All Kinds of Greed

Although we live in a wealthy country by global standards, it turns out that economic stability feels elusive to most of us. In a recent survey of Americans, 77% of respondents said they did not feel “completely financially secure,” including 32% who said they didn’t think they ever would. And it’s not just young people who are beset with this uneasy feeling: large majorities of every generation said they don’t feel financially secure, including 80% of Gen Zers, 79% of Millennials, 84% of Gen Xers, and 69% of Baby Boomers.[1] Of course, the notion of “financial security” is subjective; we all have ideas about what that looks like. But no matter your definition, chances are deep down you wish you had at least a little more.

There’s a term for this phenomenon in behavioral economics: it’s called the “hedonic treadmill.” Even if our incomes rise, in a consumerist economy so do our standards. This means that greater financial security doesn’t necessarily curb the desire to acquire more; rather, it often fuels it as our perceived needs grow alongside our means. As one interpreter puts it, “Satisfaction remains always just out of reach.”[2] 

“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,” Jesus warns in today’s Gospel from Luke, “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he goes on to tell the story of a wealthy farmer who makes a plan to secure his life by building bigger barns to accommodate his growing stockpile of goods. But it’s all in vain. “You fool!” God chides him, “This very night your life is being demanded of you.”

Not once in this story does the farmer express anything resembling reverence, gratitude, or generosity. There’s no indication that he appreciates his good fortune or assumes any responsibility for the well-being of his community. Instead, he is preoccupied with his own prosperity, short-lived as it is destined to be. In this way, the “rich fool” is a caricature of greed, a tragic case of self-centered solitude. Doesn’t he know you can’t take it with you?

But I wonder if we miss the power of Jesus’ teaching if we read it through an individualistic lens. The parable focuses on an individual, of course, and it’s common in our culture to view greed as a personal moral failing and generosity as a personal virtue. But if most of us are exhausting ourselves on the hedonic treadmill– if the drive to accumulate is as pervasive as the studies show– then maybe greed is a wider, more systemic problem than we are inclined to think.

In his provocatively titled book, Life After Doom, Brian McLaren outlines the complex global crises that give rise to so much concern in our time, all of which have something to do with greed. Bear with me as I read:

[Excerpts from pp.23-6]

“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,” Jesus cautions. That is, beware of individual greed, yes, and collective greed, too; beware of the existing structures that reward self-serving behavior at the expense of the poor and the planet; beware of the popular logic that discourages you and everyone you know from living in more just and sustainable ways. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.”

But if Jesus has a warning to give, he also has a vision. McLaren again:

[Excerpts from pp.120-1]

I’ll admit that I have my own wincing reactions to Jesus’ admonition against “all kinds of greed.” How deeply convinced am I of the need to secure my own life through the accumulation of resources? How readily do I justify my own greed according to the prevailing wisdom? How seriously do I take the power of love? Friends, it’s a good thing God’s kingdom comes– God’s will is done on Earth as in heaven– in spite of my feeble will. Come what may, it’s only by God’s brimming love for us can that we can hope to become “rich toward God” and toward the world God so loves.

[1] “What would you need to earn to feel financially secure? A quarter of Americans say $150,000 or more,” Jeanne Sahadi, www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/business/financial-security-how-much-income-survey.

[2] Bruce Modahl, crossings.org/text-study/eighth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c-2025/.