Note, first, that God did not say this man was evil. God said he was a fool.

Note, secondly, that most of us would not say he was a fool. We’d say he was an obviously successful businessman. We esteem abundance. Jesus said, "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." We act as though a man’s life does consist in the abundance of his possessions. We have a saying, "If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?" As if that were the test of a person’s life.

Why would God call him a fool? It was not because he saved. Jesus saved even the fragments of a picnic lunch, that nothing be lost.

It was not because he was wealthy. The monastery notwithstanding, poverty is not the requirement nor the guarantee of heaven. The one whom we have called the "rich young ruler" was told …