Luke 12:13 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Luke 12:13-21)Christ, we read in the earlier verses, had been preaching to a vast multitude, a crowd so great that people were actually treading one on another, so the narrative tells us. It was a solemn message about salvation, a message with warnings, a profound message. But there is a man who isn't listening to a word, or so it would seem. After one of the most solemn and powerful discourses of Christ with a vast crowd, this man comes to him and he says, ‘Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.’ It was all over his head. He wasn't interested. Apparently, a parent had died, left in the will everything to the oldest brother: that was the way in their culture in those days. And a younger brother wanted the older brother to divide it with him, and for some reason he wouldn't. So the younger brother thought Christ was a man of sufficient authority and magnetism to persuade him. He was only interested in the here and now and his material circumstances, and anxious that he could get something of the will. That is what led to this great parable. What opportunity he had. Being in that crowd, he would certainly have been a Jewish man. He would have known about the expected Messiah. It was what all the Jewish nation was supposed to look for, and all the prophecies and the promises of the Bible pointed to. So here he was, the Messiah, with his astonishing teaching, healing thousands of people, doing amazing things, speaking about repentance and forgiveness. What a privilege to hear the Lord! But he was unaffected, not interested.What was central in his mind was the issue of justice. He was being treated unfairly by his brother. Here was this great teacher. Here was someone who had the authority to tell his brother to do the right thing, and divide the inheritance fairly. Christ has become a means to an end for this man, and the Lord’s real message is being totally overlooked.But Christ sees another much more important issue which is hidden behind this. He identifies a far great need in this man, a need which the man has totally overlooked. The Lord always goes to the heart of our problems. His real need was not for an equal share of the inheritance, but for insight into his spiritual problem and his sin. The loss of an inheritance would set him back in this world, but the loss of his soul would harm him for all eternity.The Lord has been appealed to on a matter that he has no desire to sort out. He has not been sent into this world to solve all the world’s ills and injustices, which are countless. All these things could be solved and the world would still be left far from God and in the same state of sin and heading for judgment. When God helps he gives real help, but we must let him identify our greatest need, and not be side tracked.