Prosperity

A sermon based on Mark 10:17-31.

This past week I got to be in Texas again for a while.  As we landed in Houston at 6 a.m. in the morning the pilot came on to say that the temperature was 80 degrees.  Some of my fellow travelers, obviously from the Northwest, not from Texas said, “That just can’t be right?”  Oh yes, I said, just wait until they open that door, you will feel just how right he was. 

 

Sure enough, that day got up to 94 degrees on an; October afternoon.  Janis Joplin used to roam around Austin, she played in little restaurants and bars.   Her picture is up in a lot of places.  She had a song that I think of when I read the readings for today, “Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?”  We all have some feelings like that every now and again.  It is prosperity theology through and through.  And there is a lot of that going around these days.  Television preachers, and otherwise, telling you, if you just believe deeply enough in God, you might just get that Mercedes-Benz.   And, of course, the reverse is either implied, or I have even witnessed it said outright, you don’t get the Mercedes-Benz because you just aren’t believing enough, good enough, holy enough. 

 

Jesus never talked about sexuality.  He did talk about money and possessions, over 60 times in the New Testament.  He seemed to think it has more power over us.  It is interesting where we take all of this, and what we spend our energy on.  I have never heard a television preacher attack those “practicing consumers.”   

Of course not, he or she would be attacking all of us, and him or herself. 

 

If you go back in the history of this passage you will find that even the redactors, those who translated some of these passages, they were even taken aback by how forward they were, often convicted to the point of saying, hey, I bet they didn’t mean that.  I bet they meant this.  They actually would make this all seem less impossible. 

 

And then, we are redactors ourselves.  I remember when we taught my son that we were truly rich.  He was probably four years old when he asked us if we were.   I told him yes, we are quite rich, we have each other, we have a nice roof over our heads, we get to eat just about whenever we want.  We are richer than just about everyone else in the world, 95%.  Of course, he didn’t “get” any of that.

 

So, of course, a few days later while we are in a meeting at church, he blurts out to everyone, “We are rich!”  I am rich!’  with the biggest smile on his face.  And I turned red and some of the people in the room did, and I found myself explaining where that came from and why he was saying such things. 

 

Interesting that I would have to do that, since it is true. 

 

But passages like this make us want to disavow the notion, that in fact, even in much of our disparity in wealth in this country, we are still, remarkably, by the world’s notion quite rich.  

 

So, in our day and time, we have remade the word rich, so as not to have it contain us.  Who was it, Rockefeller or Morgan who was asked, how much is enough? And replied, “just a little more?”  He might as well have been asked what was asked in this passage.  How much before you trust that you will be taken care of?  How much before you feel secure?  How much before fear is gone? 

 

Jesus was trying to be as clear as he could be, that you would never reach that threshold.  It is bottomless and unfullfillable because there is no container, no bank account, you can ever fill enough to give you those things.  Most of what makes us feel secure, fearless, taken care, of does not come from anything we could earn or buy.  But, our minds and our lives, the consumeristic world we live in, fools us into thinking we can.  This is the idea of the American dream.  I dare say it got us, as it always ultimately will, to the state we are in right now.  We often fight against equality, and equity in our lives together in this world, based on the idea that well, if we do that, I will miss out on my part of the dream.  I will miss my chance.  I will not be included.  So, the bulk of persons work their whole lives searching for it, thinking their ship will come in, while watching life pass them by.  It is quite the gamble.  Just like in Vegas, the house always wins, the exception does not negate the rule. 

 

There is some research to show that it is not consumerism, but the anxiety in people around this, that makes the leap impossible.  Anxiety, fear, that we will not be cared for. 

 

So, I hope I have made my case, whether you agree with me or not, or like it or not, that this parable is about us, you and me, not some other “rich person.”  Now, let me say this.  It is also very important to look at this parable closely.  Jesus does not say, rich people are bad.  He does not say rich people will automatically go to hell.  He does not say rich people cannot enter into heaven.   Instead, what he does is said clearly, you do have to make a choice.  He is insinuating that as powerful as the Kingdom might seem, if it is not worth the faith for you to enter it, and be willing to lay the possessions and riches aside, well then, you have made your choice. 

 

CS Lewis memorialized this in the Great Divorce, where he has the bus stop for people, giving them the freedom to get on board, and ride to the next level.  Those that were suspicious never got on. Those that felt it was all a trick, those that actually rather liked the life they had, who enjoyed being on top of the heap where they were, no matter how bad the heap smelled, they didn’t board.  The door was opened again and again.  The ride was free, but they just could not do it, because, not leaving behind whatever they were holding on to, the ride was not free to them.  It came at great cost, a cost of something, possessions, riches, pride, control, power. 

 

Jesus is, basically, inviting us to trust God more than anything else, trust God with our futures, our lives, our final salvation.  That will never be easy.  I would say it is a life project for all of us.  It seems just so insane in a way.  We are stewards of all we have, but we own none of it.  I am always reminded of the farmer who took the pastor out to his farm, he had been rather tired of hearing the pastor preach about the fact that we don’t own anything.  The farmer said to the pastor, look out across that land, the horizon, all you can lay your eyes on now, and even beyond belongs to me, I own it.  How can you say I don’t.  The pastor just looked at him and said, ask me that in a hundred years.  

 

“Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?” is a good song, but it’s bad theology.

Comments

[Gary Young]

"Every white man for himself; women, children and minorities be damned!" "It's all the fault of the government spending all the money on those illegal aliens." "We couldn't educate the poor or allow them to have health care, they don't deserve it because of their laziness and besides it might take some of mine." "The gays caused my divorce."

The supposed religious are sure a closed-minded selfish bunch, in spite of the readings such as the one your good sermon is based on. They keep yelling that it is a zero-sum game. Anything that "they" get means that I get less. "We have to stop those Muslims, homosexuals and aliens from getting anything from us."

But what if cooperation actually leads to everyone being better off. In economics it's called "gains from trade". Everyone is better off if we all work together with our specialties and trade.

Now let's look at the big picture. We can all be better off if everyone can do their best. If anyone is under-educated or is excluded from health care, they are not only worse off because of their misfortune, but we are all worse off because they they can not participate in the cooperative efforts benefiting everyone.

We are currently watching our supposed leaders fight out the healthcare reform. It seems that there is a lot of zero-sum-game arguing going on. It also looks like the religious are mostly on the wrong side of the argument. I think back to the history of Europe and the wars of religion and don't see much hope for our nation. I'm not sure how God helps. He seems to be used to limit rational discussion.

Gary Young

[Bill Fulton]

Thanks for posting your sermon, Greg. Nice to have it in print.