April 9, 2000
"It's The
Money, Fool!"
(see Proverbs
3:l0-l8 and Mark l0:17-31)
Jesus seems annoyed with the
rich young guy who approaches him with such civility.
First off, Jesus was tired from a full day's teaching.
And Jesus may not have cared for the intruder falling to
his knees.
I remember how uncomfortable I
was when in India a servant in my friend's employee fell
to his knees when introduced to me. Jewish society of
the first century unlike Indian society, was
anti-aristocratic and gestures like kneeling before
another human would have smacked of Roman and genteel
society.
Also maybe Jesus did not like
being called by the honorific "Good Rabbi." He certainly
reacted sharply: why do you call me "Good." Jesus may
have thought such honorary titles were overdone, as in
fact they are.
And, finally, Jesus may have
sensed some presumption behind the seeming modesty of the
young man. The presumption that he could ask the most
fundamental question about eternal life and assume he was
entitled to an immediate reply. It's very difficult for
persons who have the highest connections not to have some
presumption even when they are innately
modest.
A recent news story reported
that Chelsea Clinton has been offered a role in a film to
be shot in London during her summer break from
university. Her Stanford roommate told the reporter that
Chelsea was thrilled with the chance to strike out and do
something on her own! Chelsea Clinton seems like a nice
enough young woman but the idea of striking out on her
own, when the only reason a film script would be
delivered to her dorm room in the first place, is because
she's the daughter of the President of the United States,
shows how difficult it is for those born to wealth and
fame not to assume entitlement.
One good thing about this young
rich fellow is that he's not a Pharisee in the negative
sense of that word. Because when Jesus starts to talk
about the commandments instead of answering his question
about eternal life the young man states he's been doing
all that since his youth. I read him as sincere, not
presumptuous here, and Jesus must also have sensed his
sincerity because the text tells us that then "he loved
him."
With this introduction, David
Blaisdell will give us the fuller story:
"As he was setting out on his
journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked
him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No
one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:
'You shall not bear false witness, You shall not defraud;
Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher,
I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at
him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell
what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When
he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for
he had many possessions.
Then Jesus looked around and
said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who
have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the
disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said
to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the
kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter
the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said
to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at
them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but for
God; for God all things are possible."
********
The rich young man endears
himself once Jesus discerns that he senses that the
fullness of this life and of the life which is to come
turns on being right with God. The fellow seemingly has
it all but he is not content. He knows in his heart of
heart that a satisfactory relationship with God is
evading him. And he has had the good sense to come to one
who can help him.
And yet? And yet receiving the
answer from Jesus, he is shocked and saddened and goes
away. In addition to being young, rich, pious, and
sincere, was this fellow also a fool? A wise and sad
fool!
Well, are you a fool when you
know you're in trouble, seek an answer from an authority,
get it, understand it, and yet reject it? Yes, I think he
was a fool. He was smart and sensitive but you can be
smart and sensitive and still end up a fool. This story
really is about money and how foolish we are with money.
Now at this point we should try
to be at least as self-honest as this rich young fool. He
knew he had great wealth whereas so many modern people
who have great wealth both in absolute terms and in
relative terms to the majority of truly poor on this
earth, fool themselves by denying it. It's becomes quite
natural to play games with our wealth when we live in a
global economy which says we can never have enough of the
good things; and since the good and desirable things
keep spiraling upward in cost and in variety we can all
be sucked into thinking we don't have quite enough. We
will never have enough to be comfortable and content, so
how can we possibly call ourselves rich!
And then our age is wholly
self-indulgent, brainwashing us all into the notion that
our comfort is the supreme goal and virtue of our
existence. It's so easy to think, "Well yes, we're
relatively comfortable, but we can always be a bit more
comfortable. Thus, we can always have a bit more
money."
The slopes of capitalism are
greased with greed and avarice and those slopes lead to
social and personal disaster. We were all shocked to read
of the brutal murder of the four members of the the
German family of four in their affluent and presumed
secure villa in Nanjing by four poor Chinese farmers
desperately seeking wealth in the home of the expatriate
rich, and botching the burglary horrible.
In the last few years three of
the richest men in Hong Kong have been kidnapped with
huge ransoms paid and one of them murdered
nonetheless.
Just as shocking in another way
is to learn that 300,000 children in Hong Kong receive
less than $4.00 daily from government welfare to cover
their daily expenses of transport and school lunches and
pocket expenses.
President Clinton noted at a
White House conference on the inequities of the global
economy that there are more telephones in use by
Manhattan's one million residents than by all of Africa's
600 million
Even with already sufficient and
real wealth, we wealth people and societies continue to
focus our energies through jealousy and covetouness
about the wealth of others instead of doing anything
about the poverty of the many.
Christians are told again and
again that the poor are blessed. We turn that teaching of
Jesus on its head by remaining indifferent to the poor in
their presumed blessed poverty, while hurling judgement
and condemnation upon the rich. There's any number of
Christians who know how to spend the money of
others!
