Scriptural Maunderings: The Rich

For the Sunday closest to September 28 (Pentecost 18),  Proper 21, Year C, RCL, NRSV, etc., etc., etc.

I’ve been a bit lax in these the past few weeks — spotty Sunday attendance, busy Sunday afternoons, etc.  But something caught my eye today that made me think I wanted to catch up on some readings I missed this past Sunday … especially in view of some, ah, current blog postings here.

Old Testament: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Part of my slowness in keeping up with these is that Jeremiah is just so … Jeremiac. “Hey, Israel — you’re doing bad, so the LORD is gonna chew you up and spit you out.”  Which is questionable theology, but also gets very old and repetitive, very fast.

During the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar — a siege Jeremiah prophesies will mean the downfall of the city (conveniently recorded later), Jeremiah spends some money on some property around Jerusalem and has a copy of the deed/receipt stashed into hiding so that after the upcoming Exile, his descendents will be able to claim the property.  Lesson: spend money toward the future, and with faith.

Okay.  Well at least it’s a bit less of the “and thou shallt all be smitten!” kind of Jeremiah. Given how things have worked out so far with the Palestinians claiming the Right of Return, though, I wouldn’t hold my breath about being able to claim property after a long exile.

Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Paul (or whomever wrote this book — scholars are undecided, and it may be a mixed bag of Pauline and non-Pauline content) talks toward the end of this letter about wealth and godliness. It’s worth quoting at length.

There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

Neither mention of yachts, vacation homes, Xboxes, nor trips to Europe.  It’s easy to poke fun at telling people to be content — but to be discontent over material things after the Maslovian basics is to invite life-long unhappiness.

But 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. For 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.

I think we can all come up with people we know — directly or indirectly — who have wounded themselves in just this way. The problem is when they wound others along the way, too.

Wealth and material things are not condemned here, specifically, but a turning toward them as the goal. “Greed is good” and “The Prosperity Gospel” and “Why am I being punished by having the marginal taxes on my millions increased by a few percentage points?”

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

Decent enough goals to strive toward, especially taken as a whole.

After chatting about how cool Jesus was, Paul wraps up:

As 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. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus 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.

Y’know, if more folks claiming to follow Christ followed those bolded directives, it might do more to provide witness for their faith than all the letter-to-the-editor, march-on-Washington, scribble-arrows-on-a-chalkboard angry activism in the world.

Gospel: Luke 16:19-31

Another Sunday, another parable:

Jesus said, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

Damned lazy beggar, he should have been working, dagnabbit, rather than waiting for hand-outs!

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He 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.’ But 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.

Hey, what kind of liberal-lefty-socialist propaganda is this?

Besides 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.’ He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house– for I have five brothers– that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He 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.'”

Cue heavy foreshadowing!

Now, I am a Universalist, in that I believe that there is no such thing as eternal torment, and that eventually, through many lessons, we become whatever is necessary to achieve permanent rest, salvation, or whatever Grand Purpose there may be (don’t look at me, I’m the dumb kid in the back of the classroom eating glue). So I don’t go for the Great Chasm and all that.

But eschatology aside, the message from Jesus here is stunningly clear: rich guy, wallowing in richness, goes to hell; poor guy, tormented by poverty, goes to heaven.

That’s a bit simplistic (poverty does not necessarily equal virtue, nor richness vice), but for parable purposes it’s pretty clear, and it stands as a fine example of Glenn Beck’s dreaded social justice (“the idea of creating an egalitarian society … that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being” — which, as we all know, was invented by Hitler).  At the very least, it stand in repudiation of the idea (still held by some, particularly the wealthy) that richness equals virtue (or, at least, importance and divine favor) and poverty equals vice (unimportance and divine disfavor).

If you are not, as Paul puts it “doing good, being rich in good works, generous, and ready to share,” then you are focused on wealth as an end to itself, an idol, placing it higher than God or one’s neighbor.

That never ends well.  As the rich man in the parable finds out. And which some of our rich who claim to be preaching God’s stern lessons while raking in the moolah may well find out, too.