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Thou Shalt Not Covet
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost - September 2, 2001

In our gospel reading today (Matthew 21:33-42), we hear the following: "Then last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance'" (Matt. 21:38).

Why would the vinedressers conceive a plan such as this? The answer is simple: they coveted the vineyard.

We all know the 10th commandment: "Thou shalt not covet." Perhaps we aren't as aware of the fuller text: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thy neighbor's wife, thy neighbor's male or female slave, his ox or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's."
What is it to covet? To desire to possess what belongs to another as one's own.

We don't hear that much about covetousness these days. It may be due to the fact that we live in a culture that is based on desire - that stimulates it, cultivates it, and proclaims that the satisfaction of one's desires is the fulfillment of life. If the satisfaction of one's desires is the highest goal in life, then the fact that the things you want belong to others should not stop you from wanting them or having them. But Jesus had something to say about covetousness. Listen to this incident from the gospel of Luke (12:13-15):

"Then one in the company said to him, 'Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.' But he said to him, 'Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?' And he said to them, 'Beware of covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.'"

I love this little anecdote for a couple of reasons: First, Jesus does not feel compelled to solve this man's problems. People sometimes expect religious leaders or clergy to have an answer for all their issues. That is taken as evidence that "you care." But Jesus didn't feel the need to prove anything to this man.

Secondly, Jesus doesn't care whether this settlement was "fair" or not. People often have the notion that God is, or ought to be, very concerned that the stuff of this world be divided up evenly, but apparently Jesus was unconcerned about it.

But of course, the point is what Jesus had to say: "Beware of covetousness." Why ought covetousness be a special concern for us? Jesus gives this warning: "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." But the issue goes beyond that - because to be covetous is not just to desire things in general. It is to desire the things of others. In particular, it is to desire the things of others because they have them and you do not.

Consider this example: A certain high school boy has a pretty girlfriend. A friend of his is obsessed with the girl, and does everything he can to win her away from him to himself. Ultimately, he succeeds and she becomes his girlfriend. Then a strange thing happens . . . One she is his, he loses interest in her and begins to treat her badly. Why? What has happened?
The truth is, he was never really interested in the girl for herself. He was only interested because she belonged to someone else.
This is how covetousness works. We might ask why.

First, for the covetous person, everything is matter of self: he sees the things of others and thinks "Me." "What about me? What do I get? Why don't I have what others have? So and so has a house on the lake. I should have a house on the lake. So and so has a beautiful wife. She should be MINE. So and so has a sports car; I want it."

When the covetous person sees the things of others, not only can he not feel glad for the good things in their lives, he always relates them to himself and feels deprived - as if life has not been fair to him. Why? For him, self is always on center stage.

Secondly, He sees other people as rivals. When a person is covetous, he sees the world in an odd way. Everything is a matter of competition. Somehow he finds it intolerable that others have "more" or "better." He measures the little he thinks he has versus the plenty he thinks others have. So the covetous person is always at odds with his neighbor - always in a race and always losing. And when covetousness completely overrides his moral sense, he acts against his neighbor: lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, and, as we saw in the gospel today, even murder, can all be born from the rivalry the covetous man feels with his neighbor.

In a more benign form, the same thing is the source of the compulsion to"keep up with the Joneses," and why people are slaves to what Madison Ave. says they should wear and so on.

Thirdly, the covetous person has a warped sense of the good. He is unable to see the true value and goodness of things. If he has achievements, they are always motivated by competition, and not for the sake of attaining worthy goals. Sadly, the inherent value in building a great business, successfully marketing a innovative product, building a house, restoring a car, or whatever, is lost on him, because he is always haunted by the specter of those who have more or better. So the covetous person is joyless. He loses the goodness in his own hand because his eyes are always on the bush.

There is thus a huge difference between desiring something because you perceive some good in it, and coveting something because you see someone else has it.

Now that we have a sense of what it is like to be infected with a covetous spirit, we ought ask: What is the source of all this?
Simply put, it's a sign of insecurity. It's born of the desire to feel that one is somehow important, to feel that one is acceptable to others, to feel that one need not be ashamed of oneself.

But the truth is, you come to understand how important you are when you know that God gave his Son to die for you. You know you are acceptable to others when you realize that God, family, and friends love you regardless of your successes or failures. And you realize that you need not be ashamed of yourself when God calls you his child.

In other words, if you really receive and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will strangle the covetous impulses within you.

But you will need to watch yourself - watch what goes on inside of you. You will need to be on the lookout for those false patterns of self-centered thinking that start to creep in, to be on the lookout for those self-pitying feelings that tell you that others always have it better.

"Beware of covetousness." This is the Lord's warning to us. "For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Rather, a man's life consists in the abundance with which he is loved. The Apostle Paul understood this. It is apparent in his statement to the Galatians: "The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

May this be your life, and may it free from the bondage that covetousness would impose on the soul.

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