Jesus and Money
It has been said that Jesus talked more about money than any other subject. While that isn’t precisely true, Jesus did say a lot about money, and it was an important subject. What is odd is that those who want to point out how important Jesus took money usually fail to teach what Jesus actually taught about money. Most teachers want to focus on financial stewardship, which is based on middle-class capitalistic principles, which Jesus never taught at all, nor even hinted at. Jesus’ attitudes toward money was much more radical, much more anti-capitalistic than we ever thought. The basics of Jesus’ teaching on wealth is found in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:19-34. However, you can also read quite a bit more in Luke 12, Mark 10 and Luke 16.
Before we talk about Jesus’ attitudes on wealth, we need to recognize that when Jesus spoke on wealth, he wasn’t just talking about money. Certainly money is an important part of wealth, but he also considered the possessions one had to be of equal importance. So while some might say that they have no wealth because their bottom line is in the red, if Jesus walked through their living places, he would point out that they had quite a bit of “liquid commodities”—physical possessions. When Jesus spoke of “Mammon” he was speaking both about money and what one could buy with money.
Where is your storage container?
Don’t collect important stuff on earth for your personal use. All stuff on earth breaks down, wears out, is destroyed or is stolen. Instead, if you give to the poor, God will keep the important stuff for you in heaven. There, your stuff never breaks down, wears out, gets destroyed or is stolen. Build up your savings account in heaven—for where you keep your stuff, that’s where your true self is kept.
Some of us have so much stuff that we need rooms just to store it in. Heck, some of us need to rent a storage facility just to keep the leftover stuff we can’t keep in the storage we do have. That might make sense, since for some of us our total storage is a backpack. But for others of us, we have parts of our living space not devoted to any kind of living, but for the storage of inanimate objects. Some of these objects aren’t important to anyone but us—sentimental items. Other items might be worth quite a bit to anyone. And so we keep such items safe—safe from theft, safe from wear and tear, safe from accidents. And if we lose these things, then we get really upset.
And Jesus says that these kinds of things—that upset us if we lose them—is where our heart is. He says that the center of our being is where we keep our most precious stuff. It has been frequently noted that our possessions in reality possess us. We work hard for our possessions—to keep them, to maintain them, to make them precious. But the problem with possessions is that they are doomed to extinction. Not only do they break down, fall apart and get stolen, but God will destroy them all when he returns. The possessions we have are part of this world, and they are to be set aside forever.
But what happens if the center of our being is found in storage? Then we will be destroyed along with the storage.
But Jesus gives us another option. He says that instead of having a savings account in an earthly bank or precious commodities in an earthly storage, we can actually keep our things in heaven, where God is the bulldog that protects our most precious things. How do we do this? No, we do not place our rare books and antiques on the altar and watch them lift up to heaven like Jesus ascending. What Jesus said is very practical. We give what we have to the poor. Whatever we provide for those who need it, God will save for us and give us back on the final day.
To keep things “safe” for oneself is miserly, stingy, greedy. The one who keeps for themselves alone is not righteous. The one who continually gives, shares provides use for others in need—this is the one whom God honors.
You are what you give
Your eye is like a window. What you do with your eye shows who you are. If your eye is open, generously sharing, then your body is enlightened. If your eye is shaded with covetousness—desiring to have what others have—then your whole self is darkened, spiritually dead. Thus if your “enlightenment” is pure darkness, you are completely blind.
This is a hard saying to understand. In Jesus’ day there was a saying about two kinds of “seeing”. One could have a “sound eye”, which meant to look with compassion and to be generous with those in need. Or one could have an “evil eye”, which meant to leer, to have a look of desire in one’s eyes—and ultimately to curse what someone else had. In Jesus’ day, an “evil eye” was a fearful thing and one could even curse with it by accident.
Jesus uses the ideas of these two kinds of “eyes” to talk about the kind of spiritual light you have. How can we tell who is really spiritual? How can we know who is really on the side of God? Jesus says to keep an eye on people’s “eyes”. The ones who are constantly open to others, compassionate and listening, those who are looking to assist others and give what they have to other’s needs—these people display spiritual light. You can know the light in their life, because of the open assistance they give to others.
But those who are looking for how much they can get, those constantly asking for something, those constantly on the lookout for what they don’t yet have—these are unsatisfied, uncontent, and ungodly. Jesus says that those always looking for more earthly things are those who do not trust in God, and so they do not have God. But more than that, they are spiritually blind. They wouldn’t know God or righteousness if He slapped them in the face. Those whose eyes are full of darkness are blind.
The god Mammon
No one can truly have two gods he is committed to. In the end, every man will display his love for one god by consistently serving him and he will display his contempt for the other by neglecting service for him. You cannot commit yourself to both the Father God and the god of Wealth.
Our society serves many gods apart from the One True Father. There is the god of Lust, the god of Education and the god of War. But quite possibly the most popular deity in the U.S. is the god Mammon—the god of Wealth. This god fills the marketplace and the industries of America. It is worshiped in the hearts of all who think that Money is the answer to all their problems. It is honored by those who fill their bank accounts and closets to overflowing, begrudging the needy only a paltry sum of the whole—if even that. Those who beg but refuse food because they only want cash are Mammon’s servants. Mammon whispers to all, “Money will meet all your needs,” while the wealthy admit that money hasn’t made them any happier.
Jesus is telling us that Mammon is an idol, a replacement god for the Most High God who truly provides our needs. Society won’t tell us that—it says that money is simply a tool, a resource, while they ignore their own hearts of lust for that which they don’t have. They ignore the fact that every media is filled with the call to covetousness—in opposition to the tenth commandment—and that contentment in God is as impossible to find in the church as it is in business.
Not only is Mammon a god, but Jesus is also saying that we have to make a choice. Either we can commit to God, or we can commit to Mammon. Either we will worship God or we will serve Mammon. Sure, there are many that do both—for a while. They make money and seek the American dream, and they also go to church and praise Jesus. For a while. But in the end they will face a conflict between their two gods. Their job will ask them to work during their church service. They will neglect prayer because they are too tired from working for money. They will take money they could give to the needy today and put it in a savings account for their future. A crisis will happen. And when it does, one god will be honored, and one god will be set aside.
Jesus makes it clear:
· The one who serves God gives to the poor.
· The one who serves God doesn’t store up treasures on earth.
· The one who serves God doesn’t seek new things to get.
· The one who serves God shares what they have with those who need it.
· The one who serves God makes economic sacrifices to be with Him and to worship Him.
Perhaps this sounds difficult. Perhaps it even sounds perverse to some. But we all must make a choice, and God’s demands insist upon our neglect of Mammon in order to focus only on God the Father. And he will provide for us more thoroughly than Mammon ever would.
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