And who take pious comfort in
condemning the rich as lost to God.
Such a sweeping judgement is a
misreading of the Bible which tells us that God is a
providential God who gives all good things to his
children. God is the lender of money to us all. Some get
loaned more, some less. But does it seem likely that God
would condemn that which he chooses to give, wealth, and
those to whom he chooses to give it, the rich!
This narrow and overly pious
condemnation of wealth is also an erroneous spin on
today's Gospel text in which Jesus no where says that
God's mercy is denied the rich because they are rich.
Rather he states that it's hard to be rich and right with
God but that with God all things are possible and
entrance into the Kingdom on earth and into heaven is not
closed to anyone because of the size of their current
account.
Rather, Jesus is stating, quite
realistically, that it's difficult for the rich to
abandon their self-absorption and overcome their
immaturity to arrive at an insightful understanding of
who they are in God's eyes.
Part of our confused
condemnation of wealth as such comes from not quite
understanding the parabolic reference which Jesus makes
when to dramatize the burdens of wealth he reached for an
exaggerated metaphor, the camel passing through the eye.
The story stops with "eye of the needle" but Jesus'
listeners would have understand a double meaning to the
parable.
As well as the eye of the
needle, the eye of this story referred to a small side
door built into city gates. You can still see these tiny
doors, called the eye to the great door, in each of the
great gates around the ancient cities of Jerusalem and
Damascus and Aleppo and elsewhere.
The small gate or "eye" was used
when the main gate was closed. Now the camel is a rather
large beast of burden which can carry a big load of goods
high on its back. Fully loaded the camel could trot
through the large, main gates of Jerusalem. But if the
great gates were closed, the only entrance into the city,
say after hours, was through the small gate or the "eye".
People and beasts alike would need to bend down to enter
the eye gate, and camels would, of course, have to be
totally unburdened of their load.
So unburdened, and walking on
its knees and contrary to its arrogant nature, the camel
could enter the city through the eye of the gate. And so
I believe that we may expect to find quite a few of the
rich in heaven, who have been able to unburden
themselves. However, the rich will be in heaven, just
like anyone else, not by virtue of their wealth. It is
our service to God which determines the rank and
placement of believers in heaven.
**********
Now how typical is the rich
young guy of the first century to modern people. As we
know we are all getting richer every day. There are well
over a million millionaires in the U.S. alone. There is a
truly impressive number of folks who now have more money
than they know what to do with. Bill Gates, the richest
person in the world, last week lost a cool US twelve
billion dollars in one day of down trading in his
company's stock with hardly a blink of his steely
eyes.
However, no matter how rich you
are, you can only enjoy so many homes, cars, private
planes, and chock up so much on your open ended expense
account unless like Prince Jeffry you are eccentic in
your spending habits and can't make do on the 2.7
million dollars which he ran through daily over the last
ten years.
The really rich know that their
wealth is both a symbol of the good life they can enjoy
and of something more - prestige, power, influence which,
of course, are part of the good life for the Microsoft
CEO and many others. But again and again we ask: Are
they truly happy? Are the multimillionaires who have more
money than they know what to do with deep down
happy?
My answer is: "You can bet your
last dollar, they sure are!"
What could be nicer than never
having to worry about money again. Of course the rich
are happy, or else they are fools.
And yet wealth does not equate
with complete happiness; one's personal comfort does not
mean the same as contentment. James Riady, deputy
chairman of the Lippo Group, has announced he plans soon
to quit the family business to go back to school or enter
a Christian ministry.
In an interview from Singapore
(you can read the entire interview on our prayer wall
towards Easter) he reports a "growing inner emptiness
during his years of financial success and the stress and
sleepless night that came with running a conglomerate of
38 firms. …It accumulated until l990 when I just
broke down…I was plagued by the ghost that always is
disturbing you, whispering to you that you're not going
to make it. I went to my room by myself and started
crying out to God. All of a sudden something came upon me
in my dreams. God allowed me to reflect on my
life."
It seems that having wealth
increases the cares of this world to an almost unbearable
weight. Wealth requires management of it and the rich
turn out on average to be just as gullible in their money
matters as the not so rich. You may have read of the
arrest in Los Angeles of Dana Giachetto who has bilked
millions from Hollywood stars like Leonardo Di Caprio,
Matt Damon and Courtney Cox. My guess is that these
wealthy actors, having been duped, will now be even more
suspicious of others and discontented regarding their
assets.
James Riady's personal
experience, and that of the rich young guy in Mark l0,
illustrate those who no matter where they may turn for
counsel and protection, are still confronted with issues
of their ultimate values, their genuine contentment, or
what today's text calls "eternal life."
The answer Jesus gives comes as
a shock to his questioner, who leaves him abruptly. It
equally shocked Jesus' followers who assumed that the
rich would have it made in heaven as on earth. But Jesus'
counsel is anticipated two chapters earlier in Mark 8 at
verse 34: IF ANY MAN WOULD COME AFTER ME LET HIM DENY
HIMSELF AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND FOLLOW ME."
