The Holy Spirit and money (Luke 12:1-34)

A large crowd gathers around Jesus.  The people are clamoring over each other to get to Jesus.

Jesus first talks to the disciples.  He warns them about the yeast of the Pharisees, but also to not worry about those who can kill the body, but do no more harm.  Rather, acknowledge Jesus before men and Jesus will acknowledge you before the angels of God.  From another parable, we learned that the angels of God will sift the good harvest from the bad.  So, this is important.

Holy Spirit

Jesus also mentions that people who insult Jesus will be forgiven but those that insult the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  This is a strange statement to make.  My general understanding is that the Holy Spirit is a a necessary component of grace and forgiveness.  This reason is not because it is more important than Christ, but that one's attitude about it one's heart in view of Christ.  

For instance, lots of people think that Jesus is a "great" man.  Even Muslims acknowledge that Jesus was at the very least a prophet of God.  Many contemporary people in the Western world, including atheists, view Jesus as a great moral leader.  However, they deny of divinity of Christ and in short, cannot accept Christ.  In other words, they deny that the Holy Spirit was with Christ or that it can come to them.  It is this "blaspheming" the Holy Spirit that these verses refer to.  We can talk about Christ all we want.  Atheists and Muslims like non-Holy Spirit Christ and that is the difference.

Money
A man in the crowd says and possibly interrupts Jesus.  "Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

Jesus responds with a warning about greed and discusses a parable.

A rich who is already rich gets a great crop production.  He decides to build extra storehouses and barns to store this wealth in.  He then decides to take life easy and "eat, drink, and be merry".  God is angry with him and tells him that he will die that night and asks who will receive wealth.

The parable directly ties back to the question about inheritance.  One possibly wonders that maybe Jesus is describing the very situation that the man who asked the question had.  Perhaps his father was very wealthy, was self-centered, and store his wealth.  When he died, his children squabbled over it.  However, this is ll supposition as the text is silent about this.  At the very least, the parable would have reminded the questioner that the wealth he squabbles over came from a dead loved one.  

Note, this parable does not stand for that it is immoral to store up grain, have wealth, or be rich.  No, it does not.  Jesus explains the parable's meaning in verses 22-34, although only the disciples get the interpretation.  Jesus explains to his disciples that they should not worry about material possessions.  Do not even worry about what one will eat or drink.  God knows we need all these things, but if we seek the kingdom, they will all be added to us.  In this passage, Jesus refers to Solomon, who we all remember was a very rich man.