The request for Jesus to judge an inheritance matter, leads him to give a teaching saying on the relationship between "living" and "possessing", v15, and then to illustrate the saying with a parable, v16-21, and finally to tackle the issue with a number of sayings, v22-34. In these sayings, Jesus reminds his disciples not to be preoccupied with the things of this world, rather they should focus on the Kingdom of God and live a life that reflects this focus.
v22-23. Jesus now develops the truth that "life is more than food, and the body more than cloths." "Life's essentials must not be life's mission or determine life's attitude", E. Ellis. Possessions, this world's things, need not be limited to the abundance of worldly clutter - consumer items. Even daily necessities are possessions. The goal of life is something more than just striving to secure our earthly existence; such a preoccupation should not be the focus of our emotional energy.
v24-26. Jesus supports his point with a practical observation from life. Nature tends to provide for its own and since we are the apex of God's creation (it is designed for us), then it will tend to provide for us as well. His point is that nature generally works. He is not saying it will provide if we have faith rather than diligence. He is just saying it provides, it works, and often works irrespective of us. So why be preoccupied?
v27-28. We can be totally preoccupied with our creativity and still not exceed the beauties of nature. Yet, if God creates the profound beauty of a flower that fades in a moment, "how much more" will he clothe his children in a beauty that is eternal!
v29-30. Given that there is more to life than eating and drinking, it is foolish to make our daily provision the focus of our life. Only "the pagan world runs after such things."
v31. Jesus now defines the proper focus of our life. "Seek first the kingdom of God." Jesus doesn't actually tell us how and where to seek. This he has done already on a number of occasions. "Repent and believe" is how we seek. Where we seek is from Jesus - "ask and it will be given, seek and you find, knock and the door will be opened to you." We enter the kingdom when we ask, seek and knock - when we come to Jesus, believe in Jesus. This is the higher goal of life, and it is this we should be preoccupied with. As for the stuff of life, it usually falls into place of its own accord; most of us muddle through.
v32-34. When the kingdom is our focus, the ceaseless chasing after material security and the material props that affirm an illusionary immortality, fades in importance. We are able to put them aside, their power broken. This is because we have gained a treasure in heaven which provides an eternal security. Our "heart" being there, the things of this world grow increasingly dim.
Being a Christian and liking beautiful things, is always a problem. In my case I like quite a few beautiful things. I love vintage cars, wind up gramophones, stamps and old houses. There are a number of frustrations liking such things. My tastes outstrip my capacity to finance their acquisition. I am in the wrong profession to finance accumulation. The other frustration is that of balancing the desire to possess, with the desire to follow Christ.
My Portuguese stamp collection has gone through numerous selling and buying sprees. In puritanical moods, often overcome by guilt, I would sell off slabs of the collection. Then I would often go the other way and buy up big. These days I seem to buy a piece here and a piece there. Getting every possible Angolan rarity is no longer that important, although I wonder if this is more a sign of age than spiritual maturity!
The trick with rightly handling this world's things is to understand clearly what Jesus is saying to us in passages like the present one. A superficial reading of this passage would turn us into a monk. "Sell your possessions and give to the poor"; these are fairly hard words. Of course, we don't do it and so end up guilty, osculating between self and service.
It is most unlikely that, in this passage, Jesus is giving us rule to follow, a law to keep. Sometimes Jesus gives us hard and impossible rules which serve to remind us that we are rebels, unable to undertake even the simplest righteous act, and therefore in need of a righteousness that is not our own; a God-given righteousness. However, in this passage, it is likely that Jesus is setting before us the true source of life's meaning, namely, the kingdom, even Christ himself. To know Christ is to possess life eternal. Once we possess life in Christ, "worldly mammon" takes its proper place such that we can even be generous, "give to the poor", rather than be constantly preoccupied with our own survival.
Of course, we well know that survival can be difficult for some believers. We have no promise here of daily provision, rather just the promise of divine resources for the journey to glory. Irrespective of life's daily struggle or the accumulation of clutter, our heart must be with our eternal hope and not our earthly habitat.
Identify your most precious "worldly mammon" (job, family, car.....). Discuss how a strong personal faith in Christ keeps such "worldly mammon" in its proper place.