Our Gospel passage for today is hard, or at least hard for anyone who has a dime more than they need to provide the basic essentials of life.
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, . . . “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 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.”
I want to find a way around this passage. Surely Jesus didn’t really mean what he said. Maybe he was only talking to this man, and he wasn’t talking to everyone who has more than they need. But wait a minute, he does generalize it to all wealthy people. Well, I’m not wealthy, am I? Certainly, there are many, many people who are far wealthier than I am. But wait a minute, I do have a lot of things in my life that I don’t really need, maybe I am wealthy. Maybe Jesus is just making a point that salvation through our own works is impossible and can only come through the grace of God. True, but he does ask the rich man to give up what he has.
Sigh. What am I do to do? What are we to do? For I know that I am not going to walk out this door today and sell all I have. You probably aren’t going to do that either. And I also know that there is great truth in what Jesus says to this man and to us. Wealth, possessions, they do get in the way of following Jesus because they get in the way of loving our neighbor. Wealth and possessions have a way of convincing us that we are self-sufficient and deserving of what we have. The things we possess have a way of convincing us that we have earned our things and have a right to them and need to protect them. Wealth and possessions alter our view of the world, and it becomes more difficult to see the world from God’s point of view.
Psychologists who study the impact of wealth and inequality on human behavior have found that money can powerfully influence our thoughts and actions in ways that we’re often not aware of, no matter our economic circumstances. Although wealth is certainly subjective, most of the current research measures wealth on scales of income, job status, or socioeconomic circumstances, like educational attainment and intergenerational wealth.
Several studies have shown that wealth may be at odds with empathy and compassion. Research published in the journal Psychological Science found that people of lower economic status were better at reading others’ facial expressions—an important marker of empathy—than wealthier people.
UC Berkeley research found that even fake money could make people behave with less regard for others. Researchers observed that when two students played Monopoly, one having been given a great deal more Monopoly money than the other, the wealthier player expressed initial discomfort, but then went on to act aggressively, taking up more space and moving his pieces more loudly, and even taunting the player with less money.
Another UC Berkeley study found that in San Francisco—where the law requires that cars stop at crosswalks for pedestrians to pass—drivers of luxury cars were four times less likely than those in less expensive vehicles to stop and allow pedestrians the right of way. They were also more likely to cut off other drivers.
The amount you earn could have an effect on how you view both yourself and others. A study published in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” asked individuals to rate things such as class, genetics, and even I.Q. When the results were analyzed, they were defined as an individual’s sense of “class essentialism” – the idea that differences between classes are based upon identity and genetics, rather than circumstance.
The wealthiest respondents were those with the deepest sense of class essentialism. Poor people tended to believe that class was not related to genes – that essentially, anyone can be rich and anyone can be poor. Rich people, on the other hand, were more likely to believe that wealth was part of genes and identity – that they were entitled to wealth based upon their personal circumstances and actions. Wealthy respondents also believed that, more or less, life is fair and people mostly get what they deserve.
I viewed this propensity for wealth to change one’s mindset in myself a few years ago, albeit in an abstract and roundabout way. About 10 years ago, the game “Farmville” became big among adult smartphone owners. I played it along with many people I knew. I noticed it having an interesting effect on me. The longer I played it and the more coins I built up, the less likely I became to either spend the coins or give gifts in the game to people I knew in the real world who were playing with me. I could never reach a place where I felt like I had enough coins to be generous with them. It was after this realization that I quit playing the game. I decided it wasn’t good for me.
Wealthy people are not inherently bad people. Nor are poor people inherently good people. To believe that would be to create a new kind of essentialism. But science is proving in study after study that what Jesus said was correct. Wealth has the great ability to change people and not in ways that are necessarily good for society. It is indeed easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Not because God hates wealthy people or because God sends wealthy people to hell, but because the greater the amount of wealth you hold the greater the likelihood that you will not love your neighbor as yourself. This is true of me. This is true of you. This is true of everybody. This is perhaps the primary reason that is so important for Christianity to continue to preach that none of us deserves what we have. We have not earned it. Everything is a gift.
I believe that God has a dream for this world in which there are no longer people at the top and people on the bottom. I believe that this is good news for all of us if we have ears to hear. And I need to hear these hard words from Jesus that make me feel oh so uncomfortable, “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.” And I need to wrestle with this discomfort, allow it to twist and turn me that I may be changed by it. And in the midst of my discomfort, I need to sit with the knowledge that like that man talking to Jesus that day, Jesus sees me and loves me too knowing that “for mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” Amen.
