Some of us may feel slightly uncomfortable when we hear Jesus say things like, “It will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19, 23) Even if we are not rich ourselves, we might like to see our children and grandchildren get rich some day or we admire people who have, by their hard work, become wealthy. How many of us would ask, what is wrong with having a lot of money which one has earned by the one’s own sweat and labor?
It might be helpful to understand what the Gospel means by being “rich.” To be “rich” in the Biblical sense means to have a large surplus of money and possessions while being completely inattentive to the people who do not have what they need to live a life of dignity.
Yet another set of questions emerges from this Biblical idea of “rich.” How can we continue to hold on to “our” possessions when such a situation exists? How can we claim to belong to the Kingdom, the Reign of God, when our neighbors are in need? By Matthew’s 25th chapter, Jesus will say, “I was hungry and thirsty and sick and in prison” and you did not give me anything to eat or drink, you did not visit me or show me any compassion.
If being “rich” in the Gospel-sense means refusing to share what we have with those who have not, how will that change how we love one another today? or will it?
