“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13)
On many occasions, Jesus seems to ignore a question asked of him in order to address a deeper or more important issue. The man in the crowd in Luke 12 presented Jesus with a reasonable request. Apparently his brother was not dividing the family inheritance properly. Jesus must have seemed the perfect person to help him with this problem, but he chose not to get involved in the matter. Instead Jesus warned the entire crowd concerning a matter of greater importance. “Watch out!” he told them. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed” (v. 14).
This is an interesting response. I do not consider someone “greedy” who wants simply to receive his or her fair inheritance. Yet Jesus warned both brothers, the one who was slighted and the one who withheld, to watch out for greediness. The reality is that the human heart is full of greed. Both brothers needed a warning – and so do you and I. Jesus taught the crowd in many different ways how to take care of the larger issues of the heart. He warned them against hypocrisy, and told them they must be rich towards God. He told them to store up treasure in heaven, and not on earth.
Does this mean that financial matters, inheritances and so on, are not important to God? Not at all. Jesus makes it clear that God cares for us and will provide for us materially. If we do not guard our hearts against greed, however, our possessions can become dangerous, whether they are many or few. If we have no treasures stored in heaven, what good are the earthly blessings that we seek so often? Over and over again, Jesus tells us to tend to the larger, eternal matters of the heart and not to spend too much time worrying about the rest. God clothes lilies; he will clothe you. God feeds the birds; he will feed you. We may feel unfairly treated from time to time, like the man in Luke 12. There are larger issues of the heart to take care of, however. We must be on our guard against greed, and allow God to meet our need.
The table above summarizes financial results for May. The minimum allowance paid was 71% of the target allowance. We needed $14,813 more in General Fund donations in order to pay full, targeted allowances to all of our missionaries. Thank you for your partnership in this ministry!