"Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, ones life does not consist of possessions."
Jesus tells this to the crowd when he's not really interested in settling an inheritance fight between brothers.
'Greed' is a sick form of attachment, a hunger that cannot be satiated. Greedy people become Hungry Ghosts, according to the Buddhists: these reincarnations are hugely fat beings with tiny little mouths, always hungry, never getting enough, their only world being to feed, accumulate, fill that empty hole in their world. There world is one of suffering.
Like the Messiah riding like a poor beggar on the back of an ass, this King shows that wealth cannot be judged by the flesh, cannot be measured by the Earthly things that seem so important. One's life is the greatest gift and the greatest possession one has, for without it, we would not exist. One's life is given by God. Man does not fabricate the spark of life. Man can only nurture it or take it. All that we can do to honour this life is to honour this gift: Indeed, some consider all life to be sacred. To build up our own comfort and wealth, to eat more than we need to live or to amass more wealth than our neighbour seems not only offensive, but in Jesus' view of life it seems ungrateful, woefully mislead, delusional, lost, petty and selfish.
Indeed, it is the Self, the ego, that needs to build itself up out of fear of danger, fear of coming up short, fear of whatever: think about which fears and greeds are at play when one fills the shopping basket with luxury products, gold, glitter or much more than is actually needed for the body to survive. Need is greed. Thus the Saviour's warning, "Take care to guard against all greed". In meditation, with mindfulness, we can take guard moment by moment. The Self is tricky in its need. The Self is convincing in its habits of want. The Self will use all its efforts to get that guard down. I am my own worst enemy, me thinks.
If i have wisdom i will listen. If i have compassion i will do the right thing. With Jesus i am stronger.
Deo gratias.
Jesus tells this to the crowd when he's not really interested in settling an inheritance fight between brothers.
'Greed' is a sick form of attachment, a hunger that cannot be satiated. Greedy people become Hungry Ghosts, according to the Buddhists: these reincarnations are hugely fat beings with tiny little mouths, always hungry, never getting enough, their only world being to feed, accumulate, fill that empty hole in their world. There world is one of suffering.
Like the Messiah riding like a poor beggar on the back of an ass, this King shows that wealth cannot be judged by the flesh, cannot be measured by the Earthly things that seem so important. One's life is the greatest gift and the greatest possession one has, for without it, we would not exist. One's life is given by God. Man does not fabricate the spark of life. Man can only nurture it or take it. All that we can do to honour this life is to honour this gift: Indeed, some consider all life to be sacred. To build up our own comfort and wealth, to eat more than we need to live or to amass more wealth than our neighbour seems not only offensive, but in Jesus' view of life it seems ungrateful, woefully mislead, delusional, lost, petty and selfish.
Indeed, it is the Self, the ego, that needs to build itself up out of fear of danger, fear of coming up short, fear of whatever: think about which fears and greeds are at play when one fills the shopping basket with luxury products, gold, glitter or much more than is actually needed for the body to survive. Need is greed. Thus the Saviour's warning, "Take care to guard against all greed". In meditation, with mindfulness, we can take guard moment by moment. The Self is tricky in its need. The Self is convincing in its habits of want. The Self will use all its efforts to get that guard down. I am my own worst enemy, me thinks.
If i have wisdom i will listen. If i have compassion i will do the right thing. With Jesus i am stronger.
Deo gratias.
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