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Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for
those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The
disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them
in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of
God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. They were
exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can
be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human
beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible
for God.”
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“If
I was a rich girl, see, I’d have all the money in
the world. If I was a wealthy girl, no man could test me, impress
me; my cash flow would never ever end ‘cause I’d have all
the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl. All the riches baby,
won’t mean anything; all the
riches won’t bring what your love can bring. Don’t
need no other baby. Your lovin’ is better than gold, and I
know.”
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Jesus
challenges the rich throughout the Gospels. The Hebrew people had
learned that having riches was a sign of favor with God, and therefore
if people were rich, they were close to God because God was close to
them. Suddenly Jesus tells them that rich people will have
difficulty even getting to God’s presence, let alone being close
to God.
Jesus felt that way because he realized that rich people have one thing on their minds, and that is their wealth. If they spent all of their time thinking about their wealth, they would not spend the time doing the things that were necessary to accept God into their lives. Gwen Stefani and Eve in their song "Rich Girl" basically say the same thing. Reflecting on Tevya’s song in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," they conclude that the person in the song wants to be wealthy. But, they sing, that is not the important thing. "All the riches won’t mean anything," they sing, if the person does not have the love of someone in particular. Love is more important than riches. That thought is one of the foundations of Jesus’ message. Love, not only romantic love, but all love is the goal we must have for ourselves, and that goal is in jeopardy when people spend most of their time on making more money. Rich people tend to spend time on themselves more than others, and so Jesus warns rich people in the strongest terms. |
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THOUGHT
In general, why do the people of our North
American culture spend so much energy on making money?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, your Son was very clear about people who spend most
of their time and energy making money. He knew that they would
neglect what is most important. Help us always consider what is really
important even as we have to make money in order to live in our
world. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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