We live in a consumer economy. That is defined as an economy that relies heavily on how much people are buying and spending. I am not an economist, but it seems to me that this type of economy is dependent on making us either use up what we have so we need more (like food, gas, etc.) or making us desire or want more. In other words, encouraging us to be covetous or greedy.
Since retiring I’m spending a bit more time in front of the television than I did. I have been subjected to more commercials that are designed to make me want more … advertisements that feed greed.
I am 75 years old and I must admit I have seldom heard messages about greed, and I must also admit that I have seldom brought a message about greed. All the while, greed has spread throughout our nation and, yes, even the church.
In Mark 7, Jesus had a confrontation with the Pharisees about the traditions of the elders involving the ceremonial washing of hands, vessels, couches, etc. He pointed out that it is not what goes into a person that is important but what comes out of them.
“What comes out of a person—that defiles him. For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person.” [7:20-23 HCSB]
The word for greed is pleonexia, and is often translated as covetousness, avarice, aggression, or a desire for advantage. Pleonexia comes from two words meaning 1) numerically more, and 2) the desire for more (things), i.e., lusting for a greater number of temporal things that go beyond what God determines is eternally best.
I am not sure where I am going with these thoughts this morning, but it was that second meaning of the Greek word used for greed that really has me searching and thinking … “lusting for a great number of temporal things that go beyond what God determines is eternally best.”