Are You Stuck In The Eye Of The Needle About Money?
When it comes to Jesus and money, the world is divided into at least three types of people.
1. Some people don't know what Jesus said about money and they have no interest in finding out.
2. People who care so much that they make the words of Jesus about money the standard of their financial lives.
3. The people who know what Jesus said about money-or at least they think they know-and wish they didn't.
I overheard the third type of person at a seminar about money and wealth. He was asking the speaker a question as I was returning to my seat after a break. He said: "Jesus taught that a rich man can't get into Heaven. How can you say that is it good to be rich?"
Of all of the words of Jesus about money, the comment about the rich man is probably the most misquoted and misunderstood. If I were to pick the one Bible that creates more guilt about money than any other, it would be this one. This verse creates fear in people who think that they have to choose between salvation and being rich.
The distressed questioner had misquoted the verse itself. Jesus did not say that a rich man can't get into Heaven. In the three biblical versions of the story, Jesus made a statement about a rich man entering the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven. By identifying the "Kingdom of Heaven" with "Heaven," the questioner had significantly missed an important point.
The point is that the Kingdom of Heaven is not the same as Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is about changing the economic reality of people living on planet Earth. It is not about an afterlife.
What is the remedy for someone like the man at the seminar, who was sure that Jesus taught that a rich man cannot get into Heaven? The solution is context. The words of Jesus must be put into the context of the story. And then the story must be put into the context of the economic situation in which Jesus lived. This is the way to liberate people who are sure they know what Jesus said about money but wish they didn't.
Otherwise, you will be like the man at the seminar. He had misunderstood the point of the story because he confused Heaven with the Kingdom of Heaven. He was stuck in an "Eye of the Needle" of his own making.
Jesus was not saying that the rich cannot get into Heaven. Jesus was condemning an economic system that produced so much poverty. He was not insisting that people must be poor to get into Heaven.
What if most of what you were taught about Jesus and money is not true? Don't let misunderstood words of Jesus prevent you from living an abundant life.
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