Reading for Sunday July 31, 2022
by Annette Allen
Luke’s gospel is written in Greek, a language understood by more people in those days than Hebrew. Luke was reaching out to converts beyond the Jews, those who, like himself, were from other nations. The main theme of this Gospel passage is greed. Jesus warns the crowd to take care to guard against all greed and he tells them one’s life does not consist of possessions. Then, he tells them the parable of the rich man, who was so busy accumulating more things, that he forgot he was mortal….
Gems:
This reading reminds us of the battle within us all between our desires for richness in faith vs. richness in material goods.
The Greek word used by Luke that we translate as greed is “pleonexia,” which has a deeper meaning than our English translation. Roughly translated, it means accursed love of having or possessing. Accursed self-interest.
What is the difference between accumulation of wealth and accursed accumulation? Are we generous with our time, our talents and our goods? Or are we like the rich man in the parable, storing our riches so that we alone can rest, eat, drink and be merry for the rest of our lives?
We are fortunate to be living in this arena of relative affluence. But, if we need nothing material, how do we get the sense that we need God? Will we be able to remember to be “rich in what matters to God?” That what comes next matters the most? These are questions we need to reflect on as we go through our week and when we listen to this reading on Sunday.
What is our children’s inheritance? Societal expectations today bring such heaviness upon our young people. They are expected to live a certain “cool” lifestyle. We struggle to guide them but are up against powerful forces of peer pressure and the pressure of social media. The author of Atomic Habits suggests tiny changes can produce remarkable results. That may give us a start in approaching this problem as our children get older and are exposed to more negative influences. What inheritance will we share with our children?
