“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” Luke 12:15

The story is told of a knight out for adventure. Coming to a village, he heard of a terrible ogre in a pit. He decided to do battle with the ogre, despite the warning from the villagers that several courageous men had climbed into the pit and never returned.

When the knight arrived at the pit, he saw a narrow dark hole extending into the bowels of the earth. After trying to squeeze through the opening he was forced to strip himself of his armour and clothing before he was able to wriggle down the rope he had secured. All he had was a large dagger tied around his neck.

Hand over hand he lowered himself until he felt his feet touch the cool smooth floor of a chamber. Immobile, he waited several minutes until his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. As his eyes adjusted, he focussed on a large mound which he realised were the bones of his predecessors.

Without warning he was surprised by the inhabitant of the pit. Surprised because the ogre was only as tall as a rabbit! Nonetheless he was a reasonably fierce, albeit little ogre, as he waved his arms and screeched, trying to appear as fierce as possible. The knight was undeterred. Drawing his dagger, he advanced on the ogre who quickly fled, disappearing down a small tunnel. The knight followed, and as he did he came across a second mound containing glittering balls of gold and diamonds as big as plums.

The ogre now forgotten, the knight wondered how he might get some of the treasure out of the pit. Without clothes he had no pockets. He needed his hands and feet to scale the rope. What was he to do? Then an idea came to him. He would take a diamond and carry it in his mouth. He reasoned that one large diamond would be more than enough to set him up for life and he could always come back for more.

Taking a suitable diamond in his mouth he began the arduous climb out of the pit. Higher and higher he climbed until the heavy exertion began to reduce him to breathlessness. Desperately needing air he opened his mouth to take a large gulp of air but as he did the diamond slipped and stuck in his throat. Choking on his treasure he soon lost consciousness and fell to his death on the mound of bones below. [Source: Anonymous].

You see the terrible ogre in the pit wasn’t the little troll. The ogre in the pit was greed. It was the glitter of this world that choked him to death.

Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” Luke 12:15.