Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Luke 12:13–14
Many things in life are not fair. Children are keenly aware of this any time they sense they have been cheated by a sibling. They complain to their parents, just as the person in the crowd quoted above complained to Jesus about his brother. We want justice and can become quite upset when we feel that we have been dealt an injustice.
The passage above is interesting because Jesus gently but clearly refuses to be the arbiter of justice for this man. It may indeed be the case that he was cheated out of his inheritance by his brother. But it’s interesting that Jesus not only refuses to resolve the dispute, He then goes on to teach about greed, suggesting that the cheated man was acting out of greed.
If you were cheated out of your inheritance by a sibling, how would you react? If a sibling were to do this, it would clearly be a sin and an injustice. But the question at hand is your reaction to being cheated. Being cheated by another might result in one of two responses. The most common response is to immediately seek justice, to fight back. But this is not always what God will inspire us to do. Instead, when we experience injustice, we are given an opportunity to love on a very deep level. And this must be our response. This is why Jesus said we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. In the big picture of eternity, earthly injustices are always an opportunity for grace. This is evident by simply looking at the gravest injustice of the suffering and death of the Son of God. Jesus did not complain about being so cruelly treated. He did not call on the angels of Heaven to destroy the Pharisees and Romans who attacked Him. Instead, Jesus used the injustice inflicted upon Him as a foundation for His gift of salvation.
As we journey through this life, we need to decide whether we are going to live for this life or for eternity. We cannot have both. However, by choosing to live for eternity, we also enhance our lives here on earth in ways that nothing in this world can match. For example, say you experienced the unfortunate situation of extreme poverty. Say you were cheated out of your home and possessions and were left with nothing. Would this make you miserable? It might, but it doesn’t have to. Instead, such an unfortunate circumstance has the potential for you to live day-by-day, trusting in God’s providential care and to offer mercy in the face of injustice. And that is good. It is good for your eternal soul. It is good because it will motivate you to trust God on a very deep level and to become a beacon of God’s mercy. By contrast, if you had everything you could ever want in this world, it would be seriously tempting to rely less upon God and more upon the things you possess in this world. But the things of this world cannot save your eternal soul. In fact, they are a serious hindrance to your ability to trust in God alone. So, truth be told, poverty and injustice actually open the door to an opportunity for much more grace in our lives than material wealth does. But so often we still long to have more and more of the things of this world.
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