Reading: Luke 12:13-21
And one of the company said unto him, “Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.” And he said unto him, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” And he said unto them, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” And he spake a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?’ And he said, ‘This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
In this passage, the Lord reminds us of a valuable lesson. To what do we cling? Many times, we let passing things distract us and take our eyes from what is important. Or, to be honest, what we cling to shows what is important to us.
An indication that Christ is our treasure is how generous we can be and how we relate to material goods.
In the situation that begins the words of Jesus, two brothers have distanced themselves because of their love of riches. In the example that Jesus gives, the rich man must face his Creator that very night. What will happen with his riches? See what the love of money causes? (It is not for nothing that the Bible teaches that it is the root of all evil). It is a very well-known saying that tells us that “we can’t take anything with us,” reflecting a reality of our human condition: we’re all going to die some day, and we can’t bring anything with us in the life to come.
And nevertheless, it is common to see how many cling to this world, and no matter how much wealth they achieve, nothing seems to satisfy them. Greed, a form of idolatry, tricks us into believing that we are self-sufficient, and it draws us away from God.
If we are children of God, we have come to understand that our life is hidden with Christ in God, as Colossians 3 says. Material wealth, this world, and all its vanity are ephemeral and fragile, but our inheritance is safe in Heaven.
MEDITATE: Are we living in a way that it is evident that we do not cling to the things of this world? Let us be rich in God!
Translation By: Emily Stader
