This is one of those texts that we in affluent American suburbia tend to either avoid or finesse. In Christian circles there is often a lot of talk about heaven and hell, and how to get to heaven. In the end, that’s all up to God, so it’s largely as wasted effort, if you ask me. But in our conversations on heaven and hell, it’s funny how rarely we cite this story,
yet is Jesus is ever more clear than here? In order to “inherit eternal life” you must “sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”. If that’s true, most of us are in deep doo-doo.

So what is Jesus getting at here. There is a LOT in this passage, and I don’t want to finesse it, because I do believe we have real affluent/wealth problems in American Christianity, but I think it comes down to this: We don’t necessarily need to sell all we have and give it to the poor. That’s what this man needed to do. Jesus is speaking to a specific person whose heart seems to be wrapped up in himself: “I have kept all the commandments… what else must I do so that I can have eternal life?”

This story is not about wealth as much as it is about the posture of our hearts. It matches up with Jesus’ words in Matthew when he says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. That is, whatever it is you value is what your heart wants. And for this man Jesus has identified that what he values is his wealth and his own well being. So in order to value God’s kingdom, you must give up valuing your wealth and your worry about “inheriting eternal life”. And this man couldn’t do it. The reason Jesus says, “how hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God” is not that God is opposed to wealth. It is that God is opposed to valuing wealth, protecting wealth, and sustaining wealth at all costs. God is opposed to my security and my being ok with me being rooted in my possessions and my effort.

It is simply human nature that the more we have, the more we trust what we have and how we got it. And conversely, the less we have, the easier it is to trust in something else. The more we have, the more we have to lose, and Jesus has already established that this kingdom is a kingdom about losing our very selves, not protecting and sustaining them. Remember, God wants our hearts, the whole heart (and a heart that is whole). But if our hearts are aligned with our own wellbeing such that we’re implementing systems to protect our wealth, then Jesus may have some harsh words for us.

May we all hold the things of this earth loosely, and may we move to the liberating space of letting go.