A Look at Covetousness

A Look at Covetousness

This parable has a prelude. Jesus is teaching to a multitude, and someone in the crowd pushes forward and asks Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with him.

Apparently, the man felt he wasn’t being treated fairly and so he was appealing to Jesus.

This was not an extraordinary circumstance because under the Old Covenant, priests would have mediated that kind of family dispute. But although Jesus was indeed a rabbi, he wasn’t that man’s rabbi, but that man wanted to take his case to the highest court in the land so to speak. He knows Jesus was a mighty prophet and knew that Jesus word would certainly prevail.

Now Jesus gives an interesting response. He says, “Man who made me ruler and judge over you?”

Now this is interesting because, if anyone was qualified to be a judge it was Jesus. Indeed, Jesus will judge the all the peoples of the earth. But what Jesus was saying was that he wasn’t going to intervene the way this man wanted.

Here you have a man (and I am assuming he is a man) believing in his cause so strongly that he is going to interrupt the Master and ask him to intervene in a private family matter.

Jesus who refuses to do so.

Often time when we have a difficult conflict with our brother, we petition the Lord to take our side and deal with that person. We want God to change them.

Since Jesus said no, it tells me two things. First, God expects his people to be able to work things out.

Second, he expects us to develop in grace to the point where we can yield, reason and work things out.

The Tattletale

When I was young, the one thing you never wanted to be known as was a tattletale. The tattletale was the kid that was always telling the teacher, or the adult something you did wrong. A tattletale would manipulate the adult to take their side and discipline or scold the person they were telling on. Nobody likes a tattletale, and if you were a tattletale, eventually you would encounter “playground justice”.

God doesn’t like tattletales in the sense of people appealing to him to take sides in a dispute as a way of manipulation. Sometimes it is the tattletale that needs discipline.

The man wanted Jesus to change his brother, but Jesus was indicating it as the man who needed to change because there was greed in his heart.

Breaking Down the Parable Luke 12:13-21 English Standard Version (ESV)

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 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.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Since the man is a tragic figure, and we must clearly understand what led to his undoing.

The Zoe Life

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Jesus was saying that the man was deceived into thinking that life was defined by the abundance of his possessions.

The Greek word for life is Zoe and that means the God-kind of life. It refers the absolute fullness of life that is given to those who trust in Christ.

John 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The abundant life that God promises—and this our inheritance in Christ—is not defined by how much we have.

But as we will see, it is not defined by how little we have either. It is defined by something else which we will explain.

A Bumper Harvest

First, his grounds yielded a bumper harvest. So, this is an important part of the story, but in and of itself there is no evil or sin with having a bumper harvest.

Second, the man has a problem. His barns are so full that he has no place to store all the additional food he has. Well, this is important because it clearly indicates that the man is a man of means. His barns (plural) are already full so that means that he has had bumper crops in the past. He is rich and successful.

Still, I don’t see anything evil here. God promises to overflow our barns in Proverbs 3 and Deuteronomy 28. So, the abundance itself could be seen as a bad thing.

Proverbs 3:9-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; 10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

Deuteronomy 7:13 English Standard Version (ESV)

13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

Abundance was the man’s covenant. So, let’s dig deeper to see where the problem is.

we are made privy to a conversation the man is having with himself. He addresses his soul. Now I know that there is a technical difference between spirit and soul, but the Bible often uses the term interchangeably. In this case, the word soul simply refers to the real you and me. Our physical bodies simply house our spirit soul. So, when the man addresses himself as “soul” he is really talking about himself in the third person. He calls himself “Soul.”

There is a term for referring to oneself in the 3rd person, it is called “illeism.”

Now in ancient societies, illeisms were used in at least two ways. One was to denote humility, such as when a slave was speaking to his master. You may remember that in the Harry Potter books and movies, Doby the house elf, always spoke of himself in the 3rd person when he was around the superior wizard class. “Doby loves Harry Potter!” or “Doby is a free.”

But it also had another use. The rich and powerful spoke of themselves in the third person to underscore their own importance and success. Julius Caesar, Mikhail Gorbachav, Salvador Dali, and Donald Trump are all successful and powerful personalities who referred to themselves in the 3rd person. As Donald Trump said of himself, “No one will be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump.”

