In the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I doubt that there is anyone listening to this sermon that hasn’t seen the film Titanic. If you haven’t seen it then I’m sorry if I spoil the end of the film for you because it sinks!
But wind back about 30 minutes before that there is an exchange between two of the characters, a businessman called Caledon Hockley and the first officer William Murdoch. Hockley says ‘Mr. Murdoch, I’m a businessman, as you know, and I have a business proposition for you… and then quietly slips a stack of dollars into his pocket.’
A little while later Hockley who is still on Titanic confronts Murdoch, who has just let another man get into the lifeboat, and says “We had a deal, damn you”, Murdoch looks at him and responds by flinging the bribe money in Hockley’s face and saying bitterly: “Your money can’t save you any more than it can save me.”
Hockley departs the scene with a look of horror on his face at the realisation that with all the money he had, it wasn’t going to help him to buy his way into a lifeboat.
‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’
There is much in our Gospel today which challenges us, because it speaks to the heart of something which if we are being honest, would like more of, money. This rich young man desperately wanted to know that he would be welcomed in the Kingdom, and as such he approaches Jesus to ask what he must do.
It began with Jesus recalling the six commandments which dealt with how we treat others, although you may have noticed that he said ‘You shall not defraud’ which the theologians point out that among other things means to deprive someone, which is another way of speaking about coveting that which is not theirs to take, and the young man confirms he has done all of this, but then Jesus hits him with what can only be described as the deal breaker, sell everything, give to the poor and follow me.
Just like Hockley the young man was bitterly disappointed, no doubt he saw the accumulation of his wealth as a symbol of power, how successful he had become, but whilst he was knowledgeable about the Talmud, the primary source of Jewish Religious law, its possible that his study of the Psalms, wasn’t as extensive. If it had been, then he would have known teachings such as this:
Do not be afraid when some become rich,
when the wealth of their houses increases.
For when they die they will carry nothing away;
their wealth will not go down after them.
Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy
—for you are praised when you do well for yourself—
they will go to the company of their ancestors,
who will never again see the light.
Or if he had listened more closely to the sermon on the mount, he would have heard this in the Gospel of Luke:
‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.’
There is a pattern, that while, the ancient Jews associated wealth with being in God’s favour, which was a worldly view, we see from scripture the kingdom view, that associated the poor with the pious and the rich with the ungodly.
Essentially whilst Jesus didn’t quote the first four commandments, the ones which focus our attention on obedience to God, in challenging the young man, Jesus shows that the young man has failed in following the first two, because he had made his wealth which he now worshipped, and money had become his idol.
The analogy of the Camel going through the eye of the needle wasn’t meant to be used as a parable, its meaning was as simple as it sounds. The Camel isn’t going through the needle, because its too big, just as someone who covets their wealth above everything else is going to struggle to enter heaven.
Now these are difficult words to hear because anyone who has wealth may be thinking where does that leave me?
It comes down to the second part of this scripture, because it brings God’s grace into the equation, and whilst it shouldn’t be seen as a get out of jail free card as it were, it does help up to think more deeply about what this means to us in the 21st century.
The disciples state quite rightly that they have left everything to follow, and as we read in Acts others will follow, but that was 2000 years ago in a place where wealth was only held by a few of the most powerful in the land.
But today, that is not the case money is easier to acquire for many, business owners can see the accumulation of wealth, others inherit and some become wealthy overnight, but it doesn’t end there, because you also have people who work hard for their wage and save up for things that they want, I don’t think that any of these intrinsically are wrong.
Where I think it goes wrong is when the wealth that has been accumulated becomes an idol, where the acquisition of more and more money and wealth, more than any one person could ever need in their lifetime becomes the driving force for them.
For many of the super wealthy, they have learnt lessons from the early 20th century philanthropists such as Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Carnegie, and have in the last decade created their own version, called ‘the good club’ where its members are looking to support issues that threaten different areas in the world, their work is not well publicised but none the less happening. Their acts of philanthropy are not motivated by greed, or even reward, but by a desire to help others in need.
Now that’s all well and good, but what about us mere mortal who are comfortable, but not rich. This is where we come down to the basis of this passage. Jesus through the challenge to the young man, and indeed everyone who was listening, is about where we place the value of the things in our life. We may want a big TV, or the new car, and we work hard for it, but does that mean we are going to idolise it?
Just a couple of weeks ago we saw the other side of the coin, through all the offerings that were given by our three churches and two schools, which were then going to be sent to help others in need. People we would likely never meet, but who would still be grateful for what they received to support them. Or what about the money we donate, perhaps to church, or another charity such as one seeking to cure cancer, or to support any number of worthy charities working in a diverse field of subjects, again we give to these organisations without asking for reward.
However, it isn’t just about money, because the other commodity that none of us have enough of is time, and yet we give of it freely along with our talents, what we are good at to help different organisations.
At the heart of this Gospel, like so many of Jesus’ teachings is the question of how important our faith is to us, how far are we willing to go to give back to our Father in heaven in gratitude for all that he has given to us.
Many of you will have heard me use the analogy a magnificent waterfall starts with just a single drop of water, but as more water is added it becomes a spectacular sight.
The gospel today reminds us that at the heart of all we do as Christians is predicated on two simple rules of life. Love and obedience to God, and love for our neighbour, the rich man had manged to accomplish one, but failed on the other because the love of wealth had become his god, and for that reason he walked away from Jesus grieving because of it.
Amen.
