Jesus said: "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom" (Mark 10:23)
I heard an allegedly true story about a prosperity gospel preacher this week.
Apparently while travelling on his multi-million dollar luxury private jet – seemingly an essential for ministry these days – he "felt God" challenging him about his level of faith. "Have you only faith for one luxury private jet?" the Lord seemed to be saying. "Why not two?" Hmmm!
What a far cry this is from the Jesus who tells one seeker after truth: "Sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." (Mark 1:23)
So – should we do that? Should we sell our possessions and give to the hungry, the destitute and the needy? Do we have to get rid of our laptops, TVs and mobile phones and cancel our holidays? What do Jesus' words mean for us?
Context is important. And the setting here is that the man to whom Jesus is responding has asked him a critical question: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (verse 17). Jesus firstly replies by saying: "Why do you call me good? No-one is good – but God alone." As so often, Jesus answers one question with another. And part of the implication of what he says is this: only God is good; if you're calling me good, have you really thought about what you are saying about me? This is a subtle invitation for the man to consider who Jesus really is – divine.
But Jesus goes on: "You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honour your father and mother'." In other words, if anyone could keep all the commands of God perfectly, they would indeed gain eternal life. The point is that we can't, of course.
The man, however, thinks he has ticked all the boxes. In today's terms, he has been baptised (and, if an Anglican or Catholic, confirmed!), lived a "good" life, not done anything terrible and been kind to animals, old ladies and so on.
But Jesus can see into his heart: "You lack one thing: go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Money is the thing that is getting in the way of what is most important – following Jesus.
And the man is "shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions". I wonder what happened to him. So the question for us is: what gets in the way of us following Jesus? Only this week a woman told me she had stopped coming to church because Sundays were when ladies at her club played golf. And I remember another couple who ceased attending "because they had bought a camper van".
It could be anything that gets in the way of us following Jesus: an inappropriate relationship; a desire to live a particular lifestyle; sport; hobbies; family or so on. But for many people – then, as now – it will be money.
How can we know if money is an issue for us? Probably if we read Jesus' words, understand the context, and find our instinctive reaction is, "Phew – thank goodness that doesn't necessarily apply to me", then the challenging truth may be that these words are in fact exactly what we need to hear. And then respond to.
I find the words of the hymn O for a closer walk, originally written by William Cowper and popularised today by Stuart Townend and others, hugely challenging, but apt:
"The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.
So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb."
David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. The Rough Guide to Discipleship is a fortnightly series.
