This week's readings are Exodus 20:1–4,7–9,12–20 and Matthew 21:33–46.  As we continue through the story of the Israelites making their way from slavery to freedom, this Sunday we meet them as they receive the 10 Commandments.  We also meet them as we celebrate Harvest in two of our churches, which may seem like an odd pairing, but starting to look at them from a Harvest angle, I've found that one in particular stands out.

'You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.'

It strikes me that covetousness sits at absolute odds to the spirit of Harvest, that is gratitude.  Coveting is about wishing we had something else; gratitude is about treasuring what we have.  Remembering to say thank you is what Harvest is all about - thank you to those who work for all that we eat and enjoy, and thank you to God who creates, sustains, and provides all things.

When my attention rested on the covetousness rule, it struck me that actually the warped desire for more, is often what drives us towards the other sins in this passage - murder, adultery, theft, false witness, elder abuse... all so often based on trying to get something  (or someone) else...

And the more spiritual ones too - idols, misuse of the name of God, keeping the sabbath - are so often rooted in trying to take for ourselves the glory, wonder, and majesty of God.  Coveting the things of heaven.

But covetousness and grasping, as we see in Jesus' parable from the gospel reading, never ends well.  It ends with pain, violence, and destruction.  Maybe we feel good for a moment, but always at the cost of another if it's come through grasping something that isn't ours.

In his letter to the Philippians St. Paul invites us to a different approach,

' Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,'

Imagine what that could be like, if we stopped to recognise the things we have, to truly treasure them and give thanks for them; and imagine if we then gave from those riches, without thought and without considering the cost, to those who would be blessed by them.

The extraordinary thing is that if we all did that, we'd all end up with far more than we needed, and no one would need to covet anything - just like a shared lunch in which everyone brings enough to feed half a dozen...  (hint, hint)

The even more extraordinary thing is that it's achievable, in our lives, if we take Paul's advice and recognise the mind of Christ Jesus within us; if we take seriously the union with him that he has won for us through his life, death, and resurrection - if we embrace, and live out its reality - we truly can begin to see the world as he does, love the world as he does, and give ourselves to the world as he does.

And the most extraordinary thing?  If we inhabit that space, we discover that Christ is not only our saviour, but our friend, and - key -  our brother; that with him we stand to inherit the treasures of heaven - the glory, wonder, majesty, peace, joy, love that transcends anything we can know on earth.  We don't need to grasp for them, they're already ours.