Wasn't Jesus wise and realistic
about the shallowness which overtakes anyone who lives
only to himself and finds contentment merely in guarding
his assets?
Wealth, if grasped and clung to,
is a burden leading to unhappiness and disaster; wisdom
teaches the need for perspective regarding our personal
and collective wealth. Jesus discerned that the rich
fellow, though modest and polite in manner, and good and
righteous in moral conduct, clung to his riches and
wanted to define eternal life in a way which would be
wholly compatible with keeping his wealth safely in his
own hands. Don't we all!
For him taking up the cross of
discipleship would have meant divesting himself of his
one and consuming idolatry &endash; his wealth. Each
man and woman has his and her own idol and it is often,
and increasingly so, our wealth. We are enthralled with
the secular notion that our worth is contained in our
wealth.
We can only be shocked, as were
his first disciples, by Jesus' conviction that nothing
is gained by someone who wants to own the whole world and
loses his soul in that mad process. A related saying
opens wisdom to us: He who loses money, loses some
thing; he who loses a friend, loses much more; he who
loses faith, loses all. But we stand it on its head in
our practice of sacrificing friends, and even family and
even faith, if we can but keep our wealth.
We need to look again at our
confusion about comfort and contentment.
This story may clarify this
confusion: A rich businessman vacationing at a small,
coastal village in Indonesia when a small boat with just
one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several
large yellow fin tuna. The tourist complimented the local
man on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took
to catch them. The Indonesian replied only a little
while.
The businessman then asked why
didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The
fisherman said he had enough to support his family's
immediate needs.
The stranger then asked, "but
what do you do with the rest of your time?" The local
said, "I sleep late; fish a little; play with my
children; take an afternoon nap with my wife; stroll into
the village each evening where I sip rice wine and play
cards with my friends. I have a full and busy life,
sir."
The visitor scoffed: "I am a
Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more
time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat;
with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy
several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of
fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a
middleman you would sell directly to the processor,
eventually opening your own cannery. You would control
the product, processing and distribution. You would need
to leave this small fishing village and move to Hong Kong
and maybe eventually to Tokyo or NYC.
The fisherman replied, "But,
sir, how long would all that take?"
The visitor replied, "fifteen to
20 years."
"But what then, sir?"
The businessman laughed and said
that's the best part. "When the time is right, you would
announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public
and become very rich and you would make
millions."
"Millions, sir? Then
what?"
The visitor said , "Well, that's
obvious because then you would retire. Move to small,
lovely fishing village, where you could sleep late, fish
a little, play with your grandchildren, take a nap with
your wife every afternoon, stroll to the village in the
evenings, sip wine and play cards with your
friends."
Getting a business plan is not
quite the same as getting a life.
Comfort is not identical to
contentment.
***********
Those who make the search for
ever more riches their central goal will grow suspicious
of others and their motives toward them, become estranged
from the poor and ever more remote in compassion toward
them, and be inclined toward self-centeredness rather
than self-awareness and reverence for God. When wealth is
our god, we will come to regard our current account and
our savings as our earnings rather than our blessings
from God.
It's for good reason that the
letter to the Hebrews encourages Christians to keep our
"lives free from the love of money and be content with
what we have. (Hebrew l3:5)
Christian stewardship is
radically at odds with capitalist economics. Stewardship
is our way or organizing our lives so that they show how
thankful we are for what we have received; it is not
manipulating God, as if he were the economy, in order to
get more.
In asking the rich fellow to
take up his cross and follow him, Jesus was calling him
to be more than a good steward of his wealth…he
challenged him to be himself a good offering to God. We
are created to offer our whole lives to God. We are, as
Paul says, the first fruits of God's Spirit and as first
fruits we give ourselves and not from coerced duty but
as a thanksgiving blessing to God.
And Paul says: "You will be
enriched in every way for your generosity, which will
produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering
of this ministry (of stewardship) not only supplies the
needs of the saints but also overflows with many
thanksgivings to God." (2 Cor 9:ll-l2)
In our affluent age it is not
very hard to guarantee our comfort and our contentment so
long as we rest in the minimal expectations of possessing
a fat bank account and a retirement which will allow us
to vegetate near a golf course in a warm climate. But
that's not Christian discipleship which liberates us so
we can pour out ourselves in the love and service of
others. We find our lives in giving our lives
away.
Christian stewardship is
subsumed under Christian discipleship and following Jesus
is a pro-active life in which we take pleasure not only
in giving away our wealth but in giving away our lives.
And it is in the giving away in service toward others,
love of others, and stewardship of our possessions, that
we find full life and receive the answer about eternal
life which Jesus offered to the rich young guy.
We can end of being fools about
our money; or we can begin to be followers of Jesus and
the gracious and living God.
Pastor Gene
Preston
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