Luke 12:13-15 13And someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Watch and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
This story is unique to Luke. It comes in response to a feud between two brothers. One brother was apparently keeping the inheritance while another wanted a portion of it. The Law spoke about inheritance in Numbers 27:1–11; 36:7–9; and Deuteronomy 21:15–17. The one brother appeared to be greedy and would not share with his brother, who would be covetous of the greedy one. Behind both brothers is the problem of selfishness. The covetous one thought Jesus could serve as the judge and tell the greedy brother to play fair and divide the inheritance. Jesus taught as one with authority, so this man saw power in Jesus and that he could and should do something about it.
Most people would likely jump right in and give an opinion and then intervene in the situation by telling the other brother to make things right. Jesus’ response is surprising because he does not take sides but rather points to the problem of the brother who came to him. The real issue was not fairness about the inheritance but in covetousness and jealousy. The brother was coveting what his brother had. Covetousness is one of the key indicators of inner sin (Romans 7:7-8). It reveals how sin is the bent towards selfishness. Greed is a manifestation of the old self of living by the flesh (Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:10-11; Ephesians 4:19).
Verse 15 gives a timeless truth. Covetousness can eat away at our souls and mess up our priorities. It can sneak in, like other deeply personal and private sins. We can covet without others really knowing it. Our jealousy will eventually come out, as it did for this brother. We must guard against it because it can creep into our lives without our awareness until it comes out in a spoken word or action. It is difficult to keep covetousness secret forever. Jesus was challenging this man to look at what really matters in life. What is “life”? It is not about our possessions, though that is the way much of the world thinks, especially materialistic cultures of abundance. Greed can sneak in and capture our priorities and take our eyes off of God’s purposes for us in this world.
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