THE GOSPEL
(For the Ninth Sunday of Luke)

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (12:16-21)

Context;
13 Then someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the
inheritance with me.” 14 But Jesus said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator
between you two?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from all types
of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
The Lord spoke this parable: “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he
thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
Every moment is an opportunity for grace, or to put it another way, to prepare for death – and
eternal life. There will be a judgment: how have used the opportunities that God has given us?
How have we prepared our soul?
How have we prepared the souls of our neighbor (union!!!)
And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I
will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid
up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’
Let’s look at how the man has prepared his soul.
St. Nikolai: the dog and the lamb.
He has killed his soul and moved his passions into its place!
The one talent.
How has he prepared his neighbor.
The original settting.
St. John Chrysostom.
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you
have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich
toward God.” As He said this, Jesus called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
There will be a judgment.
Three types of preparation.