BIBLE STUDY #144

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

August 4, 2013



READING 1

ECCLESIASTES 1:2; 2:21-23



Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,

vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!



Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,

and yet to another who has not labored over it,

he must leave property.

This also is vanity and a great misfortune.

For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart

with which he has labored under the sun?

All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation;

even at night his mind is not at rest.

This also is vanity.



The Word of the Lord



READING 2

COLOSSIANS 3:1-5, 9-11



Brothers and sisters:

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.

For you have died,

and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears,

then you too will appear with him in glory.



Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:

immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,

and the greed that is idolatry.

Stop lying to one another,

since you have taken off the old self with its practices

and have put on the new self,

which is being renewed, for knowledge,

in the image of its creator.

Here there is not Greek and Jew,

circumcision and uncircumcision,

barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;

but Christ is all and in all.



The Word of the Lord



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 all who store up treasure for themselves

but are not rich in what matters to God.”



The Gospel of the Lord



Reflection



Jesus is on his long journey to Jerusalem where he will endure his passion, death and resurrection. At this point in the journey, as we see in 12:1, there is a massive crowd following him. Jesus is teaching the disciples and the crowds about the kingdom, faith, and discipleship. With seeming irrelevancy, a person in the crowd asks Jesus to settle a dispute about an inheritance. The laws concerning inheritance are in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 and Numbers 27:1-11 and 36:7-9. My guess is that this person was not asking Jesus for advice on the law, but I think he lost his case and wants Jesus to support him.



Jesus refuses to arbitrate this case. That is not his role. He is not a lawyer, but has come to preach and establish the Kingdom of God. He uses this opportunity to teach about greed and the accumulation of possessions.



Jesus teaches us to “Take care to guard against all greed.” The Greek word translated as greed can also be avarice. In Webster’s dictionary, greed is defined as “excessive or reprehensible acquisitiveness: avarice.” Avarice is defined as “excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain.” This is a person who never has enough. Wealth becomes more important than anyone or anything else. It’s like an addiction: the more I have, the more I want.



The value of our lives comes not from what we have, but who we are. It is love, compassion, forgiveness, and all other virtues that make up a happy and successful life.



Jesus tells a parable about a rich man with a bountiful harvest. He builds bigger barns for his harvest, thinking that he us set for many years and now wants to “rest, eat, drink, be merry!” it seems he has no desire to share his good fortune with those in need. God calls him a fool because he will die tonight, and where is the heavenly treasure? If we measure our value by our earthly possessions, then we are poor. If we are poor in earthly possessions, but have stored up treasure in heaven, then we are rich.



There is nothing wrong with possessions. Possessions are neutral. It is people who are good or bad. We all want to live comfortably, have money saved up, pay for our children’s education, and have a comfortable retirement, for example. But when we are greedy, we run into several problems. We tend to accumulate wealth just to have more wealth. We don’t need it, but we want it. We measure our self worth by our wealth. Secondly, in the accumulation of wealth, we can easily over look the people in our lives. We work long hours at the expanse of our families. We can even get to the point that we will hurt others to become richer. Thirdly, greedy people tend not to share their wealth with others. Most of us are not asked to take a vow of poverty, be we are all asked to be as generous with our wealth as we can. Finally, what happens to our self esteem if we lose all of part of our wealth? With God, we are very valuable because God loves us. That will not go away.



Both Qoheleth from the first reading from Ecclesiastes and St Paul in the second reading from Colossians agrees with these sentiments. Qoheleth calls possessions vanity. He says that “all things are vanity! And St. Paul tells us to “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”



Fr. Phil