The passage from our gospel today describes a situation in which siblings are disputing their father's estate, and Jesus responds with wisdom by choosing not to take sides. We can wonder exactly what the cause of the sibling dispute was but one can’t help but imagine that money must play a part in that.

As he often does, Jesus does not give an answer but tells a story. This passage occurs between teachings in Luke’s Gospel focused on worry and human valuation. Both sections end with statements of reassurance: "You are worth more than many sparrows" and "You are of greater value than the birds." The main message is that Christian life is not defined by possessions, emphasizing the importance of inner worth and our need to be generous and consistent in our attitude towards God.

Greed seeps into our lives. Many of us have possessions and riches our ancestors of 100 years ago would never have dreamed possible and yet we find ourselves curiously looking for more. We should be on our guard and remember our true worth, and that of every person, is found as a precious child of God. Our “things” never define us.

Fr Simon