Luke 12:13-21
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
A teaching from Jesus that warns against “all kinds of greed”, (πάσης πλεονεξίας).
πλεονεξία (pleonexia) could be translated greed or covetousness, and is formed from two words literally meaning “having more”, “receiving more”, or “wanting more”. The Greeks used it to describe when one receives or desires more than what is one’s share, and so this spoke directly to one’s interaction within society. The “more” is in relation to others, and affects them directly.
When this Greek word is used to translate Hebrew, it is not used in Exodus 20:17 for the mere longing for others’ possessions, but is used almost exclusively for unlawful gain (Hab. 2:9). Often this dishonest gain involves violence (Jer. 22:17, Ezek. 22:27).
To find this word used here in Luke’s gospel is unexpected. Why use a word associated with dishonest gain when responding to someone’s request for help in getting a portion of the inheritance? Is Jesus implying that the man is not entitled to any of it? Surely an inheritance is honest gain if anything is.
Then Jesus tells a parable of a successful farmer without any hint of dishonesty or oppression and violence. What is Jesus saying when he speaks about what appears to be very legitimate gain and yet is warning against to desire for dishonest gain? Is he deliberately challenging typical notions of what is ‘honest’ gain and what is not?
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