On Line Bible Study - For the Week of January 3-9, 2011

Lesson 473

Luke 12: ¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Ah - money! This section is unique to Luke. Jesus hits the money question head on. It is interesting to note Jesus' unwillingness to get involved in family disputes. (Remember how he would not speak to Mary when Martha was complaining about her? See Luke 10:38-42.)

Darrell Bock notes that we have no details with regard to the brothers and their squabble over their inheritance. But Jesus' refusal to involve himself might suggest that he will not get mixed up with partisan disputes. We have to be careful when we are praying for "us" against "them".

The real issue is greed and the extent to which we depend on material things for our security. Things that seem so important to us in this life are so irrelevant in the next.

Wait a minute ... if things are of no consequence "then", why do we place so much importance on them "now"?

The parable Jesus tells presents us with a man many of us might envy - to have so much that we could retire early and take life easy - that's the goal! We find all kinds of financial advice these days - on line, in our newspapers, on the radio. Here is what you have to do to prepare for the 'golden years'. Save up. Plan. Then what? (Pray the stock market doesn't collapse!)

Brennan Manning speaks of God's presence as creating an emptiness in us. (The Ragamuffin Gospel.) Think about this image for a moment ... When Jesus invites people to follow him, he is usually calling them away from whatever it is they are currently doing. In other words, Jesus creates an emptiness in our lives that can now be filled only by God. How quickly we fill that empty space with stuff. Manning admits to his own weakness in this area -

"I have tried to fill the emptiness ... through a variety of substitutes - writing, preaching, traveling, television, movies, ice cream, shallow relationships, sports, movies, daydreaming, alcohol, etc." What does Jesus say of such things - all the substitutes we use for God (especially money!)? He says it is foolish!
‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.'

Darrell Bock points out just how self-centered this man is! And self-indulgent.

At some point we are all faced with the decision around the definition of wealth. Just exactly what is it? How do we measure it? How do we acquire it? How do we keep it? In the next verses Jesus has something to say about what's worth worrying about and what isn't.