What does your preacher preach on more often than anything
else? I used to think that only Baptist preachers talked about money every
week, but I’m beginning to think that I preach on being rich more than anything
else. Why? Because Jesus keeps talking about it. It’s hard to preach on
something else when Jesus is always talking about money.
It’s Thanksgiving Week, and I’m writing each day about being
thankful. The gospel lesson in today’s Daily Office is Matthew 19:23-30. That’s
the passage in which Jesus declares, “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.” Lately,
I’ve been accused by my congregation of “beating up on rich people,” which I
take to include myself and I take to be a compliment. So, instead of doing that
and talking about squeezing our fat wallets through heaven’s narrow gate, I
want to talk about the disciples’ reaction to Jesus’ statement.
Matthew tells us, “When the disciples heard this, they were
greatly astounded and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’” As I read the lesson this
morning, I thought to myself—THAT’S where thanksgiving happens. Let me explain…
In congregations like ours, I think that there are two basic
responses to Jesus’ “it’s hard for rich people to enter the kingdom” talk.
Either we 1) shrug our shoulders and assume Jesus is talking about someone else
or 2) we wring our hands and wonder what we’re going to have to do to get in. In
other words, some of us assume that this gospel lesson doesn’t apply to us,
while the rest of us take it to heart, and I think that’s where the message of
thanksgiving comes in. We can’t be grateful for something we don’t acknowledge
to be ours.
The disciples aren’t really rich by the world’s standards.
As Peter says a little later on, they have given up just about everything to
follow Jesus. Jesus talking to them about rich people entering heaven is like
me going down to the Salvation Army shelter and preaching about giving up
everything you’ve got and giving it to the poor. Yet still the disciples’
response is astonishment and humility. “Then who, Jesus, is going to be saved?”
Amazing.
How easy it would have been to say, “Gosh, Jesus, I’d hate
to be rich! Glad you’re not talking about me!” How tempting it would have been
to say, “Ha! You said it, Jesus. About time they got what they deserve!”
Instead, the disciples recognize that Jesus is talking about them—about all of
us. We are all rich. How, then, will any of us be saved? With mortals it is
impossible, but with God all things are possible.
And so thanksgiving. Thank you, gracious God, for making me
rich in so many ways and for loving me anyway. Don’t take it for granted—either
the riches or the surprising salvation that comes despite them. Be a disciple.
Be astounded at the sharpness of Jesus’ words and recognize that they’re said
to you. Thanksgiving can’t happen until we admit what we should be thankful
for.
I think the disciples' reaction to Jesus' statement about the rich reveals their knowledge of the Old Testament: those in Israel who obey God's commands will be blessed with prosperity in a promised land. This is the blessing of salvation they knew from their bible; and it was what they expected to be part of when Jesus took over power in Jerusalem. But Jesus is revealing a salvation that is not about prosperity on earth; prosperity in fact no longer shows that the rich are blessed. Instead, Jesus' disciples, who have left houses and families and followed Jesus in his lowly way, are the ones who will inherit eternal life.
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