An old man died in a Manhattan brownstone some years ago. No one in the neighborhood knew much about him. Some neighbors thought he was odd and eccentric. Most ignored him altogther. Just a silly recluse, they said. When he died the newspapers sent a reporter to his brownstone home. Inside they found newspapers and magazines stacked to the ceilings. Narrow corridors wound in a maze throughout the house. When the papers and magazines were removed, furniture of all kinds, including 17 grand pianos were found buried in that labyrinth of debris. Langley Collier had acquired a great fortune but he lived as a recluse in his home, buried in canyons of newspapers and debris.

The rich man in today's gospel lesson was not like Langley Collier. He did not live in a canyon of debris. Nor did he spend h…