It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus of Nazareth
A rich young ruler approached Jesus with a profound question: What must I do to obtain eternal life? As the story is told in three of the four gospels (Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31 & Luke 18:18-30), it’s important.
I doubt it was the first time the man had asked the question or that he had ever received an answer that satisfied him. He may have taken the courage to ask again, watching Jesus’ openness and kindness in welcoming young children. He may also have heard Jesus tell the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the Temple and how the latter ‘went down to his house justified’.
Jesus gave the young ruler what was probably the same reply he had heard many times before: keep the commandments. By that, Jesus meant the Ten Commandments. The man replied that he had done that since his childhood and Jesus did not seem to doubt it. As a Jew, the man was not claiming any moral or religious perfection, free from all sin and wrongdoing, only that he had lived a sincere and devout life. Jesus then said something new, ‘But you lack one thing’, and told him to give away his wealth to the poor, so that he would have treasure in heaven, and to follow with his disciples.
I plan to look at treasure in heaven later in this series but now I want to focus on what the young man lacked. Some have assumed from Jesus’ words that he lacked poverty and have concluded that this is the preferred situation for all ‘true’ Christians. This, however, cannot be correct because the New Testament mentions rich Christians and there is nothing in the Bible to suggest that it is wrong to be wealthy (only to love wealth).
The thing the devout ruler lacked was trust: unequivocal trust in God. Jesus’ words revealed that the man’s trust in God was incomplete but he could not bring himself to complete it by transferring to God the trust he had in his inherited wealth, by giving it away.
As the rich young ruler walked away, sorrowful, Jesus told his disciples just how hard it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God: harder than for a camel to crawl through the eye of a needle! This startled the disciples. ‘Who then can be saved?’ they asked. I expect they were thinking of themselves because none of them had come from poor families. We ought to be just as startled and concerned!
By comparison with our grandparents and with most of the people living in the world today, those of us living in consumer societies are rich! We may not consider ourselves rich compared to the people we see on television and in magazines but our affluence is sufficient to occupy us with secondary things. When he don’t worry about where our next meal is coming from, we worry about how it will taste; when we have many clothes to choose from, we fret about our image; when we have too much leisure time, we strive for novelty. This keeps our perceptions anchored in the material dimension, so that we tend to think of the ‘spiritual’ as no more than an appreciation of literature, music and art. Although the ability to appreciate these things do distinguish us from animals, and is evidence of how we are created in the image of God, it's only by being ‘born again’ – or ‘born from above’, as Jesus’ words to Nicodemus could be better translated – that we are able to see and enter the spiritual dimension.
In Money and the Meaning of Life, Professor Jacob Needleman, writes, ‘Theoretically, philosophically, I may be quite willing to accept that there is a higher reality… But when it comes to money – ah, that is usually quite a different matter… Everywhere [money] is still understood, often even more forcibly than in matters of illness and death, as representing the “real world” – the “bottom line”.’ I think that describes the situation of many people today: whatever they believe about ‘God’, they are persistently distracted and kept earth-bound by the immediate demands of money and materialism. ‘Who then can be saved?’
Jesus assured his disciples that what is impossible for people is possible for God. Sometime later, they saw the truth of this when they met Zacchaeus, a rich tax collector who had prospered from the corrupt practices of his profession (see Luke 19:1-10).
As Jesus passed through Jericho, a crowd gathered. Zacchaeus was a short man who could not see what was going on and, because of his reputation, nobody would let him through to the front of the crowd. He therefore ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree. As Jesus passed by, he paused, looked up, and asked Zacchaeus if he could stay at his house.
We don’t know what Jesus and Zacchaeus talked about but we know the result: Zacchaeus publicly promised to give half of his possessions to the poor and to repay everyone he had cheated four times over. Did this amount to what Jesus had told the rich young ruler to do: to give away everything? I don't know but Zacchaeus was an accountant and, if he began to do his job honestly, he knew it was the end of his affluent lifestyle. He realised that money would not be nearly as important to him anymore.
Jesus’ interpretation of Zacchaeus’ commitment was, ‘Today salvation has come to this house…’ Did Zacchaeus hear what the rich young ruler had wanted to hear? If it was, it was because Zacchaeus was prepared to do what the ruler would not.
Even after people commit themselves to living as Jesus’ disciples, old ways can be difficult to shake. In the parables of the sower, Christ likened the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of this world, the pleasures of life and covetousness to thorns that choke the Word of God and spiritual growth. That is the subject of next week’s Reflection.
© All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans 2014.
Please feel free to copy, print and share these Reflections on a non-profit basis.
