Greed // Contentment

John D. Rockefeller, an American businessman, is considered one of the wealthiest people in modern history. He once controlled 90% of the oil production and sales in the United States. The oil company he owned, Standard Oil Company, broke into several separate entities after a ruling by the Supreme Court. These companies include ExxonMobil and Chevron Corporation. Rockefeller was the first billionaire in modern history, with his income worth 2% of the American national economy.

Once, a news reporter asked him, “How much money is enough?” He replied, “One more dollar.” Even with all that wealth, Mr. Rockefeller didn’t learn contentment.

As the Lord traveled through the land, a person in the crowd said to him:

“Teacher, say to my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13)

Perhaps his brother had cheated him or refused to share the inheritance because, earlier, he had walked away from wanting the inheritance (as Esau did). Or perhaps the speaker was a female and didn’t get a portion of the inheritance as was the custom.* Whatever the reason was, now that person didn’t get an inheritance and wanted Jesus to tell his/her brother to share the inheritance.

Jesus replied,

“O man! Who appointed me as an executor of the estate or arbitrator between you two?” (12:14)*

Perhaps the person conversing with Jesus was one of his relatives who thought Jesus should function as the executor of their estate or as an arbitrator. But Jesus was neither of those. Then, the Lord addressed the crowd and said,

“Watch and guard yourself against every greed (pleo-nezia) because a person’s life is not in the abundance of possessions.” (12:15)

In an agrarian culture like Jesus’s, poor people lived from one day to the other, barely finding enough food to survive. But the rich among them hoarded wealth and considered themselves blessed because of their wealth. The Lord wanted the disciples to watch and guard themselves against every such greed. The word “greed” (pleo-nezia) is a combination of “abundance” (pleroo) and “have” (echo) – “to have something in abundance.” John and Jesus taught that one pair of clothes, one pair of shoes, and one outer jacket were sufficient. To have an abundance of them would be greedy. Greed was not good, Jesus said, because a person’s life was not measured in the abundance of what s/he had. At death, everyone went away empty-handed, leaving everything behind. Even Rockefeller couldn’t take his billions with him when he died.

We live in a materialistic world. Companies have learned that if they would name their products, they could insult their consumers into buying the newest product. “Oh, you have an iPhone 7? Don’t you know they just released the iPhone 15? You are way behind.” “Oh – you have Microsoft Word 2011. I use Microsoft Word 365 that gets updated every year,” etc. Our value isn’t in the abundance of what we have. Instead, we learn contentment, i.e., live with what God has given us. Paul said, “If we have food and clothing, we will be content” (1 Tim 6:8).

*The Greek anthrope (man) can also refer to a man and a woman (as in humanity), unlike the Greek nouns aner or arsen,which refer to males only.