James Challenge to Those w/ Wealth (i.e.…us)

James 5:1-6 - Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.  Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.  Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

 

These words are tough to hear.  I might reply to James, “I’m not rich. Surely your words are not for me.”  But by comparison, anyone living above the poverty line in America would be considered extremely wealthy from James standpoint.  So to be faithful, I need to listen and you would do well to listen too.  We need to ask ourselves James’s questions.  Have we ever failed to help someone in need when we had the power and resources to do so?  Have we ever participated in systems that are unjust to the folks James’s brother Jesus would have called “the least of these?”  Have we held our extra resources tightly for fear of losing them?  Are we actually doing all we can to help those on the margins of our society?  Do others suffer because we prosper?

I know these questions are ones we’d rather not hear.  They make us uncomfortable.  They make us feel guilty about what we have.  I know because they do the same to me.  The point is not to make you and I feel guilty.  James’s hope is that these words would stir our hearts toward compassion for those who suffer the most in our midst.  Most everyone has suffered in one way or another.  Almost all of us know someone who is grieving right now.  Most of us know someone who has lost their job.  All of us know someone who is worse off now than they were a couple of years ago.  However, many of us, relatively speaking, have been just fine.  That’s not to say it hasn’t been hard, but we’ve been taken care of in ways that should cause us to be thankful – thankful AND compassionate toward others who have not fared as well as we have.

Although James doesn’t say this explicitly, the truth underneath his words is that to let our hearts be hardened or even become numb toward those who are hurting is to become numb and hardened to a part of ourselves, for we are connected in deep ways with all other human beings.  We are connected in deep ways to all of creation.  We are wired for compassion. That’s what is behind Jesus’s words, “when you’ve done it for the least of these, you’ve done it for me.”  Jesus is proclaiming his deep connection with all when he says that but he is also letting us know that we share that connection. 

I have to confess that I used to feel sheepish about asking people to give sacrificially in order to participate in work that is done in Jesus name.  I don’t any longer because I honestly believe that it should be natural and healthy thing for all of us to do.  We thrive when we’re generous with our time, talent, and treasure to help those in need in the same way a body thrives when all of it’s parts are getting the proper nutrients.  I challenge all of us to take James’s hard and uncomfortable words to heart and see where there is one step we can take toward alleviating someone’s suffering today. 

 

Questions:  Have we ever failed to help someone in need when we had the power and resources to do so?  Have we ever participated in systems that are unjust to the folks James’s brother Jesus would have called “the least of these?”  Have we held our extra resources tightly for fear of losing them?  Are we actually doing all we can to help those on the margins of our society?  Do others suffer because we prosper?

 

Prayer:  God, give us your eyes to see those who are hurting around us. Give us a heart to help them.  May You have a stronger hold on our time, talents, and treasure than we do. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  I would ask you to pray about what you commit to others.  Ask God to show you how you can take a step toward being more generous with your time, talent, and treasure.

 

Song: Matt Maher – The Least of These

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgV5-gnnZG0

The Problem With Having It All

Mark 10:17-31, The Message - As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”

He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”

That got their attention. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.

Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.”

Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”

 

                One of the most memorable moments from the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory comes at the end. After bequeathing his factory to the boy Charlie, Wille Wonka, played brilliantly by Gene Wilder, says the following to Charlie:

 “Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted…. he lived happily ever after.”

If only that were true.  So many people have found this out the hard way.  They amass wealth, power, and/or influence, thinking it they are securing the keys to happiness only to find themselves miserable in ways they never dreamed.  Jesus looks into the eyes of this young man who already has acquired great wealth and sees the hints of this misery already developing this young man and is filled with compassion for him.  He wants to save him from the suffering that is already on it’s way, but realizes it will be costly to the rich young man.  The hold that wealth has on the man is complete.  Jesus realizes that the only way this hold can be loosened is if the man is physically separated from it.  The hold that the wealth has on him is confirmed when he leaves Jesus sad because he cannot bear the truth with which Jesus confronts him. 

After the man has left, Jesus uses the encounter to point out the difficulty of wealth to his disciples.  It is a rare individual who can be wealthy and follow God completely.  This is hard for anyone to hear, but in Jesus’s time, it was even more difficult because the teaching flies in the face of the then-common belief that wealth was a sign of divine blessing.  Jesus teaches here and elsewhere that often, the opposite is true; wealth can be a curse.  It can create a blockage to divine blessing and connection.   

We’d all like to think that we are the rare individual who could pull it off – we’d be the one who could hold wealth, but not let it erode our trust in God.  I think the disciples may have been thinking the same thing and so they ask, “than who has any chance at all?”  They were hoping Jesus would say something like, “it won’t be a problem for you guys,” but alas he says something even more surprising. 

““No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

Peter points out that all the disciples hearing this actually done what Jesus told the unfortunate man to do.  They’ve left behind people and things in order to follow Him. 

                Jesus finally offers some reassurance in response that the disciples’ sacrifices have been noticed by God.  They have chosen God over other things and their choice was the wisest thing they’ve ever done.  They, unlike the wealthy young man, were able to trust God to provide for them when they gave up the means to provide for themselves.  However, their choice doesn’t accomplish the provision; God does.  God always does.  This truth is at the core of the entire passage.  Only God can offer eternity.  Eternal life cannot be earned; it is always the gift of God. 

 

Question:  To what extent do you believe you have earned the blessings you now enjoy? 

 

Prayer:  Lord, expose any way in which we feel entitled to the good things we enjoy and break any unhealthy attachments we have to things other than you.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those who are wealthy nut miserable nonetheless.

 

Song:  Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srwxJUXPHvE