Greed

 

Greed blinds us to how little we need. The more we have the more we want, but do we need more? The more we take the less we notice others’ needs, caught up as we are in our own acquisitions. Us first, everyone else second. Or not at all. We may forget that everything is a gift, deserving of our thanks.  

The rich man in Luke’s Gospel prizes his existence based on the “abundance of his possessions.” Perhaps he judges others, also, according to their possessions. Perhaps it saves him seeing any deeper. His entire life is dedicated to his own wealth and happiness, with no thought for God or, by implication, his neighbour. Jesus seems also to be teaching how self-satisfaction can come with having it all. Sharing is not on the agenda while the rich man builds bigger buildings to house even more of everything. Everything that will very soon be someone else’s, given that “this very night your life is being demanded of you.”  

Colossians is even more direct and tough-minded about greed, saying it must be “put to death” as earthly and idolatrous. There are times when we notice the truth in this attitude. People are so busy acquiring property and adding to their portfolio, with the distinct and dedicated belief they must have more, in particular much more than their neighbour. Nations with selfish ambitions try to buy other nations, or take over their land through warfare. Billionaires invent new space races instead of spending their passing wealth on protection of their only home, the Earth. Such activity is futile and wasteful for those who live the new life “hidden with Christ in God.” Greed may lead any of us into ignorance of God’s gifts and denial of others, of anyone at all.

It is this selfish living, with its resultant refusal of justice and hospitality, that Genesis is talking about in the “outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah.” Residents of these places are so wrapped up in themselves and what they’ve got, so greedy for themselves and no one else, they ignore those in need and will not share even a little with outsiders of any kind. It’s got so desperate and disconnected, now it’s down to the pleas of the righteous few to spare them.

Great is the desire, in such hopeless circumstances, for the “steadfast love and faithfulness” expressed in today’s Psalm 138. The words affirm the gifts of God and the experience of the new life, “for though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.”  

Readings: Genesis 18, 20-32, Psalm 138, Luke 12, 13-21, Colossians 3, 1-11.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. St Peter’s Eastern Hill, Melbourne