The parable of the rich fool is difficult for Westerners, because in it Jesus comes uncomfortably close to undermining this important virtue. That’s because what Westerners call a virtue—savings—many others in the Christian tradition, including Jesus himself, may consider a vice—greed. In the parable, a wealthy man yielded an abundant harvest. That’s good news. The bad news was he didn’t have room to store the extra grain. So he commanded his servants to tear down his barns and build him newer, bigger barns. They did, and the rich man was pretty pleased with himself. “You have plenty of grain
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