Take care to guard against all greed, for one’s life does not consist of possessions. Jesus’ fame as an honest man of God was surely making rounds within the villages and cities he was visiting. He must have been winning the hearts of those who were getting to know him. It was perhaps this reason that led one among those who gathered to listen to him speak the words of God to approach him with a rare request. I say a rare request because up until now the only requests Jesus had been approached with revolved around sickness and death. They wanted Jesus to heal them or someone they knew. The individual we encounter in our Gospel passage today wanted Jesus to arbitrate between him and his brother. He wanted Jesus to assist him in getting justice. Instead of doing as the man had wanted, Jesus took the opportunity to teach the crowd about the vice of greed.
Greed is defined as an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth. Traditionally, it is classified as a cardinal vice (it is among the seven cardinal vices of old) and is considered a sin against charity (love). It is a sin that ruptures the relational bond that keeps the human person in right relationship with God and with fellow human persons. In his/her attempts to acquire more than he/she needs, an individual will find him/herself reaching beyond what should be rightly his/hers. Such an attempt is always an insult on God who provides for the needs of his creatures. It is a sin that is responsible for almost all the wars that have dotted human history.
Greed is a sin against the commandment of love, a sin against the virtue of charity. It is a sin against that which sets followers of Jesus apart (by your love they will know that you are my disciples…cf. John 13:35). Greed implicitly says that material possession is the most basic human need, something without which life cannot possibly be. It can be an obstacle in one’s path of self-realization because of its tendency to want to be the only focus. The individual in the passage was preoccupied with material wealth that he found it impossible to listen to the words of life that Jesus was speaking. All that he could think of was the inheritance of which his brother wanted to deprive him. In his response, Jesus reminded him to realize that there are other things more important that material possession. Being in the presence of Jesus and listening to his words of life was certainly of greater importance than thinking about his inheritance. Had he been paying close attention to Jesus, perhaps he might have learnt the best way to settle the issue with his brother in a manner that prioritized their relationship.