Today’s Scripture Reading (September
26, 2014): Mark 10
Money. If
there is a topic we don’t want our
spiritual leaders to talk about, maybe other than the sin we are currently
struggling with, this is it. And when our spiritual leaders let us down and
talk about it, well, to say that we are disappointed is probably an
understatement. Often the accusation that is heard is that ‘all this spiritual
leader wants is my money.’
Yet the
reality is that if there is an area where we need help, it is in the area of
the management of our money. And the truth is that the Bible has a lot of
useful things to say about money management. Oh, the Bible does speak about
bringing the tithe (quite literally %10 of what it is that you earn) into the
temple or the church along with other offerings, but it does not speak of this
in isolation. The tithe is a recognition that everything that we have is given
to us by God - that our ability to make money is dependent on the gifts and
opportunities that God has given to us. But God’s money instructions also
include such ideas as living within our means, not being in debt to others (by
the way, too many Christians carry an overwhelming unsecured credit card debt
that is not at all an application of what Jesus taught), it teaches about the
differences between what it is that we need and what it is that we want, and it
teaches us about our responsibility to those who have less than us.
And that
last one is a bit of a problem because, for those of us living in what we would
call the Developed Nations, that describes us. It is not really about our debt.
We have been gifted with so much ability and opportunity that we have to be
described as the rich. We are the ones that have a responsibility to the poor
of the rest of the world. And this is why Bono and other celebrities are so
quick to remind us of our responsibility with regard to Africa and the Majority
World (Third World) nations. Their salvation is quite literally in the pockets
of the rich – and that means it is in ours.
But from a
selfish perspective the most disturbing aspect of this verse concerns none of
that. It is the idea that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the
needle than for the rich to get into heaven that disturbs us. And considering that
we are the rich it should probably disturb us. Many have tried to lessen the
impact of the words, including an attempt to argue that what Jesus meant was a
narrow rock formation that talented camel drivers had to maneuver through
called “The Eye of the Needle.” But I have a feeling that here we are
stretching it beyond what was intended
I actually
think that Jesus meant exactly what it seems that he says. Jesus is talking
about this huge horse sized animal, with one or two humps, going through the
eye of a needle, as in “a needle pulling thread.” And that is impossible! But that is also the point of the passage. To
our comfort, we serve a God who specializes in what we consider impossible. And
this enables us to do as Jesus would seem to want us to do – to go and live
generous lives.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew
20
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