AS LUKE TELLS the story, thousands of people had gathered to hear Jesus. Jesus began, however, by addressing his disciples instead, warning them of the persecution they would face and telling them not to fear. Then, as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer, a man in the crowd blurted out, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13, NIV). We’re not told what the situation was, or whether the man had a legitimate complaint. But Jesus, of course, refused to get involved and warned the crowd about greed instead, using a parable about a shortsighted fool who died before he could enjoy the wealth he had accumulated. “This is how it will be,” Jesus said, “with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (vs. 21).

I assume that the man who tried to get Jesus to intervene in his family squabble fell silent and was duly chastened, even if that didn’t end the matter. But with a crowd that size, I also imagine that he wasn’t the only one struggling over matters of inheritance. Sad to say, I’ve seen siblings fight and feud over money. You may have too. Even siblings who had little or nothing to do with their aging parents when they were alive suddenly show up to fight for what they think is their fair share of the estate after they die.

But the Jews of Jesus’ day didn’t necessarily think of inheritance the same way we do now. For example, my wife and I paid off our home years ago and therefore own it outright. What would happen to the house, though, if we were to die? We’ve already handled the matter by establishing a living trust, so our children won’t have to slog through the pain of probate. But my point is that we own the house, and have the right to decide what will be done with it.

That’s different from ancient Jewish traditions of inheritance. Land belonged to the family, not the individual. There were detailed rules about how the land then passed from one generation to the next, rules that favored sons over daughters and the eldest son over his younger sibs. The idea of inheritance was so important that people of the older generation would feel ashamed if there was nothing to pass on.

The concept of inheritance was important to the identity of God’s people in a more general sense as well. God promised Abraham both land and descendants, and Abraham always believed that God would do this, even though he didn’t live to see it (Heb 11:8-13). It would be much, much later that the people would conquer the land of Canaan, coming into their promised inheritance, with each tribe receiving its allotment under Joshua’s leadership (Josh 18:1-10). In that sense, inheritance is something given by God himself.

The idea of inheritance is developed further in the New Testament, in part through the writing of Paul. Believers don’t inherit the land, they inherit the kingdom, salvation, and more. Why? Because Jesus himself is God’s heir — as suggested, for example, by Jesus’ parable of the wicked tenant farmers in Mark 12 and Matthew 21. Through Christ, we are adopted into God’s family; as Paul puts it elsewhere, we become “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). And most broadly of all, the Bible teaches both that we are God’s inheritance (e.g., Deut 32:9) and he is ours (Ps 16:5).

All of this, I think, helps us have a fuller and richer sense of why Paul believes the Colossians have reason to rejoice.

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AS WE’VE SEEN, whatever the difficulties and temptations the Colossians were facing, Paul and Timothy prayed for them to know God’s will and thereby learn to live in a way that pleases him. They prayed that God would strengthen them to bear up under pressure, yet in a way accompanied by joy and thanksgiving. But for what were they supposed to be thankful? What was the reason for their joy?

As Paul put it, it’s because God the Father had “qualified [them] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). There’s that word again: inheritance. We might think of inheritance in terms of liquid and non-liquid assets, and that’s not wrong, as far as it goes. But for Paul and in the Scripture as a whole, the idea is far richer.

Moreover, for the Colossians to be “qualified” to participate in the inheritance that belongs to God’s people isn’t like qualifying for a loan, in which we get the thumbs up or thumbs down depending on whether we seem like people who can pay the money back. The Colossians haven’t been selected on the basis of any merit of their own; it’s only by faith and God’s grace that they’re adopted into the family to be heirs alongside Christ.

There’s no way to know what the Colossians had heard from Epaphras of the whole story of God’s relationship to his people dating all the way back to Abraham, Moses, and the Exodus. Again, Paul’s identification of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, suggests that they must have heard at least some of it. And I like to think that they knew the story well enough for Paul’s language of “inheritance” to resonate with them, to give them a reason to rejoice despite their struggles.

Paul has prayed for them to know God’s will, and in its broadest sense, this includes not just the present moment, but the whole history of God’s covenant relationship with his people. You’re part of the story now, he seems to say. You now have a share in the inheritance that God has promised to his people.

In other words, Welcome to the family. God is your adoptive Father. That’s your reason for joy and gratitude.

And if we know ourselves to be followers of Jesus, that’s our reason for joy and gratitude too.