By the Way: The stuff stays here

By Shane Hein on September 6, 2025.

15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Mankind’s relationship with the material offerings of the world is complex. God gave us a fine, rich and abundant planet to learn about, to use, to enjoy, to harvest, and to discover for the benefit of ourselves, for our families, and for others. We have built institutions dedicated to discovery, to medicine, to food production, and to charity.

The trouble is that we live so well now and have become so dependent on the fruits of our labour that we have almost unconsciously transferred our trust from the provider of our possessions to the possessions themselves.

That is precisely what Jesus is concerned about today as he crosses paths with an obviously upset man. “Tell my brother to give me my share of the inheritance!” demands the man in question.

Jesus listens to him, but his focus is not the man’s grievance over inheritance matters, or whether the man is receiving the justice that he deserves, but on the state of the man’s soul. It seems to Jesus that this man is on the verge of being completely consumed by his material self-interest.

The possessions themselves are not at fault. It is a fine line indeed, though, between our worship of possessions and our worship of the one who provides us with those possessions. This is a matter of the heart and soul for Jesus.

Our stuff cannot listen to our prayers, let alone answer them. Our stuff does not provide us with peace and contentment, no matter how much of it we manage to gather to us in our lifetimes. Our stuff will not be with us to comfort us in our final moments, nor will our stuff be waiting to greet us as we leave this life and enter the next. In the end, it is only Jesus.

Rev. Shane Hein is pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church

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