It may be a stretch, but I don’t think it is too large of a one, to assert that in this list of sins which Paul asserts we must remove from our lives, the greatest one of them all is the one that affects all of them. It is also the one that prevents us from not only understanding that we are all one in Christ but, even more importantly, becoming and living as one in Christ Jesus. That sin is greed; and, as Paul reminds us, greed is synonymous with idolatry, the worshipping of ourselves.

When we are consumed by greed, everything we do is done to make ourselves Number One. The pursuit of being Number One is simply idolatry in sheep’s clothing. Those who, I believe, have greedy motives tell us that this pursuit of being the best, the most, the first, is what we should be about. What is wrong with fulfilling our potential, with being the best we can be? Well, the truth is there is nothing wrong with such desires unless we are doing it for all the wrong reasons.

We can all be blinded by greed. Self-deception comes easily and we are all victims on occasion. We are all gifted in one way or another, gifted by our God. And our God expects us to use whatever gifts and talents we have to the very best of our ability not only as a way to honor our God, but also to help those who are less gifted. That is what God not only expects of us but demands of us as well. It is what we should expect and demand of ourselves.

If we are honored and praised in the process, well and good; if we become wealthy or famous, if we gain positions of power and prominence, that may be good as well; but none of that is to be our main motive in doing what we do with the gifts we have been given. To act in such a way, to seek glorification and honor from others, that is idolatry. It is another form of greed. In fact, as Paul reminds is, it is greed. Greed is the excessive desire not only to accumulate material possessions but power and honor and prestige as well. Enough is never enough.

And so in our pursuit for more power, more money, more possessions, more whatever, we use others in the process. When we do that, we do not see the Christ who is in others. In fact, what we do is crucify the Christ who is in them. None of this is a pretty picture and all of it is an ugly thought. But it is the truth. Idolatry/greed is so seductive. It blinds us to the truth.

The truth is of the seven deadly sins, greed is the deadliest of all. Greed affects and infects the other six: pride, envy, sloth, anger, lust and gluttony. Greed magnifies pride because it wants us to be better than everyone else; wants all the acclaim, all the honor, all the recognition; greed wants it all for ourselves even if it comes at the expense of someone else. Greed intensifies our envy of what others have and we do not have and can lead us to hate the other because of it. Sloth – laziness – is enhanced by greed. Greed keeps us from responding to the needs of others as quickly as we should, if we respond at all. We do not want to share our time or talent or whatever the other needs because we want it all for ourselves.

Greed heightens our anger towards those we deem more blessed than we because we believe them to be less deserving than we. Greed is not satisfied with the simple pleasures of life; it desires them all and it desires, even demands them in abundance.

Greed so intensifies our lust that it pushes us to wear ourselves out in seeking pleasure and pushes us away from anything that will bring the slightest pain even if that pain is the result of doing something good for someone we should love. Greed makes real gluttons of us, not wanting to save something for tomorrow but stuffing ourselves with food and drink well beyond our bodily wants or needs.

Greed run amok can control our lives. It sets the priorities in our day-to-day lives. And it is insidious. We are so often unaware how much greed controls us, such is its power. We find ourselves pushing ourselves to the limit, wearing ourselves out and then never being able to enjoy the fruits of our labors. Enough never becomes enough and we never know or learn how to leave well-enough alone.

Greed tears apart families and friendships, as this little incident in today’s Gospel attests, as many of us know from firsthand experience. Greed sets one nation against another. Greed is the cause of war and the reason why poverty, famine and disease still exist in abundance in this world of ours. Greed is why so few have so much and so many have so little, some nothing at all.

Jesus warns us in this passage that life does not consist in accumulating more and more, in having it all, in being richer than everyone else, in anything like that. Even though we know the truth of that statement, greed keeps rearing its ugly head trying to convince us that Jesus is wrong. He is not. In fact, Jesus’ constant message was that we should be thankful for the many gifts we have been given by giving more of ourselves and our possessions, not less.

None of this means, however, that we give everything away and simply live for the day. That is just as foolish as is allowing our lives to be controlled by greed. There is nothing wrong, for instance, with planning for our retirement. It is very, very foolish not to do so. In fact, we have a responsibility to make such preparations and to make the best preparations we possibly can.

Unless we have not already reached retirement age, we do not know what will take place when we retire, what kind of financial or other resources we will need when that day comes, nor do we even know if that day will come. We all know those who have made elaborate plans for retirement and never lived to see the day and thus did not and could not reap the fruits of their labors. We also know of those who have made no real plans about retirement and have lived to rue the day.

The issue at hand in the reading from Colossians as well as the Gospel is really about our word for today: wise. A Christian must be wise both about living in the present as well as planning for the future. The Christian must know the difference between too much and not enough. The Christian must be wise enough to know when greed begins to rear its ugly and selfish head and when one is simply being foolish.

The wise person knows that the present as well as the future must be of concern. There must be a balance. Too much emphasis on one at the expense of the other will cause harm to both. Living solely in the present will make our future tenuous. Living solely for the future will make our present unenjoyable and probably unfulfilling as well.