Luke 12.13-21 (CEB)
13 Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me as judge or referee between you and your brother?”
15 Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. 17 He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! 18 Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods. 19 I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.”
Devotional Thought:
A few weeks ago some friends invited my family over for tea. They had moved to a new house and wanted us to come and celebrate with them. After enjoying food together our friends introduced us to a new game. The game was called, GREED, and it was easy to learn and simple to play. The basic idea is to gain as many points as you can by rolling dice. Each time you roll and earn points you must decide if you want to roll again, or if you want to stop. If you stop, you keep the points you have earned, but if you roll again you take a risk: earn more points or lose everything. Some turns you may earn hundreds of points, and others you may lose it all. To win you have to be greedy. You have to want more.
In the passage above, Jesus encounters someone who is engaged in his own game of greed. He wants what his brother has and he asks Jesus to intervene and make it happen. Instead of arbitrating the situation, Jesus took this as an opportunity to teach us a lesson about life. He tells a story of a rich man who is wealthy. He is so wealthy that he has to build bigger barns in order to store all of the things he has gained. The more he gains, the more he stores up for himself. Then God says to him, ‘tonight you will die’. Everything the man gained and stored for himself means nothing in the face of death.
What is Jesus saying? Is he saying that wealth is inherently sinful? Is he saying that money causes problems? Is he saying saving for the future is wrong?
The lesson is in Jesus’ first sentence: ‘Guard yourself against all kinds of greed.’ GREED is the issue. So what is greed? The Greek word Jesus uses here is pleonexia, which can be translated covetousness, avarice or desire for advantage. When understood in this way, greed is not just about having more and more stuff, it is participating in something that has negative relational consequences. To be greedy is to take more from others, have more than others, put yourself in a position above others.
Playing GREED as a board game is a bit of light-hearted fun, but playing greed in life is a risk not worth taking. The apostle Paul put it this way, ‘Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others’ (Phil 2.4).
Prayer:
Ever-loving God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, all that we have is from you. In this life we are constantly bombarded with the temptation to want more. Too often we desire the things we want rather than the things others need. By your Spirit, transform us more and more into the likeness of Jesus who revealed to us your heart, thinking of others more than himself, willing to give even his life for our sake. Empower us to reject the ways of greed and embrace the ways of justice, mercy, and humility. Through Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.
Rev. Joseph Wood, PhD
Dean of Students and Lecturer in Theology and Church History