Rejecting Jesus and Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit
8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. 12 For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
Sayings Against Greed
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 14 He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” 15 Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Parable of the Rich Fool
16 Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 17 He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ 18 And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods 19 and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ 21 Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
Jesus explained that those who hear the word can accept or reject it which is the same as accepting or rejecting him. Jesus will acknowledge before God those who accept him (vv. 8-9). Those who refuse to accept him could be forgiven (v. 10), but those who deny the working of the Holy Spirit in the Church would not be forgiven (Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-10). The Holy Spirit will defend those bearing witness to Christ when they are brought before hostile adversaries (vv. 11-12).
Luke introduced the topic of greed and tried to show that amassing possessions contributed little to the salvation of souls. Greed was at the center of the dispute between the man and his brother and Jesus did not intervene (vv. 13-15). The parable that followed warned the disciples about the futility of greed. Having possessions would not insulate them from those who rejected Jesus’ teachings.
The rich man’s land produced a bountiful harvest which was a gift from God (v. 16; Gen. 1:29-30). He was not grateful for the bountiful harvest but saw it only as a means to having greater possessions (v. 17). He decided to build bigger barns to store all HIS grain and other goods (v. 18). He was going to ignore the needs of others and lead a life of dissipation (v. 19). He did not acknowledge that his very life was a gift from God (Gen. 1:27-28) and that he had no control over how long he would live or to whom his possessions would eventually go (v. 20). He had not cultivated his relationship with God, the Creator and giver of all his goods (v. 21)
Almighty God, giver of all good gifts, cultivate in us a spirit of gratitude and a love for our brothers and sisters so that we may build a relationship with you and share our possessions with others. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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