Jesus was in the middle of a very interesting sermon about how the Holy Spirit would help us in times of trouble when out of the blue, someone from the crowd interrupted Him with a totally unrelated question.
“Master, order my brother to divide the inheritance and share it with me!” Luke 12: 13
I chuckled when I read this the other day because the story tells us something very revealing about human nature. First is the fact that there are times when we pretend to listen to people when they talk but in reality, we are just waiting for our turn to speak. This proved to be embarrassing for the guy in the story. With just a few words, he showed the whole wide world his ignorance of spiritual matters and his preoccupation with money.
Second is how he misunderstood Jesus. Instead of drinking in the life giving words of Jesus, he was only interested in resolving his domestic troubles.
Third is the tone of accusation in his voice. He asked Jesus to “order” his brother to do the right thing, IN PUBLIC! It is one thing to ask God to right the wrongs in our families in the privacy of our prayer closet but to broadcast them publicly is just plain wrong. Even if his brother was really on the wrong, he didn’t deserve this kind of humiliation.
Fourth, don’t we do this in our prayer meetings? When we tell the church our prayer requests, don’t we sometimes err on this area?
Lastly,just because you’re the one praying doesn’t mean that you are right. It will never do you any good if you speak against your brother in front of God! Who knows he’s praying too!
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