Luke 12: 13-21

[Melody]

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’
14But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’
16Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?”
18Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”
20But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.’

[Melody]

Found a site called Word-Sunday.com which has interesting takes on the Sunday Readings (all frm the 1st to the Gospel).

Here's something from that site wrt to this Sunday's Gospel:

"What is truly important?

The gospel began with a request. Like a spoiled child who did not get his way, someone in the crowd appealed to Jesus to settle a fight over money. And like a wise parent, Jesus turned the problem back to the person by answering the question with another question: "Who made me your judge?" [12:13-14] The question also led to a teaching on the insignificance of wealth. And the importance of faith.

In the time of Jesus, there was no middle class, only the few who were rich and the masses who were poor. In the Roman empire, the elite (less than five percent of the population) controlled 80-90% of the wealth. The poor rented land to farm from the wealthy. Greedy bureaucrats served these elite by taxing the poor, and served themselves by "skimming" extra tax moneys for themselves. So the poor were victims in two ways, from land rents and over-taxation. The poor were so burdened that it was not unusual for many to be underfed in times of food surplus; many would actually sell themselves into slavery in order to feed their families.

In that desperate atmosphere, there was the temptation to place prime importance on economic survival. But Jesus questioned that logic: life was more than possessions. [12:15]

To make the point, Jesus told the parable of a rich, self-absorbed man who, on the eve of great material surplus, died. In life, the rich man hoarded, but in death, that what he desired was taken away, leaving his heart empty and his character hollow. Before God as judge, the rich man lacked what was truly important. [12:16-20]

Like the contemporaries of Jesus, the gospel teaches us to store up what is important: faith in God and active compassion for one's neighbor. [12:21] Faith in God flies in the face of cynicism. Compassion flies in the face of greed. Together, faith and compassion challenge what people believe is really important in life."

Blessings,

Melody