Woe to the rich

1 Timothy 6:6-19

 6Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

       11But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

      17As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

Luke 16:19-31

19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ 25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ 29Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

This past Tuesday night we had our first gathering to discuss the Scriptures for the upcoming Sunday.  It was lively, everyone freely shared their thoughts and opinions, and we didn’t all agree, which is more or less what we hope happens every week.  

One thing we did agree on is that the point of this parable is not provide a map of the geography of the afterlife, as if folks on one side will be gazing to see what’s happening on the other.  In fact, what’s described here isn’t even heaven as Christians understand it, but rather just Hades divided in two.  You’ll notice, for instance,  that Lazarus doesn’t go to be with God but with Abraham.  God isn’t even in the picture.  But the setting definitely does raise the stakes, suggesting that our current financial status might have enduring implications.  

One thing we did disagree about (cordially, of course) was the question of whether Jesus condemns only a certain kind of rich person or all rich people - whether the problem is just an unhealthy relationship to wealth, or whether the problem is wealth itself.  

You might think that the answer to these questions is obvious, that of course Jesus doesn’t have it out for all rich people just because they’re rich.  But I found myself arguing the case that Jesus’ judgment upon rich people is unqualified - it doesn’t depend on what’s in the person’s head or heart or anything else - and that he regards wealth as inherently corrupting.  

I clearly took the harder side of the argument, and not just because it’s more fun, but because I think that this is indeed Jesus’ consistent teaching in the Gospel of Luke.  And it’s worth noting that this is a slightly different question than trying to address, “What does the Bible say about wealth?”, because the Bible doesn’t speak with one voice, and even within the different Gospels we find different emphases.  In Matthew for instance, Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” whereas in Luke he simply says “Blessed are the poor”.  Now, it’s not hard to claim that these two formulations mean the same thing, but it’s also not hard to claim that the difference makes a difference, that one has in mind spiritual poverty while the other has in mind more literal, material poverty.  It’s hard to say.  

Interpreting the Bible well always necessarily means that we’re interpreting it in light of itself, that how we understand one passage determines how we understand another, and vice versa.  But the trouble with that is that we almost necessarily play favorites, that we interpret passages we don’t like in light of ones we do, passage that are disturbing in light of ones that are comforting, etc.  And most of all we tend to ignore the parts we find troubling and/or don’t understand.  So I’m also convinced that, when interpreting a difficult passage, we must let it speak for itself before we take shelter in more agreeable passages on the same topic.  And this is especially true when Jesus is doing the talking.  

I’ve heard any number of teachers assert that having possessions isn’t a problem so long as they don’t possess us, that it’s matter of where your heart is, and so on.  Indeed, the passage from 1 Timothy points in this direction, that the problem Paul names is with those who “want to be rich” - those who desire riches, not just those who happen to have them - that the root of all kinds of evil isn’t money itself but rather the “love of money”.  Both cases imply that the heart of the matter isn’t whether we have money or not but instead the nature/character of our relationship to money (presumably you could be poor and “want to be rich” or be corrupted by the “love of money”). 

It seems like this is obviously true.  Surely it can’t be the case that some incidental characteristic about a person, like having lots of possessions, is grounds for condemnation, and, after all, don’t we all know some wealthy person who clearly loves both God and their neighbors?  But maybe more to the point, we all know, at some level, that by certain measures we are wealthy, and we don’t think of ourselves as bad people?

And we might also point out that, although it’s not made explicit in the parable, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that the rich man is condemned not merely for being rich but because he ignored Lazarus suffering at his gate.  He had the means to alleviate Lazarus suffering, but he did not, whether by deliberate choice or by ignorance.  Once the rich man has been banished to Hades, we discover that he does indeed know Lazarus’ name, and seeks to invoke it once Lazarus is in a position to alleviate his suffering.  But then it is too late.  

It should be said that, even if this softer, gentler reading of the parable is correct, it still carries a strong warning to the wealthy, like the scribes and pharisees who were the original target.  Are there people sitting at our gates, people whose names we know, whose suffering we could alleviate, whose dignity we could uphold, but we simply neglect to do so?  To what extent are we actually willing to help people out?  The circle of folks for whom we’re willing to make actual sacrifices tends to be quite small.  Even in church, in the West, we’re typically content for some people to have much more than others, for life to be comfortable for the wealthy and a struggle for others.  If we take Jesus seriously, then this parable calls us to a sober consideration of just how it is that are untroubled by these disparities, of whether we regard our wealth as something to personally enjoy more than as a resource for blessing others.  

But I still think that Jesus, as reveled in Luke, especially, does indeed see wealth inherently as a problem.  The Gospel begins with Mary’s song a praise - the Magnificat - at the wonders of what God will do (in a sense, has already done) through the baby she carries.  It’s a kind of prophecy of the difference Jesus will make, a vision he will embody and bring about, and it includes statements like, “he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

Later Jesus will say things like: 

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

21Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

25Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.

(Luke 6:20-21,24-25)

And most famously of all:

“How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, 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.”

(Luke 18:24-25)

Now, I do think that Jesus often speaks hyperbolically, that he deliberately draws the starkest possible contrast between two things in order to drive home the gravity of the choice before us.  (And in private, when asked by the disciples, Jesus concedes that the rich can enter the kingdom, but only as a kind of gracious miracle).  But I don’t think there’s any avoiding the conclusion that Jesus regards wealth as a problem in and of itself, for (at least) two related reasons.  

The first is that, while we’d like to make our financial status independent of our character - you can be a generous rich person or a selfish poor person - the Scriptures generally and the Gospels especially emphasize that being wealthy is a moral hazard, that riches almost unavoidably shape our desires and behavior, that rather than making us more generous, it renders us less, rather than making us selfless it renders us more selfish.  And instead of trying to carve out lots of exceptions to this principle in order to get the targets off our backs, we might want to sit with the discomfort for a while.  

The second reason is even more fundamental, which is simply that the presence of wealthy and poor evidences injustice and disorder.  In the kingdom of God there will be no rich or poor, and the persistence of such inequality prevents the kingdom from coming on earth as it is in heaven, To the extent that the wealthy, by holding onto their riches instead of sharing them perpetuate that inequality, they necessarily work against the coming kingdom rather than building it.  

The Good News of the Gospel is all about the coming kingdom, and the kingdom is indeed good news, for then perfect peace and justice will reign under the lordship of Christ.  The world is going to be turned upside down, all that is high will be brought low, all that is humble will be exalted.  It’s a great inversion.  It’s easy to see how this is good news to the poor - and here again that good news seems unqualified by their character, beliefs, etc. - but for the rich it issues an ominous warning.  For if this kingdom is really indeed coming, if this is really how things ought to be, if this is what Jesus teaches us to pray for, if this should be longing of our hearts, then why would we not live in light of this reality here and now?