Proper 23B, October 14, 2018
Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15
Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31
St Thomas the Apostle
The Rev’d Leo Loyola
I last spoke of the Bible’s heavy bias towards the poor and disenfranchised. So what does it then say of the rich and wealthy? If Scripture favors the poor, does it, thus, frown upon them?
If so, then, a lot of people in this Diocese, this state, and this country will be in for a surprise upon Jesus’s return.
For the most part, if you happen to fall into this category you’re generally safe.
Any real critique we do see against the rich are specifically against those who put their wealth before God. Any curse made is generally against those who wield unfair power and advantage over the poor and the powerless.
For example, Mark 4 tells us that “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful”
Matthew 6, for example, tells us that “you cannot serve God and money”, for “no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other”.
1 Timothy 6 calls great wealth the “root of all kinds of evil”, saying that “it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs”
And there is this not-so-subtle gem from James 5:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.
So what are we to make of the story of the rich man from our Gospel?
By most standards, the rich man is no despot or tyrant. He is a good and fair man.
He had lived his whole life diligently following the commandments passed down by Moses, just as any God-loving person would do.
He never once lied or stole from anyone. He’s never physically hurt a soul.
He never committed adultery. He’s never lusted after anyone or anything.
He’s honored his God. He’s honored his parents. He’s honored the Sabbath, and kept it holy.
Outside of his great fortune, he is just like us. Jesus himself looked with love at this man as he pleaded his case.
And yet the only thing kept him from achieving his hope for eternal life. When asked, he was simply unable to let go of his great wealth.
When Jesus says to his people:
“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.”
He doesn’t say this, as if this was divine retribution. No, he considers it a tragedy.
Now while the story of the rich man fits nicely with Scripture’s moral stance against those who abuse their wealth and power, this story really isn’t a morality play.
In truth, the fact that the man was rich in the first place is completely irrelevant.
And we know this by turning Jesus’s response to ourselves…
Let’s say that you led a good and moral life. You are aware of your own mortality, and you seek out Jesus for the key to eternal life in God’s kingdom.
Now if Jesus were to be standing before you now and say that you must first sell off all your belongings and give it to the poor, would you do it?
Would you jump right now into your car and call your banker, your broker, your real estate agent to sell, sell, sell everything you own right now?
Would you do it right now without hesitation?
Well, I don’t see you running for the door. So, I guess, like the rich man, the door to the kingdom of heaven must be shut to you, too.
But that is not the message the story of the rich man is trying to convey.
In truth, what the Gospel story reveals to us that if a man with all the wealth and intelligence and power and influence in all the world can’t achieve eternal life by his own effort and will, what chance do we with far less means have?
And if we can’t, then how can anyone with no means expect to achieve it on their own?
And it’s not because we aren’t good people. It’s simply plain hubris to think we can achieve anything like eternal life on our own.
Jesus wasn’t just referring to the rich man, when he says to everyone “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!”
He was talking to all of us.
But thankfully it is not up to us but completely upon Christ our Lord.
It is for the very reason that, though, we can’t be reconciled with God by our own efforts, though we can’t earn our way into heaven, though we might consider ourselves unworthy to even step inside a church, our salvation, our immortal soul, is not dependent upon us.
For this, rich or poor, sacred or sacrilegious, our hope is grounded upon our risen savior.
Amen.
