Riches
J D Rockefeller, at the time one of the worlds richest men, wrote 3 ways to get rich – 1) Go to work early, 2) Stay at work late and 3) Find oil… If we choose then we can probably do the first 2 of these, but the third is rather more problematic !
Not many of us get really rich in our lives. We hope to have enough to be comfortable and we generally settle for that, and from the gospel reading tonight we have the suggestion that actually that position may be far better for us. The rich young man approaches Jesus (Mark 10:17-31) and asks him what he can do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus runs through the commandments with him, and the young man says he’s kept them but then Jesus moves the goalposts slightly and turns to the question of the man’s wealth – ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you have and give money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me.’
And this was too much for the young man. On a very basic level we can think this is about money, about riches, but it’s far deeper than that as well, and to see that we need to think of Jesus before he said those things. We’re told that Jesus, ‘looking at him, loved him.’
In other words Jesus had compassion for this man. He wanted him to follow him, he wanted him to have all the incredible gifts that he was preparing for all those who followed him, but loving him he recognised that there was a barrier, and that barrier was the man’s wealth.
Following Jesus can never be half hearted - we may get it wrong at times, we may even forget what we’re doing at times but Jesus demands, and even more than that, Jesus deserves, our commitment.
One of the most misquoted Proverbs of all time is that ‘Money is the root of all evil’, whereas it becomes very different when it’s read fully – ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ Money can be a gift from God in the same way that a good voice, good sporting skills or anything else can be a gift from God, but what we do with it is the most important thing of all.
The young man had his money and he wanted to use it for himself, and there’s lots of people that would say he should be able to – it was his, maybe he’d earned it, maybe inherited it, we don’t really know, but it was his. All too often on the news recently people have interviewed about the various rescue plans for the economy – almost without exception the interviews played are with people who feel that their tax money should not be used to rescue bankers and traders who’ve happily earned their fortunes without sharing them in better times.
But there is a much wider picture, a wider picture that says that we all have to live together in the world, and a wider picture that sees us respond to Jesus’ command to love one another. Commitment to Jesus means giving up the rights of much that we have, and handing them to God for him to help us with.
There’s a story which was told by a Pastor in Haiti to illustrate to his congregation the need for total commitment to Christ. His parable: A man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted very badly to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn't afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: He would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became impossible to live in, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
The Haitian pastor's conclusion: "If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ's habitation."
The calling of a Christian is to be Christ-like, and we can only really do that by giving our lives to him to control. He may, or may not, give us money, but he will give us as our other readings today remind us, unimaginable wealth. The Book of Proverbs says, ‘Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold…’ (Proverbs 3), and then John writes in his first letter (Ch.3), ‘See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.’
In the week I did an assembly – it was a very basic story. Basically we thought about favourite things, things like Cardiff Blues, Chocolate or watching Neighbours on television, but then we had a story about 2 men, John and Steve, who were driving through the desert in lorries. John went ahead, and things were going fine until Steve hit a rock – fortunately he wasn’t hurt, but he got out to inspect the damage and realised that he could do nothing with the lorry.
Looking ahead he couldn’t see John who had driven into the distance, and Steve realised he would have to walk. He walked and walked, getting hotter and thirstier by the second. He even began to doubt that he would ever make it out of the desert. And then he noticed John, who had realised he was no longer behind him, and had driven back to check if he was ok.
John gave Steve water, and some very basic food – and in that moment Steve realised what was important in his life. It wasn’t rugby or chocolate or television – it was water and basic food, and a good friend.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to get rid of everything we have but he asks us to be prepared to strip away everything that may separate us from him and from his will for our lives, and it’s only by doing that we can really receive the incredible gifts promised to us, the unimaginable riches of Christ’s love, and the knowledge that we can be called ‘children of God.’ AMEN
Not many of us get really rich in our lives. We hope to have enough to be comfortable and we generally settle for that, and from the gospel reading tonight we have the suggestion that actually that position may be far better for us. The rich young man approaches Jesus (Mark 10:17-31) and asks him what he can do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus runs through the commandments with him, and the young man says he’s kept them but then Jesus moves the goalposts slightly and turns to the question of the man’s wealth – ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you have and give money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me.’
And this was too much for the young man. On a very basic level we can think this is about money, about riches, but it’s far deeper than that as well, and to see that we need to think of Jesus before he said those things. We’re told that Jesus, ‘looking at him, loved him.’
In other words Jesus had compassion for this man. He wanted him to follow him, he wanted him to have all the incredible gifts that he was preparing for all those who followed him, but loving him he recognised that there was a barrier, and that barrier was the man’s wealth.
Following Jesus can never be half hearted - we may get it wrong at times, we may even forget what we’re doing at times but Jesus demands, and even more than that, Jesus deserves, our commitment.
One of the most misquoted Proverbs of all time is that ‘Money is the root of all evil’, whereas it becomes very different when it’s read fully – ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ Money can be a gift from God in the same way that a good voice, good sporting skills or anything else can be a gift from God, but what we do with it is the most important thing of all.
The young man had his money and he wanted to use it for himself, and there’s lots of people that would say he should be able to – it was his, maybe he’d earned it, maybe inherited it, we don’t really know, but it was his. All too often on the news recently people have interviewed about the various rescue plans for the economy – almost without exception the interviews played are with people who feel that their tax money should not be used to rescue bankers and traders who’ve happily earned their fortunes without sharing them in better times.
But there is a much wider picture, a wider picture that says that we all have to live together in the world, and a wider picture that sees us respond to Jesus’ command to love one another. Commitment to Jesus means giving up the rights of much that we have, and handing them to God for him to help us with.
There’s a story which was told by a Pastor in Haiti to illustrate to his congregation the need for total commitment to Christ. His parable: A man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted very badly to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn't afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: He would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became impossible to live in, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
The Haitian pastor's conclusion: "If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ's habitation."
The calling of a Christian is to be Christ-like, and we can only really do that by giving our lives to him to control. He may, or may not, give us money, but he will give us as our other readings today remind us, unimaginable wealth. The Book of Proverbs says, ‘Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold…’ (Proverbs 3), and then John writes in his first letter (Ch.3), ‘See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.’
In the week I did an assembly – it was a very basic story. Basically we thought about favourite things, things like Cardiff Blues, Chocolate or watching Neighbours on television, but then we had a story about 2 men, John and Steve, who were driving through the desert in lorries. John went ahead, and things were going fine until Steve hit a rock – fortunately he wasn’t hurt, but he got out to inspect the damage and realised that he could do nothing with the lorry.
Looking ahead he couldn’t see John who had driven into the distance, and Steve realised he would have to walk. He walked and walked, getting hotter and thirstier by the second. He even began to doubt that he would ever make it out of the desert. And then he noticed John, who had realised he was no longer behind him, and had driven back to check if he was ok.
John gave Steve water, and some very basic food – and in that moment Steve realised what was important in his life. It wasn’t rugby or chocolate or television – it was water and basic food, and a good friend.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to get rid of everything we have but he asks us to be prepared to strip away everything that may separate us from him and from his will for our lives, and it’s only by doing that we can really receive the incredible gifts promised to us, the unimaginable riches of Christ’s love, and the knowledge that we can be called ‘children of God.’ AMEN
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