GREED KILLS

Leviticus 19:1-20:21; Mark 8:11-38; Psalm 42:1-11; Proverbs 10:17

“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop.  It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

“Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul?’”

“Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!”

“People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.”

What’s wrong with grabbing every grape?  If it’s my field, and I’ve done all the work, then it’s my crop and my right to harvest every grape.  Right?  Wrong!  But not just because “the Bible says so.”  And not just because “it all belongs to God” – even though it does.  God tells us not to take every grape because He knows greed kills.

Greed kills relationships.  My wife was in a long line for a sandwich at an airport shop when the cashier started waiving.  Thinking she was waiving at him, a flight attendant boldly pushed forward, presented his order… and risked a lynching.  Several minutes were spent in shouts and gestures.  Turned out, the cashier was waiving at a friend and ended up surrounded by enemies.  My wife lost her appetite, and brought back only disillusionment.  It is hard to befriend anyone who puts self above all.  When selfishness is so ingrained that we automatically assume life is all about us, life as God intended it is lost altogether. 

Greed kills sensitivity.  See above.  When our focus is on ourselves, our needs, our schedules, there is little to no tolerance for, or appreciation of, others’ issues.  We tend not even to notice other’s needs.  Ever get on the wrong elevator, just assuming those waiting are going the same direction?  Who hasn’t honked at the slow starter when a red light turns green?  These are simple symptoms of a deadly disease.

Greed kills our souls.  It has been said – or should have been – that the soul is our divine connection with each other.  When we wrap our hearts in a shroud of self-interest, we suffocate our souls and bind our emotions to the point of atrophy.  The best part of us – that which would lead us to the Body of Christ – eventually dies.  Or is, at least, forcibly evicted.  Our world contracts.  We isolate ourselves, creating barriers even the most generous cannot hurdle.  We become black holes of the spiritual world, sucking everything in and giving nothing back.

Only the provision of God, only His abundance, can satisfy our desperately empty and voracious souls; can restore our sensitivity; and rebuild our relationships.  So, why not take every grape, really?  Just to prove we don’t have to – to ourselves and to the world.  Christians have an abundance that utterly transcends our grain, our grapes and any amount of any other stuff we may or may not have.  This is a great time to remember that we don’t need every single grape.  Sometimes, simple generosity is the best witness of all!