The background for our story this morning is an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a large crowd. A young man called out from the crowd and said: "Rabbi, tell my brother to divide the inheritance of our father.” Now, Jewish law clearly prescribed that at the death of a father, the elder son received 2/3 of the inheritance, and the young son received 1/3. This is obviously a younger son who is complaining about the inherent unfairness of it all. Nothing will divide brothers and sisters more than dividing up an estate. So it was then, and so it is now. Jesus refused to get involved in a petty family squabble.

Jesus was concerned, however, with the larger implications of preoccupation with the things of this…