This man in the parable is successful and he is proud of it to the point to talking about himself in the 3rd person. In fact, in only two sentences, he refers to himself at least 5 times.

Now this man considers himself to be clever and rich. So, he comes to a triumphant conclusion: he will tear down his barns and build bigger barns, so he can relax, eat drink and be merry.

“Eat Drink and Be Merry” Reference in the Old Testament

Some variation of this phrase is found in different places in Scripture. For example:

Isaiah 22:8-14 Living Bible (TLB)

8 God has removed his protecting care. You run to the armory for your weapons! 9-11 You inspect the walls of Jerusalem to see what needs repair! You check over the houses and tear some down for stone for fixing walls. Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the lower pool! But all your feverish plans will not avail, for you never ask for help from God, who lets this come upon you. He is the one who planned it long ago. 12 The Lord God called you to repent, to weep and mourn, to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins, and to wear clothes made of sackcloth to show your remorse.13 But instead, you sing and dance and play, and feast and drink. “Let us eat, drink, and be merry,” you say: “What’s the difference, for tomorrow we die.” 14 The Lord Almighty has revealed to me that this sin will never be forgiven you until the day you die.

In this case, Judah was faced with an invasion, but instead of repenting of their sins and turning to the Lord, they became stubbornly self-sufficient. They felt they could hold off the invading Assyrian armies by repairing the walls and hoarding food and water. Instead of turning to God, they trusted in their safety, saying “Let us eat drink and be merry!”

“Eat Drink and be Merry” Reference in the New Testament

1 Corinthians 15:32-34 English Standard Version (ESV)

32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Paul uses this phrase as an attitude befitting those who have not thought of the afterlife, no fear of God and those who live only for themselves. This man’s words indict him:

He is proud and haughty

He is selfish

He has no reverence for God

He has no thought of the afterlife

The Fool

20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

In the Greek this means stupid, unbelieving, and egotistical. Here is what it specifically means:

senseless

unwise

stupid

without reflection or intelligence

acting rashly

morally unbelieving

egotistic

What is interesting is that if we were to look on the man from the outward, he appears:

financially prudent

an intelligent businessman

a planner

However, God sees something completely different! The man is a fool because he left God out of his planning. He was completely absorbed in pursuing his own comforts and not at all concerned with serving the living God. He is a fool, because despite all his careful planning and business acumen, he won’t live to enjoy it, nor will his children:

Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 Living Bible (TLB)

6 Yes, but there is a very serious evil which I have seen everywhere— 2 God has given to some men very great wealth and honor so that they can have everything they want, but he doesn’t give them the health to enjoy it, and they die and others [or strangers] get it all! This is absurd, a hollow mockery, and a serious fault.

Notice the indignation of God. It seems that God is especially provoked by the proud, the arrogant, and by those that have no thought of the afterlife or reverence for him.

Finally, the Lord says that the mistake of the rich fool is repeated by those who:

lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God

Application 1 Timothy 6:17-19 English Standard Version (ESV)

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

The Antidote to Greed

So how do we avoid the mistakes of the rich fool? I don’t want God calling me a fool, do you?

The passage in 1 Timothy gives us the answer.

Do not be haughty

Enjoy riches but do not set your hopes on them.

Do good, be rich in good works be generous, and ready to share

Give to the poor:

2 Corinthians 9:9 Living Bible (TLB)

9 It is as the Scriptures say: “The godly man gives generously to the poor. His good deeds will be an honor to him forever.”

Galatians 2:9-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Support the Ministry

Galatians 6:6-7 Living Bible (TLB)

6 Those who are taught the Word of God should help their teachers by paying them.

7 Don’t be misled; remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it: a man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows!

1 Corinthians 9:13Living Bible (TLB)

13 Don’t you realize that God told those working in his temple to take for their own needs some of the food brought there as gifts to him? And those who work at the altar of God get a share of the food that is brought by those offering it to the Lord.

For purposes of trust, I am exempted. However, every time we have a visitor, we should prove our generosity as a church by taking up a generous love offering.

In the name of God, Amen