A Fool For Christ

Jesus comes at the subject of money in two ways. We might call these the “negative” and “positive” ways or, perhaps, “warning” and “opportunity.” On the negative side, Jesus warns us that money and possessions can destroy us. There are at least fifteen passages in the Bible in which Jesus does this.

In today’s Gospel Lesson, for example, He tells a rich man that “to share in everlasting life” he must go a step beyond mere obedience to the Law. “Jesus looked at him with love and said, ‘Go and sell what you have and give to the poor; you will then have treasure in heaven'” (Mk.l0:21). Jesus then looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” (Mk.l0:23). The disciples were amazed, because in their time the sign of riches was a sign of God’s favor: you are a favored people because you are so rich. But Jesus was saying just the…