Luke 12:11-15
Luke 12:11 (KJB)
And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers,
take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
Whenever there were times of persecution and trial of the believers, they were
always taken in haste. The authorities would come to their homes or places of
work and just take them to jail or another place where they would be placed on
trial for their faith. Jesus is telling the disciples that they should not
concern themselves about what kind of defense they should mount or if they
should have a defense at all. The Apostle Paul used all those trials as an
opportunity to further the Gospel. Jesus is promising them that they need not
worry what they should speak because what they need to speak will be given them
at the very moment they need an answer. The disciples will be delivering a
divine message and it would not be about them but about the Gospel message they
are proclaiming.
Luke 12:12 (KJB)
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
The Holy Spirit who indwells every Christian will be with them at the time of
their trials and He will be the one who will tell them what they should say. In
all situations, the Holy Spirit will guide the believers. How many times do we
read of martyrs who went to the stake singing and that is because the Holy
Spirit has given them the joy of the Lord at the moment of their home going.
(Neh 8:10 KJV) Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the
sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is
holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your
strength. Just as the joy of the Lord was the strength of believers in the
days of Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is placed into every believer. (Gal
5:22 KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and so is
gentleness which means that an even tempered answer can be given by a Christian
in any situation, good or bad and the Holy Spirit will guide that answer.
Luke 12:13 (KJB)
And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he
divide the inheritance with me.
Then someone who was part of the crowd had addressed Jesus and asked Him if He
would speak to his brother to divide an inheritance with him. Apparently the
last of their parents had died and now it was time to dole out the inheritance
and probably one of them attempted to keep it all for himself or tried to keep a
bigger part. This man probably heard Jesus speaking and knew that He would be
honest in His dealings with His brother. He was hoping that the authority of
Jesus would hold great sway with his brother and he would then do right.
Luke 12:14 (KJB)
And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
Jesus then responds to the man in the negative that He is not going to get
involved. It was not that the man’s request was wrong but Jesus saw full well
the reason behind the request. The man had focused solely on the inheritance and
not the covetous spirit of his brother. Jesus had just gotten done speaking
about such things and this man obviously did not get the gist of what Jesus was
speaking about. The word “divider” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of
“arbitrator or distributor.” Material things like the inheritance was of this
world and Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world and therefore He would not get
involved with these family matters. This was not the reason Jesus came to this
world. If He would have gotten involved in this one case, could you imagine how
many others would come to Him with similar legal problems. There would be no
time left to preach the Gospel.
Luke 12:15 (KJB)
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
The words “take heed” in the Greek are in the present tense and Imperative mood
which means it is a command to “keep looking out” for the spirit of greed or
covetousness arising in one’s life. Jesus is warning them that they could have
all the material goods in the world but on the day when they die, all of the
material goods they coveted will be left behind. A person’s life does not
consist of how many material goods one possesses but on the day of one’s death
the important thing is if a person has a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. When one closely analyzes a person’s life, a massive amount of material
goods does not affect a person’s health, it cannot stop disease, it cannot stop
the normal problems of life, it cannot change the day of one’s death. Material
goods actually serve no purpose unless they are used for the Kingdom of God.