The condition was that he would have to be back at the spot from which he started by sundown. Early the next morning the neighbor set out, without eating any breakfast or greeting anyone.
His plan was to cover six square miles. When he finished the first six, he decided to make it nine, then twelve, and finally fifteen. That meant he would have to walk sixty miles before sundown.
By noon he had covered thirty miles. He did not stop for food or drink. His legs grew heavier and heavier. About two hundred yards from the finish line, he saw the sun going toward the horizon.
He had only a few minutes left. He gathered all his energies for that one last effort. He staggered across the line just in time. Then he reached for his heart and fell down in a heap - dead. All the land he got was a piece six feet by two for his grave. He died of greed.
In Luke 12:15 Jesus says to the crowd: "Avoid greed in all forms."