Fr Leslie Miranda
| | | Eccl 1:2;2:21-23 Col 3:1-5,9-11 Lk 12:13-21 | | August,01 | | 18TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR | | Tolstoy tells us a story about a peasant called Pakhom who owned no land. He gradually gathered money and became a land-owner. He owned forty acres and was happy. Then he heard about better lands in another region. So he sold his land, moved and bought eighty acres. The produce of this land was excellent. He made a lot of money in five years. Then one day he was visited by a stranger, who told him about really excellent land in the south. He made the journey to the south. The people and the chieftain told him: “We sell land by the day. As much land as you can cover in a day will be yours for a thousand roubles.” He got up early the next morning and by sunset covered a remarkable amount of territory. When the chieftain went to congratulate him for his great feat, Pakhom made no |
| reply. He was flat on the ground. They turned him over but he was dead. Pakhom was a victim of greed. He could not draw the line where need ends and greed begins.
In today’s Gospel we read that one of Jesus’ hearers, who has been bitten by the bug of greed, says; “Master, tell my brother to give me my share of our inheritance.” Jesus is severe with this man, who drags into the open a family dispute about the proper division of an inheritance. He does not ask Jesus to decide on the merits of his rights. The Jewish law of succession had settled that issue for him. He asks Jesus for a decision in his favour. Jesus refused to have anything to do with it. Jesus had come to bring people to God, and not property to the people. Jesus was not interested in who got ...Contd. | | |
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