Luke 12:13-19: a reflection

13One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.” 16He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. 17He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ 18He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’

When a man asks Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute, Jesus declines to arbitrate and instead exposes the deeper issue: Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Then he tells of a rich man whose land produced so abundantly that he tore down his barns to build bigger ones, planning to store it all up and tell his soul, You have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. The man measured his life, and his security, entirely by his possessions.

Notice the lie Jesus exposes: that life consists in the abundance of possessions. The rich man believed that having more, storing up more, would give him life, security, and ease. Jesus says plainly that this is false: a person's life does not consist in what he owns. However much we accumulate, our possessions cannot give us the life we are really after; to measure life by them is to be deceived.

That cuts against a deep and common assumption. We are constantly told, and prone to believe, that more, more money, more possessions, more security, will give us the life we want. Jesus warns us to be on our guard against this covetousness, because it rests on a lie: life does not consist in the abundance of things. Examine what you are really trusting to give you life. If you are looking to possessions and accumulation to satisfy you, you are chasing what cannot deliver. Guard against covetousness, and seek your life not in what you own but in God, who alone can give the life your soul is really after.

Lord Jesus, you warned against covetousness, saying that one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions, and told of the rich man who thought bigger barns would secure his soul. Guard my heart from that lie. I am constantly told, and prone to believe, that more money, more possessions, more security will give me the life I want. Help me see that this is false, that my life does not consist in what I own. Show me what I am really trusting to satisfy me, and keep me from chasing what cannot deliver. Let me seek my life not in possessions and accumulation but in you, who alone can give the life my soul is really after.