Week 29: Monday, Guarding Against Greed—Why Jesus Shared this Parable

Two years into His earthly ministry, Jesus faced increasing scrutiny and

criticism from the Jewish religious leaders, yet multitudes followed Him

because of His teaching and service to the people. In Luke 12, Jesus

warned the people that the Pharisees’ negative influence would be

detrimental to them. He reminded them that there is no need to fear

those leaders because God is sovereign and has ultimate power over life

and death.

Transcript

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Welcome to Hearing God's Stories, a daily devotional on the parables presented by the Jekins Institute.

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This is week 29, Monday, the parable of the rich fool guarding against greed. Why Jesus shared this parable. Our text today comes from Luke chapter 12, verses 16 through 21. Our author is Steve Lusk, and I'm Jeff Johnson. Two years into his earthly ministry, Jesus faced increasing scrutiny and criticism from the Jewish religious leaders, yet multitudes followed him because of his teaching and service to the people. In Luke 12, Jesus warned the people that the Pharisees' negative influence would be detrimental to them. He reminded them that there is no need to fear those leaders, because God is sovereign and has ultimate power over life and death. At this point, Luke records, someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who made me judge or arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Luke 12, 13 through 15 from the English Standard Version. When this man asked Jesus to arbitrate the dispute with his brother over an inheritance, Jesus took advantage of this question to address a serious problem that faced not only this man, but also those religious rulers greed. The Jewish religious leaders seem to covet power and control more than a close relationship with God. Greed or covetousness is defined as a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed. That's from Merriam Webster's dictionary. Key words in this definition are selfish, excessive, more, and needed. Notice that the difference between need and greed is selfishness for more and excessiveness. I need may be the most misused phrase in the English language. Now, like the man in this parable, followers of Jesus should learn to distinguish need from greed. Desires can easily become our God and cause us to miss out on a right relationship with God our Father, the source of all abundance. Today I will examine my desires to make sure they're helping me build a strong relationship with the source of all blessings, Jehovah God.

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