The Greed Scale

Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? Luke 11:39-40

What is greed or greedy? I have seen people of all income levels want more than they receive in their paycheck; so it would seem that greed is not solved by having a bigger paycheck, if simply wanting more is greed. One thing I do know is that greed is not the other person refusing to give me whatever I want. There may be a host of reasons for the refusal, my greed perhaps being one of them, but how does that help us narrow down what this greed thing is?

Is greed wanting more than we each need? If that is the case then we have narrowed down the greedy to pretty much all of us; probably not very helpful. Scrooge was described as greedy and we all seem to know what Charles Dickens meant by that. So, is it a desire to always want more at the expense of others and a refusal to help in their plight? Maybe we are getting closer here. Scrooge at the first before his redemption was indeed hardened to the suffering of others.

Pigs are sometimes used as a comparison, but that is hardly fair given that pigs are what they are. Perhaps the comparison is to those who act like pigs at the trough but do not have to be that way? 'Hogging' all of something or attempting to do so when there is no need for such behavior may be another way to get a handle on what greed is. So, we have a disregard for our neighbor as the greedy grabs up all for himself and cares for the other fellow only in striving against him to beat him to all the chow.

The dictionary states: an intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food. Ah, selfishness is involved is it? That can't be good. We are called to love the Lord and our neighbors, and selfishness does not allow for that. It does not surprise us then that greed and selfishness walk hand in hand. One thing remains though, greed is not relative. When negotiating with Bubba, and he refuses to give in to everything I want, I don't get to call Bubba greedy. That is nothing but selfish pride at work in me. There may be a greed scale out there somewhere and maybe it displays in tons of selfishness, but I don't get to place my selfishness on the scale and say, "Look how much you have weighed me down, Bubba, you greedy thing you!"

That may seem comical now, but I think we have all seen it happen. Lord, please cleanse the inside of this cup so that the greedy one is not me.

Bucky