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Continuing our studies of Luke Chapter 12, this week we are considering verses 13-21. Please read them every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 12:13 (New Living Translation)
‘Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”’
Recently, I read a story online and while I can’t vouch for its authenticity, it is posted on therecord.com and I assume it is true. I’ll paraphrase it here for the sake of brevity.
A wealthy man had died and his estate was left to his 7 children. One of the children was unhappy with his share of the inheritance and took his siblings to court. He won the case but the victory soon turned sour as his brothers and sisters sought revenge.
His boss, his closest friend and his fiancée all received letters making many accusations of wrong doing including being a liar and a cheat. In each letter were secrets that he had confided in his family earlier in life before the father had died. Each letter was signed ‘a sibling’ but didn’t specify the actual name. The man never found out which of his siblings had written the letters and the consequences were awful. He was put on probation at work while the offences were investigated and a cloud of suspicion weighed heavily over all areas of his life.
The accusations were all proven to be false but in the process he lost his friend and his fiancée. Such stories are common and someone once said, “When there is an inheritance, 99% of the people become wolves”.
We know nothing about the context to the request in verse 13 but I think it’s clear to say that the person feels ‘short-changed’ in at least a small way. However, we know that Jesus is continually warning about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and so it is no stretch of imagination to consider that the man is accusing his brother of hypocrisy. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the motive of the request but briefly today I want to highlight one point. I think that the man wanted Jesus to condemn his brother and is trying to use Jesus to justify his own position. It’s as if he’s saying to his brother ‘You owe me this and God agrees’.
We should be very careful when attempting to justify ourselves in this manner. In fact, we should always avoid trying to justify ourselves! I have met several people over the years who resort to this kind of behaviour and it always ends badly. I have also seen people using the Scripture to prove their own opinion on something. While the Word of God is always our plumb line for truth, God forbid that we ever try to use it for our own ends. May God grant us the wisdom to apply His Word to our lives accurately, while giving us a heart of compassion and trust that rests in His promises for our lives.
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