June 7, 2015
Texts: Mark 10:17-27
II Corinthians
I've wanted for a long time to offer a teaching about money. I've hesitated, though, in part because I haven't been able to figure out exactly what Jesus was saying about it. But then I thought that since no one else has figured it out, you wouldn't expect me to in twenty-five minutes, so I'll just consider some of the questions the Gospel asks us. The other part of my hesitation is that it's one thing to talk about money when, like Marja and me, you have more than enough and another thing when, like some of you, you're struggling to make ends meet. But if we're going to be part of the same community, we're going to have face the issue of money together, too.
I'm told that Jesus talked more about material wealth and possessions than about any other subject except the Kin-dom of God. Given that almost all of us in this country are wealthy compared to most of the rest of the world, I suppose it's not surprising that the American church has largely ignored, stretched or distorted Christian theology to avoid the biblical teachings on money.
- "Give to everyone who begs from you … expecting nothing in return." (Lk 6:30)
- "Sell all that you own and distribute it to the poor." (Lk 18:22)
- Share your wealth with your community so that all may be equal.
The question for me is not even why we don't follow New Testament prescriptions. I get it; most of us are wealthy and those are hard words. Marja and I certainly don't measure up. The real question is why we don't even take them seriously. Why don't we work with them carefully, biblically and theologically? When Jesus says, "Give your money to the poor and follow me," is he really serious or is he exaggerating for effect? Is he maybe talking only for first-century Palestine or because he expected the end-times soon? And why was he satisfied when Zaccheus volunteered to give only half of his considerable wealth away? These are important questions. The answers may not be clear, but, as far as I can tell, we don't even try to find them.
One problem, of course, is that Jesus seems to be saying different things at different times. Trying to put this teaching together, I was having a lot of trouble with that, so I called up Mike Little from Faith and Money Network, and he sent me a link to a YouTube video by a theologian Sondra Wheeler from Wesley Seminary. It's an amazing half-hour lecture. In fact, I thought about just hooking up a projector to the Internet and watching it together, but that seemed a little cheap. Most of what I have to say, however, is taken from her, some of it word-for-word.
Dr Wheeler notes that there are essentially four themes in the New Testament about wealth and possessions.
- Wealth is a Hindrance to Discipleship
- Wealth is an Idol Giving False Security and Self-Definition
- Wealth Is Associated with the Oppression of the Poor
- Ownership Carries Vast Responsibilities
Wealth as a Hindrance to Discipleship
The first theme: wealth is a practical obstacle to discipleship. The rich man is the only example in the Gospels of someone being explicitly called to follow Jesus and refusing … because, the Bible says, "he had many possessions." The passage makes it clear that he knew the importance of what he was asking for, he was sincere, and Jesus loved him for it, yet still he walked away … sorrowfully, because he knew what he was losing. The same theme shows up in the parable of the sower where the deceitfulness of wealth chokes off the implanted word … even though it's been heard.
Jesus emphasizes that wealth is always a hindrance to following him. How hard it will be for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, for humans it's impossible, although Jesus does add that with God all things are possible.
What really matters is whether you can receive and act upon the Good News. Poverty may characterize the disciples and may be necessary to give you the freedom follow Jesus, but poverty itself doesn't define discipleship, nor is it even central to it.
Wealth as an Idol Giving Security and Self-Definition
The second theme is idolatry: Wealth constantly tempts us to see money and possessions as our source of safety and security. (Retirement accounts or social security, anyone?) This is the point of the parable of the rich farmer who has to build bigger barns and storehouses to accommodate more and more. "This night your life is required of you. Who will own the things you've acquired?" Notice especially that the farmer is not called wicked or evil, just foolish because he's put his trust in something that can't give him the safety or security he seeks.
Gordon told the story of being a very young pastor at a poor country church. At one of the church council meetings, the elders discussed a destitute woman in the community who was tithing on her meager income. Surely she can't afford it, they thought. So they dispatched the young pastor to relieve her of the responsibility to tithe to the church. As Gordon shared the good news, however, she started weeping. Tears running down her face, she said, "I'm poor enough; are you going to take my gifts to the Lord away, too?"
The fact is that people who are struggling economically actually give a greater percentage of their income to the church than do the affluent … even here at Eighth Day. And the sharing of money and resources among my patients in the poor black community was astonishing for me as an affluent white man. We should ask, What makes it possible to give away money for others when you know you don't have enough for yourself?
The Association of Wealth with the Oppression of the Poor
The third theme is that, over and over again, wealth is associated with the oppression of the poor. The Good News of the Bible repeatedly brings blessings to the poor but woes to the rich. Again, wealth in itself is not evil, but, in the Gospels at least, wealth almost always comes from injustice and is used to perpetuate injustice, for instance, to defraud the laborers of just wages or to corrupt the judicial process with bribes. Worst, the wealthy hoard their assets; if our wealth is idle in the face of the needs of others, we defy God's demand that we provide for those in need. In other words, wealth becomes evil not only when we actively defraud another or bribe a judge, but also when we withhold it and thus become part of the unjust distribution of resources.
When I was working at Joseph's House, I noticed that our nursing aides were living on considerably less than half my $35,000 salary. Since some of them had family, I actually couldn't figure out how they were doing it. At one point I mentioned this to my sister Lois, who with her husband had an annual income over $150,000 and she said, "David, I can't figure out how you and Marja do it on $35,000." She then told me about a friend whose family income was above $300,000; and the friend couldn't figure out how Lois and her husband lived on their $150,000. Wealth keeps us from even imagining just distribution; injustice comes to feel normal.
