18 A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 19Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 20You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother.” ’ 21He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’ 22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money* to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 23But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. 24Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, 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.’
26 Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 27He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’
Traditional interpretations have taken this passage in a few directions:
1) You really can't be rich and follow Jesus/enter the kingdom of God. Really...sell (most of) what you own. Right now. Go. This interpretation gets trickier when even many among the poor in the US realize how much wealth they have in relation to the rest of the world. Working for more than a dollar a day? You might want to join the sell-off now.
2) Don't worry about anything but verses 26 and 27, about how it's impossible to save yourself (by selling all you possess). God will save you because it's only possible for God to save anyone, including the wealthy. Don't worry if you're reading this passage while sipping a $200 bottle of wine on an ivory couch on your 80' yacht. Don't worry if you steal from the poor, step over them at your gates, build a life resembling Solomon. God's still got your back!
3) What do the words "wealthy" and "poor" really mean? They are relative, abstract terms. Just as the poor in America still make more than many middle-class workers in other country, yet the poor in this country still go hungry, can't get the medical care they need, etc- clearly "rich" and "poor" are relative terms. Is it a self-label? You're only rich if you think you are rich? And the same with poor? So, you can still enjoy the wine, couch, yacht if you look at your wealthier neighbors and realize how poor you are in relation to them? Maybe it's confirming that I really shouldn't pay any attention to the poor, lest I learn how rich I truly am.
4) Really, "wealth" is a spiritual word. We're all wealthy in something- good health, strong education, loyal friends, tons of children/grandchildren, diversity of skills. Abundance comes in so many shapes. No one is really lacking in some kind of wealth or abundance. Even food on our table is a wealth, an abundance. This passage isn't so much about eternal life or following Jesus as much as it is about learning to thank God for your blessings. The only person who fails to do that is someone who says what they have isn't enough. Lots of money but poor health, please don't bother God with that! Lots of children but no money? Count your blessings that you aren't alone, at least!
5) The kingdom of God is already here (as well as not yet here), and it's not so much about the hereafter as it is about how the wealthy will never choose, on their own, to enter the kingdom of God here in this place because they view themselves as self-sufficient and the kingdom of God is more about inter-dependence. Besides, the kingdom of God has been characterized as sitting together at a big dinner table, or engaged in a massive circle-dance, and no wealthy person would want to sit next to someone who worked for them, or cleaned their dishes, in the previous life. No wealthy person would want to hold hands and dance with a poor person in the ever-expanding perichoresis of the triune God into all of creation. So it's not God excluding some; it's Jesus merely telling it how it is- that other people make this decision for themselves. They'd rather be alone, separated out, "in hell" (as eternal separation from God, which also fully means eternal separation from each other), than hang out with people who are "beneath" them.
There are countless other interpretations, but these are some of the more common ones I've heard preached. Perhaps you have heard other interpretations. On the megachurch, mega-voice side, I immediately think of David Platt, who addresses the money issue, and Rob Bell, who addresses the eternal life issue (though I've been contemplating the contrast of heaven-bound wealthy believers who think Gandhi is in hell, versus heaven-bound poor who think those rich people who just do lip-service to a prayer/creed and then get dunked for posterity will go to hell, verses Rob Bell claiming that "love wins," versus those millions of Reformed Christians who have been saying for centuries that salvation has always been the act of God in Jesus rather than our own initiative through proclamation of faith/baptism- see predestination....but I digress).
I have been giving thought to the question: "What does it mean to love all people (even those with whom we don't get along)?" I've addressed the class warfare that seems to dominate the news right now, and the entire soul of Fox News. There's little that upsets me as much as wealthy people, often those who self-identify as Libertarian, claiming that the poor should rightfully die out of the gene pool and how offering care for these people is not only unnatural, but ungodly. Yes, we should love the poor, and that involves care for the poor. It's hard to be a Christian (perhaps as hard as a camel going through the eye of a needle?) and not acknowledge that Jesus talked about care for the poor a whole lot. Of course, Jesus also addressed money a whole lot. Thus, we find ourselves at this passage above about how hard it is for a wealthy politician, I mean person, to enter the kingdom of God.
Does God call us to love wealthy people? Yesss...I guess. Does that involve care for them? Okay, sounds good. Does that lead to more tax-breaks for the wealthy? Ummm....not so sure about that. So what does "care" look like? A poor musician playing free wedding gigs for people who would otherwise be paying $150/hr per musician and who already paid a ridiculous sum of money for that obnoxious ice sculpture and chocolate fondue fountain? No...absolutely not. I can easily take that stand.
So what is care? Grieving beside someone, regardless of income, investments, 401k's, when their loved one is dying? Sharing food at the same table, no matter how humble the table? Inviting people to community events over and over, even though they refuse to come because they think it's somehow beneath them? Showing they are needed? Bringing them into the cycle of healing? Helping them learn to accept care for themselves from others? Redistributing all the money in this world? How we answer this question, "what is care," might end up being really important. It might change how we view care for all people, and not just the wealthy. I ask this question in my new environment, where international and local missions (in that order) are on the front pages of local magazines. "We do good work...we care...and we can prove it. Look- we're in the horn of Africa giving out provisions." Yes, this is good work, necessarily work. I'm pretty sure Jesus would all-out approve. Then again, there's this group of wealthy people in this country who seem hell-bent on introducing some home-wrecking income taxes on the poor when the income for poor people seems to get smaller and smaller, while at the same time lowering taxes on "job creators" (aka-people wealthy enough to own their own businesses in a country where ownership of buildings and capital is perceived as normative but still not all that common when you survey populations) even when doing so in the past didn't result in the kind of job-creation needed. So, while we Christians have Jesus, the scriptures, and a whole long history in the church of care for the poor, I'm still not sure how to care for the rich. Would Jesus care? How would Jesus care? Is this important? What are the implications for national debate? Have we simply mislabeled "poor" and "rich" this whole time? Was Jesus just being "spiritual" about all this? Is it all self-determination, that what we bind and loose here, we bind and loose in heaven as well? Do people choose to be rich?
May the debate continue.
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