Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
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Reflection:
What is material wealth that many of us are not able to let go of it? Many of us are even willing to sacrifice family relationship just to have possession of this temporal wealth.
Many are even willing to sacrifice their name and reputation to have wealth even dirty or corrupted wealth. Our greed for material wealth is our ticket to experience hell while we are still in this earthly journey. And certainly if not discontinued will be our ticket to hell in the future.
Who among us are willing to go to hell in exchange for earthy wealth? None of us of course! Yet we keep on punishing ourselves to have it not knowing that this greed for wealth will only give us tons of problems and miseries.
Wealth per se is not evil it becomes evil once we allow ourselves to be controlled and be manipulated by it. What should we do therefore? We must not allow wealth to control and manipulate us. We should not allow earthly wealth to dictate upon us.
In the gospel, Jesus is warning us about human’s greed for the things of this world. Jesus tells us this: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” (Luke 12:15)
Someday all of us will die and the key that would help us unlock the doorway to heaven is certainly not the wealth that we have amassed during our lifetime. The key that would open the doorway to heaven are the things that we have done to advance the mission of Jesus in this wealth driven world.
Do you have a greed for wealth? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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