The rich man in St. Luke’s parable today is so absorbed in himself and his “good” life that he sees nothing else, not the poor man at his door nor his own inevitable death. The scriptures, like Psalm 49, often point to the same blindness: “In his riches, man lacks wisdom; he is like the beasts that are destroyed.”

The warning is not just for the rich, however. The same psalm calls for “people both high and low, rich and poor alike” to listen. A small store of talents and gifts can be just as absorbing and make us just as shortsighted as a great store of riches. Whether we have much or little, we have to see the poor at our gate.

We also have to see a life beyond this one as our destiny and what we do and how we live here will count there. There will be a judgment.

But Jesus‘ parable offers another reminder. God has given us a sign in his resurrection from the dead that we have been called to share in his risen life. A great gift has been given, greater than anything we have here.  Yet as the sign of Jonah indicates, some will not believe the sign Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, gives to us. 

May God give us grace to believe in it.