Ownership Carries Vast Responsibilities to be used to love one another
The fourth theme: ownership entails vast responsibilities. Support of fellow believers is a natural expression of the unity that binds all Christians. Paul was very concerned about the poor Christians in Jerusalem and made very specific pitches for money. Love of the brothers and sisters, expressed by giving what one can, is simply one of the highest and most important imperatives. Indeed, Paul takes it for granted that within the community of Christians all should be shared equally. The wealthy bear special responsibility for the deep needs of the community and for just distribution. It's no small thing! No wonder the American church likes to avoid it.
The parable of the Good Samaritan and other passages go further. The love we have for others and the consequent sharing is not to be confined to our own communities or the people we know. Everyone is our neighbor and love of them obviously requires doing what we can to keep them from want. The love of the brother and sister, as well as of the stranger and enemy, is a sure test of one's love of God.
"In so far as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me."
Mary Cosby told of coming home from her mission group meeting and telling Gordon about their special prayers that evening for one of the group members who didn't have enough money for next month's rent. She told Gordon she'd committed to praying for the woman every day. Gordon's only comment was, "So, did you give her the money she needed?"
Relationship to the Old Testament
Just to be clear, Jesus specifically repudiates two Old Testament teachings. In place of the idea that wealth is a sign of God's favor, the New Testament proclaims that the people of faith will experience material hardship. And the Old Testament idea that wealth is a sign of the wisdom and diligence of the rich (and conversely poverty is a sign of laziness and stupidity); that's replaced by stories in which both wealth and poverty derive from injustice and oppression.
So Now What?
Unfortunately, says Dr Wheeler, the New Testament gives us no clear and specific rules about how to handle our money, such as "Tithe and you'll enter the Kin-dom" or "Live on such and such a level of income, and you're good." But there is powerful guidance. She suggests that the best way to get at the guidance is to ask ourselves some hard questions. Let's take those four themes again and ask some questions. (I don't think guilt is useful to change behavior, so I hope you can hear these questions as inspiring and not as guilt-inducing.)
Wealth as hindrance to the Kin-dom:
- Are we free to hear and respond to the call of the Gospel?
- Are we aware of the ways in which increasing possessions bind us more and more closely to a particular place to live, a particular set of tasks, a particular job, a particular level of income? Do they bind us to a particular life?
- Are we confident we can discern our vocation well in the midst of competing pressures forced on us by trying to sustain our chosen lifestyle?
- Is there anything for which we would literally "give all we own?"
- Could we even hear a call that asked us to leave it all behind?
- How do we know we would?
The next: What do we trust and where do we look for safety?
- In practice, what do we rely on for our protection and what, in turn, do we protect?
- How do our savings and retirement accounts figure into our estimates of our own deepest safety?
- What do we hope for most in our lives? What do we fear? And how are they bound up with our material lives?
- What are the standards by which we measure the success or failure of our lives?
- How do we decide how much is enough?
- What evidence is there in our material lives that our central loyalty is to God?
Next theme: To what extent has our wealth been the product of injustice ...
- in the form of our work lives that are not expressions of love for others?
- In the form of government guaranteed mortgage loans for our white parents or grandparents that were not available for African Americans?
- Or, more personally, in the form of an inheritance from a Finnish mother-in-law's unfair rental habits and slippery tax practices?
- Is the maintenance of our standard of living based on cheap prices from the exploitation of low-wage laborers, at Wal-Mart or, more likely for most of us, at Amazon.com?
- Do our investments, or even our bank accounts, serve the public good?
- Can we defend the work we do in terms of its compatibility with Christian obligations to love and serve the neighbor?
- How do we use the social power conferred on us by our affluence?
- Do we hold assets that might be used to help those who are in dire need?
- And if we were talking to a welfare mother whose payments were half the poverty level, could we defend as just our share of the benefits and burdens of society?
Finally, if the sign and test of discipleship is the love Christians have for each other, can we support our claim to be disciples by how we use our money and possessions?
- What standard do we use to determine what we'll keep and what we'll give away?
- Is the aim of our giving that all needs be met equally?
- On the other side, since many of us eventually come to times of urgent need, do we then feel free to ask from the community? How does it feel?
- How do we distinguish between our needs and our desires?
- Would we be willing to have others--say, our mission groups--help us discern what are needs and what desires?
- Is our care of the material needs of other human beings, including the selfish and the ungrateful, a sign of God's love for everyone?
Shortly after we moved to Washington 30 years ago, I was walking with my three children who were perhaps 5, 9 and 12 years old then. A woman asked us for "bus fare." I'd already learned to be suspicious of such requests and mostly refused them. But my kids responded immediately, and I did know better than to interfere with my children's generosity. They were excited, and each of them came up with some change that they pooled and gave the woman eighty-five cents. The opportunity to be generous to a person in need thrilled them.
Let me summarize: Money is a deeply theological issue, that is, it's an issue that deals with the nature and meaning of human existence: Are we free to receive the Gospel? Where's our safety and security? Do we live just lives? Do we love one another? If we don't recognize that these are the fundamental theological questions for the Christian, we'll be carried away by the tides of a society that is perfectly prepared to tell us that our lives consist in the material abundance that we've collected, as epitomized in the bumper sticker. "The one who dies with the most toys wins."
The Gospel witness is that there's only one thing worth setting your heart on: the just and peaceful reign of God where no one counts anything as their own and no one goes without.
Marja and I can't begin to face those questions alone. In our diverse community, there'll be no one-size-fits-all answers, but we must ask the questions, and I think we have to ask them in each other's presence.
Amen