Love and Money

The story of Jesus and the rich man is an uncomfortable one for many of us. We have worked very hard to take the sting out of this text. We reassure ourselves it is about someone else, because almost always there is someone with more money and possessions that we have. Today let’s settle into our discomfort and take a look at this text.

This is, for many of us, a couple of familiar passages. As always, we will be rewarded if we read with open hearts, minds, eyes, and ears.

As he [Jesus] was setting out on a 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 murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. 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!” 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 not for God; for God all things are possible. Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age– houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions–and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Mark 10:17-31 NRSV

A man comes and asks Jesus a question, what must he do to inherit eternal life? When people in the Bible talk about “eternal life” they are not talking about going to heaven after they die. “Eternal life” is a phrase that meant life in the age to come or life in the coming kingdom/ age of God. The man is asking how he participates in God’s kingdom now. Jesus responds by reminding him of the commandments. But Jesus only names 6 of the 10 commandments.¹ What is missing, and why? Jesus the teacher guides this conversation in such a way that the man and those overhearing this conversation will notice the ones Jesus did not mention. When Jesus asks the man to sell what he owns and give the money to the poor, he reveals that this man has something that he values more than God. He has idols, his money and his possessions.

Biblical scholars will point out that Jesus did not ask every follower to sell what they own. While the apostles left jobs, homes and families, it doesn’t appear they sold everything or that they never saw their families again. In fact, Jesus told some people who literally wanted to follow him to stay home. So what is happening in this story?

Jesus’ conversation with the rich man reveals, dramatically, that the man had other gods. That he had made wealth and possessions into an idol. He may not have realized this until Jesus asked him to give them up. Then his attachment to money and possessions was exposed. Sadly, he wanted to keep what he had more than he wanted life in the kingdom of God.

This is, at best, an uncomfortable text for most of us in the US. What am I, what are you willing to give up? What would we resist giving up? And then things get worse. Jesus says, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples are “perplexed” and then Jesus says, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” If it’s repeated, it must be important! And then Jesus says “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.”

People have gone to great lengths to tame the statement, “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” statement. Often people will say that the eye of a needle doesn’t refer to an actual needle but to a small gate. And maybe a camel could squeeze through on its knees. Or maybe a goods laden camel couldn’t, but certainly people with some possessions could pass through. In any event there is a way through the gate. The implication is that we won’t have to give up our possessions. We can sneak some things through. But there is no “eye of the needle” gate ². This is (another) attempt to tame another one of Jesus’ hyperbolic statements³. Jesus’ statement is what it is. Our attachment and love of money and possessions will not get us into the kingdom of God.

The rich man is shocked and the disciples are perplexed by what Jesus says. This is not surprising. Then as now, people thought that having money and possessions were signs of God’s favor. People tended then, and still do tend, to assume that wealth is somehow connected to virtue. Think about how our society talks about the poor. They are characterized as people who are lazy. Or as people who make bad choices or ignore good advice. They are people who need to get a better job. or stop spending their money on “silly” things. Conversely the wealthy worked hard, got a good job, made good choices, and never spend frivolously (until they can afford to do so). We often use the language of blessing when talking about material goods. We say, “God blessed me with a new car”. “God blessed them with a job”. And of course there is the prosperity gospel that explicitly links faith with wealth.⁴

All this talk about selling what I have makes me very uncomfortable. I wish Jesus had given some clearer instructions. For example, exactly how much wealth is too much wealth? Can we be over the official government poverty level? And if so, how much over? Can I have a vacation home? How nice a car can I have? How nice a house? How many shoes can I have? How many concerts can I go to? I would like some concrete parameters. I would like some clarity about how much money is too much money. But Jesus doesn’t give us any clear rules. Sometimes the sayings of Jesus are not about making us feel better but are about making us uncomfortable. This story makes me uncomfortable. And it should make us think about and evaluate the status quo. Jesus doesn’t give us hard and fast rules but he calls us to the thorny task of discernment and wisdom.

The disciples having assumed that wealth equals God’s favor and that God’s favor equals salvation ask, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus replies, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” Our typical reading of this is that salvation is a gift from God and not something we earn for ourselves. And this is true. But is this what they are talking about here? Does this verse mean we can keep our money and possessions? Does this mean that God will save us in spite of our wealth?

Or is Jesus saying that on our own we will struggle to give up wealth and possessions. For us to lose our attachment to money and possessions is impossible apart from God. To stop placing our security and trust in wealth is impossible apart from God. We are afraid to fully participate in the kingdom of God here and now because it is a radical reconfiguration of life as we know it. Giving up what we have as individuals and as society is frightening. What if I give up my “stuff” and no one else does? What if I give up my privilege and security and no one else does? Then where will I be? What will happen to me?

What if what Jesus is saying is not “Everything will be fine no matter what” but rather, with God’s help you can do the impossible task of freeing yourself from the love of money and the false security of possessions?

Then Jesus reframes things.We will not be left alone and bereft. People who have left house or family or fields will receive houses, family and fields (and persecutions).⁵ And also things will be different.

Throughout the gospel the invitation from Jesus is to enter into a new way of life marked by hospitality and care. It is a lifting up for all people, rather than a few raised at the expense of others. Jesus isn’t asking us to be homeless, or hungry but he is asking us to care about others as much as we care about ourselves. He asks us to stop seeing the world in terms of us and them but rather to see everyone as siblings, as family. Jesus asks us to stop seeing material goods as mine and not yours but as ours.

This is all hard. Really hard. Impossibly hard. And yet there is a word of hope here. While talking with the rich man, Jesus looks with love at this man who wants to live as part of the kingdom of God and who isn’t yet able to. Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus speaks to him out of love and with love. And then he lets the man walk away. Jesus doesn’t berate him. Jesus doesn’t shame him. Jesus doesn’t tell him that he’s lost his chance. He doesn’t tell him to never come back. Jesus loves him and he lets the man experience his grief and walk away. Jesus gives this man space and time to reassess. He gives him time to grieve over what he is asked to give up and, we hope, to wonder about what he might gain if he follows Jesus’ request.

What God makes possible is the possibility of change. What God makes possible is hope that we can put away the idols of wealth and security and possessions and enter more fully into life in the kingdom of God.

Jesus looks at the man and loves him even though he is not capable of doing what Jesus calls him to do. Jesus looks at you and at me and loves us in the same way. Even when we fail, Jesus loves us.

1. To review: Exodus 20
   1 Then God spoke all these words,
   ² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³ you shall have no other gods before me.
   ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me ⁶ but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
   ⁷ “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
   ⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
   ¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
   ¹³ “You shall not murder.
   ¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.
   ¹⁵ “You shall not steal.
   ¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
   ¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
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2. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-testament-studies/article/origin-of-the-needles-eye-gate-myth-theophylact-or-anselm/51F6B1FD504C36C42D6201F6D87F83C3 ↩︎
3. Jesus’ statements about cutting off hands or feet or plucking out eyes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5) are other examples. ↩︎
4. https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/prosperity-gospel#:~:text=The%20Prosperity%20Gospel%20(PG)%20is,through%20devotion%20and%20positive%20confession. ↩︎
5. This reminds me of the story in Mark 3 when Jesus reframes family relationships, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those who sat with him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”Mark 3:33-35 ↩︎