Jesus speaks quite a bit about the perils of money and wealth, but today this message is seldom heard. We seek wealth constantly, and in our society, success is often measured in dollars. So let’s dive into two key examples of what Jesus has to say about money and let’s also dive into what his warnings are truly trying to convey.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Matthew 6:24
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard is it 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.” Mark 10:17-25
Mark 10:17-25
Now that we have a basic concept of Jesus’ warnings about money, let’s switch gears a touch and look at a few studies done in regards to wealth and status.
- Two people living in different, generally wealthy countries, who bring home the same income, will experience life very differently depending on the income gap within their countries. Long story short, the more inequality, the less healthy, on average, a country’s people are.
- Shame, inferiority, and being disrespected are basic building blocks for crime and violence. Since status and material success are intertwined in today’s world, income inequality directly impacts people’s self-worth. The larger the income gap, therefore, the more common the feelings of shame, inferiority, and disrespect.
- A study conducted in 2010 found that higher class members of society were not as good at recognizing the emotions of others. This means that the lower class members of society tend to be more empathetic.
- According to studies focusing on empathy and compassion, the larger someone’s bank account, the less compassionate they become.
- In percentage terms, the relative poor are found to give more than twice as much as the relative rich to charity in percentage terms. The same study says that lower class people are more generous, charitable, helpful, and trusting compared to those in the upper class.
- Upper class individuals often give their money to “classy” interests, such as to elite schools, symphonies, museums, etc. and often ignore social welfare programs such as poverty and homelessness. In 2012, not a single of the 50 largest individual charitable donations went to a cause that primarily serves the poor.
Going back to Jesus, we can see that he was onto something big here. We can see that statistically the richer people become, the more devoted to their money they often become. Their empathy and compassion decrease and their primary interests become narrower and narrower, often focused inward as opposed to outward. This goes against what Jesus tells us are the most important commandments. The first commandment he claims is the most important is to “Love the Lord your God with all heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Then he goes on to say, “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39) Loving your neighbor as yourself implies equality. If you love someone as you love yourself, you would naturally want them to be your equal. It is impossible to love your neighbor as yourself but also unashamedly sit back and watch this neighbor drown in poverty and hunger, knowing you have the means to help. If we have the means to help, we are called to do just that. Being rich essentially means that we are holding onto extra, knowing full well that others have nothing. As we saw in the statistics above, the larger someone’s bank account, on average, the less compassionate they become. Jesus was right when he said you can’t serve two masters. You cannot serve money and God. The more money you have, the fewer God-like qualities you tend to have. The less money you have, the more God-like qualities you tend to have. It seems we truly must choose our loyalties.
Jesus doesn’t mince words here either. He doesn’t say that it’s okay to act this way. In fact, he’s very clear about the fact that those who can’t give up some of their material goods for the sake of others cannot reach the kingdom of heaven. He does not lay out one single exception. I don’t understand this to mean that people aren’t allowed to live comfortably. It seems that the most important thing is simply to not live too comfortably at the expense of others. In the story we read from Mark, Jesus tries to tell the rich man to “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” It is almost infuriating to watch him walk away and refuse to follow the advice of God himself, and to watch him choose his stuff over the treasures of heaven. It makes no sense. Jesus specifically told him what to do in order to have what he wants, it was laid out plain and simple, and he didn’t listen. But we often don’t either. It’s also laid out for us right there in the Bible. Jesus is talking to this unnamed rich man, sure, but he is also speaking to us. The Bible was written for every generation. He is warning each and every one of us about the perils of excess wealth and he is telling each and every one of us that the poor are important. The poor matter and they are not to be ignored. We read the words, marvel at their beauty, and often believe they somehow don’t apply to us. The harsh reality is that they do.
I’d also like to point out an interesting little take away from Matthew 19:30. Jesus says “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” As with so many things, this can have many meanings, but in this context, we can see something concrete. When Jesus says that “many who are first will be last,” we can begin to grasp this concept in terms of how the people at the top of society behave. Jesus places such a great emphasis on equality, charity, and compassion, and we see that people who are the wealthiest, who are the first in this material world we inhabit, often lack these traits. “…and many who are last will be first.” We also see that the people at the bottom of our social ladders, also known as the lower class, statistically tend to more easily embody these qualities. During the Great Recession, for example, people making over $200,000 reduced their charitable donations by 5%, and those making under $25,000 increased their donations by 17%. The people at the bottom often tend to follow Jesus’ pleas to give and help contribute to a more just society. The people at the bottom, who are more likely to behave with generosity and empathy, are the first in line for the kingdom of heaven. They may be last by human standards, but they are first by Christ’s standards. This is absolutely not to say that the rich should be hated for their comparative lack of empathy and giving, for it is a habit that is built into a materialistic culture. Jesus did not preach hate, so there is no room for that here. However, if enough people get on board to follow the pleas of Jesus, the ensuing equality can help our chaotic and often violent society breathe a delightful sigh of relief.
Source:
The New Human Rights Movement: Peter Joseph
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