earth. But to store up spiritual wealth. Christians of today have been distracted by the material world. They need to put give more importance to their religious lives and trust that God will provide for their material needs on Earth and in Heaven.
In Mark 10: 17-31, Jesus explains to a very rich man who had supposedly followed all of the ten commandments, that the only way to receive eternal life, was to go and sell all of your belongings and give the money to the poor. This was the way to have the riches in heaven. The very rich man sulked, and disappeared into the crowd. Jesus then turned around to his disciples and said; “How hard it would be for rich people to enter the kingdom of God!” This parable tells us that to go to heaven, you must aid the ones less fortunate than us by giving alms to them.
There is a famous saying by Jesus, “it is harder for a rich to go to heaven, than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” this actually means; Jerusalem was a city guarded on all sides by walls. And the walls had openings in them to allow people to trade and move from in and out of the city. The narrowest of those openings/gates was called the Needle. And for the camels which carried goods on their backs to pass through, all of their goods had to be taken out for the camels to enter Jerusalem. The camels represent the rich men who want to enter the Heaven. And goods which have to taken off, are the valuable material possessions owned by the rich men. According to this phrase, a rich man (camel) would have to depart with his expensive objects in order to enter the kingdom of God (Jerusalem).
In Matthew 25: 31-46, the proposition that there will be a apocalypse and a final judgement day is put forward. In which the Son of Man will decide whether the person deserves to be in Heaven, or should be banished to hell. There will, apparently be two sides made. On the right side, will be the righteous people who will go to heaven. And on the left, will be the people under God’s curse, who will be exiled to hell. Then, the Son of Man will say; “I was hungry, and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.” The righteous will then ask, “When, Lord did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and gave you a drink? When did we ever see you as a stranger and welcome you into our homes, or naked and clothed you? When did we ever see you sick, or in prison and visit you?”
“I tell you, whenever you did any of these things for the less fortunate, or the poor, you did it for me!”
Then the Son of Man will then say to those on his left, “I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me, I was thirsty and you never gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you not welcome me in your homes, naked but you wouldn’t clothed me, I was sick and in prison but you never visited me”
Then, the cursed will reply; “When, Lord did we ever see you hungry didn’t feed you, thirsty and never gave you a drink? When did we ever see you as a stranger and left you out on the street? Or naked but didn’t clothe you? When did we ever see you sick, or in prison and didn’t visit you?
The Son of Man would then say; “I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important people in society, you refused to help me!”
This parable tells us that we must always take care of those more in need of help. Because every time we do help, we are helping Jesus. And we will be rewarded in heaven.
In Luke 10: 25-37, there is the very popular story of the good Samaritan. Jesus told this story to illustrate the phrase; “love your neighbour as yourself..” Jesus used two mortal enemies, the Samaritans, and the Jews. In this story, the one who showed the injured man any sympathy, was not the priest, or the Levite, but, the person that did show this Jew any compassion, was their arch enemy the Samaritan.
He put oil and wine on his wounds and took him to a inn. There, he paid for all his expenses.
The stricken figure in the parable represents all those who are spiritually sick, such as the gentiles and the sinners. Jesus regurarly was shown conversing with these people who were looked down upon in society.
This parable teaches Christians to love and to take care of everyone. Even outcasts in society (the Jew was a outcast in the Samaritan’s society). The Priest and the temple assistant did not stop to help their own countryman. The despised Samaritan was the kind person that freely gave his time and money to help a stranger and an enemy. Christians are to see all people as their neighbour and treat them with love and kindness.
In James 2: 14-17, Christians are taught to aid people through physical actions. For example; it is no use saying “I wish I could help you to do the laundry,” but not performing the act physically. Faith without actions is dead. Christians must take steps to care for those in need of help.
It is not enough to simply wish for good actions. Christians must take practical actions to make them happen.
Overall, Christians are taught by their religion that;
- the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
- To go to heaven, you need to be spiritually wealthy, and not wealthy in material objects.
- They should keep worship to God as their top-priority, and trust that God will provide for them in the material world.
- They must be prepared to give up everything in order to serve God.
- If you take care others, it is the same as taking care of Jesus, and that you will be rewarded in heaven.
- The correct use of wealth is to want to use it for the good of others and that this action must give you pleasure.
- Everyone is their neighbour and that they should treat them with love and kindness.
- It is not enough to wish for good actions. They should take practical actions to implement these good actions.
- Wealth is a gift from God which should be used to help the people in need (poor).
