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The Problem of Great Wealth

Matthew 19:23

Living in an affluent culture prompts us to equate wealth with happiness, power, and ease.  And much as the poor console themselves with the ideas that the rich are not happier than them, that power is a burden and the life of ease is boring and unfulfilling, given the opportunity, they’d choose wealth over poverty, because, in fact, wealth is better than want.  

In Matthew 19:23 Jesus shook His disciples’ values regarding wealth when He said, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”  In our rush to accumulate wealth, we forget that we put a stumbling block in our spiritual path.

In the context of this statement, it is clear that the person who prompted it was a devout religious man.  In fact, He approached Jesus because, though he was careful to live an exemplary life regarding his religious observance, he sensed it wasn’t enough.  Jesus, knowing that God was an “add-on” in his life, counselled him to give up his wealth by sharing it with the poor.

The man’s response?  He went away sorrowfully.  He wasn’t prepared to do the one thing that was necessary to gain that which he claimed he wanted - to put God ahead of his wealth.  Jesus’ response to his question revealed the man’s heart to himself in a way that produced grief.  He learned that while he had been a religious man, a devout man, a “good” man, he had too much tied up in his wealth to give it up, even for eternal life.  

While he valued eternal life, he valued his wealth more.  It gave him security, influence, status, a life of ease, an identity which elevated his self-esteem and his social capital.  He was looked up to as one who had made it.  Yet Jesus looked at him as one who fell short.

This distresses us.  After all, even if we can’t identify with this young man because we are not wealthy, all of us have something which shapes our life by providing a strong sense of self which is respected by others.  It might be our intellect, physical strength or beauty, talent, pedigree, or industriousness.  On the other hand, it could be how “bad” we are, how hard we party, how we beat the system, or how we get away with living outside the rules.  

In this declaration of truth, Jesus reminds us that God will not be an “add-on” in our lives.  He is not an “extra” who helps us in the low spots and demands nothing of us.  For God to be central in our lives, we need to be prepared to sacrifice anything which takes priority over Him.  Some of us will embrace this, others will walk away sorrowfully, content with what we have, not willing to give it up, not even for eternal life.