November 23rd, 2025: Only Jesus Matters

How the parable of the rich fool can wake us up before it is too late

Today is November 23, 2025, and I want to share a word from the parable of the rich fool and the Nativity Fast. Christ calls us in this Gospel to look again at what we are building with our lives. The man in the parable has barns that are already full, but he wants bigger barns and more grain. He plans out a future of comfort, of eating and drinking and taking his ease. Then God speaks one terrible word to him: Fool. In a single night, his soul is required of him, and all his plans fall apart in an instant.

This parable is sharp, but it is also very kind. It shakes us awake before it is too late. Our Lord is not mocking the man for working or saving. He is warning him for living as if God does not matter. The rich man makes careful plans for retirement, but he makes no plans for the judgment seat of Christ. He thinks about barns, but not about his soul. He thinks about grain, but not about the poor who are hungry outside his doors.

We hear this parable every year around the Nativity Fast, and that is no accident. This season is one of the busiest times of the year. We think about travel, parties, gifts, food, and school breaks. Our minds run from one list to the next. Even when we are in church, our thoughts can still be on our schedules, our shopping, and our plans. This is why the Lord lets this parable fall into our hearts right now. He is asking us, very gently and very firmly, what are you building.

In our culture we are told almost every day that God is not real, or that He does not matter. We hear it in school, in the news, in movies, and at work. We are told to build our own little kingdom, to make ourselves safe and comfortable, and to fill our lives with more and more things. Then one day a week, on Sunday, we step into the church and we are told that God is real, that the kingdom of heaven is real, and that our soul is eternal. No wonder our minds feel pulled in two different directions.

The Nativity Fast is given to us to heal that split inside of us. It is a holy time that says, slow down, and look up. It is a season that helps us lay aside our earthly cares so that we can receive the King of all. We do not fast just to prove that we can follow a rule. We fast to change what we love. We fast to move our attention from ourselves to Christ. We fast so that our barns are not filled with food, but our hearts are filled with grace.

Think about the words we will sing soon in the Divine Liturgy: Let us lay aside all earthly cares, that we may receive the King of all. That is the opposite of the rich fool. He lays aside nothing. He holds tight to his barns, his grain, his plans, and his version of a perfect life. The Lord invites us to do the very thing the rich fool will not do. He invites us to loosen our grip on this world so that we can open our hands to Him.

This does not mean that ordinary joys are bad. It is good to enjoy a meal with family. It is good to give and receive gifts with love. It is good to rest from work and spend time together. The problem is not that we enjoy these things. The problem comes when they become our whole life. When the party is more important than prayer, the feast more important than the fast, and our comfort more important than our salvation, then we are walking in the footsteps of the rich fool.

The Lord is not impressed with our barns. He is not amazed by our houses, our retirement plans, or our busy calendars. He is looking at our hearts. He is asking one question: are you rich toward God. To be rich toward God does not mean you never stumble. It means that, again and again, you turn your mind back to Christ. You repent. You get up when you fall. You put worship, prayer, mercy, and love at the center of your life. You choose the kingdom of God over your own little kingdom.

This Nativity Fast is a chance to begin again. If you have not fasted well so far, start today. If your prayer has been weak, begin again tonight. If you have been buried in worry over money, work, or the future, bring that worry to Christ. Tell Him simply and honestly what is in your heart. Ask Him to help you lay aside your earthly cares so that you can receive Him with a clean heart at the feast.

The fathers of the church remind us that God does not send anyone to hell. We put ourselves there when we choose darkness instead of light. The rich fool does not end up far from God because of bad luck. He ends up far from God because his whole life is turned inward. He speaks only to his own soul. He makes plans only for his own comfort. He never thinks of the poor, the stranger, or the kingdom. The parable is a warning, but also a doorway. The door is still open. We can still turn and face Christ.

Our Lord says, take up your cross and follow Me. He does not say, take up your cross if it is convenient, or think about following Me when you have time. He calls each one of us to deny ourselves, to let go of the fantasy that we are in control, and to walk behind Him. That path will sometimes be hard. It will ask us to give, to forgive, to repent, and to serve when we would rather sit in comfort. But that path leads to the kingdom. Every other path ends at a grave.

So what does it look like to be rich toward God in a very practical way during this Nativity Fast. It can be as simple as making the sign of the cross when you wake up and when you lie down. It can be as simple as coming to the services that you can, even when you are tired. It can be as simple as keeping the fast as well as you are able, without pride and without despair. It can be choosing to give something up so that someone else can have what they need.

It can also mean turning off the noise. Turn off a screen for a while and pick up the Holy Scriptures. Sit quietly with the words of the Gospel. Read the parable of the rich fool again in Luke chapter 12. Ask one question as you read: Lord, show me where my barns are too big. Show me where I am building my own little kingdom instead of seeking Your kingdom. God loves that kind of prayer. He listens to it. He answers it in His time and in His mercy.

At the end of the parable, the rich man hears that his soul is required of him that very night. Brothers and sisters, our soul is required of us every night. Every day is a new chance to turn back to Christ. Every evening is a time to look at our hearts and to ask, where have I chased after barns instead of the kingdom. This is not meant to crush us. It is meant to wake us up. It is meant to push us toward confession, toward repentance, and toward a deeper love for God.

As we walk through this Nativity Fast together at St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church in Savannah, let us not be fools. Let us not spend all our strength building barns that will fall down in a moment. Let us build up the heavenly kingdom in our hearts. Let us lay aside our earthly cares so that we may receive the King of all. If we keep our eyes on Christ, if we seek first His kingdom, then even our food, our rest, our family time, and our work will be blessed. In the end, nothing we give to Him is ever lost. Amen.

This homily was preached by Fr. Stephen Osburn at St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church.