This One Always Starts an Argument

I can hear it now. The voice that stands up for our American way of life. The voice that quickly jumps on this passage. Most preachers have to downplay the text and its deep, very deep, meaning or risk starting and argument- at best. Here then are Jesus words....

Luke 16: 10 - 13 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Don't ask a literal fundamentalist to take it literally. Jesus didn't mean what you think he said. Ask a liberal and they will like what it means- as long as you know that their wealth is being tithed for good works. I have always believed that no one is a true literalist. None of us is willing to take The Word seriously when it means I have to sacrifice something.

Yes, Jesus did mean what he said. In his time and place it was exactly what it said. Now we can argue that times have changed, etc. etc. We can say that he was talking about the truly wealthy etc. etc. We can say that ....

Well, we can say lots of things and not be any closer to the truth of this passage no matter which end of the spectrum we call home. Which just goes to prove that we do believe what Jesus said and are deathly afraid he really meant it. Because if he did mean it and he's watching how we live it, then the old bumper sticker I once saw may be closer to the truth than we are willing to admit:

Jesus is coming soon- and boy, is he pissed!

Jesus is making it abundantly clear that money is a corrupting power. No matter how we cut it to be wealthy is to miss something important. Hey, I didn't say that. Jesus did. I don't like it anymore than the next in this world of great gaps in wealth where I end up in the upper crust of the world's wealth. It isn't Bill Gates alone that Jesus is talking to. It's any one of us who wishes we could get some of Gates' money for our own.

I have tried and tried over the years to reconcile this passage with my own human desires and wants. (No, not my needs. My wants.) In the end I can't. I'm stuck. I have played my word games and come out on the short end of the discussion every time.

Fortunately God is a God of grace. As I fail at living up to it, I know I can try again tomorrow. As I hold on to some of the desire for wealth today, maybe I can be trusted with a little more grace tomorrow to keep me moving in the right direction.