“Holy Hyperbole”

Luke 18:18-25

Luke 18:22, 23, 25: … [Jesus] said to [the rich young ruler], “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then, come, follow me.” But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich… [Jesus said to him] “… it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”

James 1:9-11 (The Message): When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a flower, so don’t ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the “prosperous life.” At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.

[prayer]

In today’s text Jesus was using what I like to call holy hyperbole when he said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus was using a form of gross exaggeration on purpose. He wanted to make sure that his words were not only heard, but also remembered. He wanted to get that young man’s attention!

Some would have us believe that Jesus was speaking of a particularly small and narrow gate into Jerusalem. Not so. He was simply following in the rabbinical tradition in which it was stated that it was easier for an elephant to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Whatever, camel or elephant, it’s a mighty hard thing to do.

During my Wednesday devotions I read James 1:1-12. I was particularly intrigued by those verses I shared just prior to the sermon. James was dealing with a congregation that was obsessed with wealth to the point of favoring rich members and visitors over the poor. One of the things that he wanted to make clear was that the Christian faith is to be a social equalizer. Another point he wished to make was that an over dependence on wealth or possessions for security made it difficult to put one’s full faith and trust in Christ. In other words, it was like trying to take a proverbial camel through the eye of a proverbial needle.

Commenting on these verses, Foy Valentine wrote, “The church has nearly always been reluctant to hear the word of God about wealth. The words of Jesus at this point are all too often glossed over. The message of the prophets regarding riches is thought by many to be particularly obnoxious. The teaching of James in this regard is considered especially offensive to many. Why? This is true because it is a hard doctrine, and hard doctrines are much more easily ignored than confronted. They are much more easily discounted than accepted. They are much more easily explained away than obeyed. It was not the disposition of James, however, to mince words, so he shared his spiritual insight at this important point. Wealth is a great danger to the spiritual life. Human beings need a little but are choked by a lot. Riches may buy special status in this world’s clubs but in the church, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, everybody is somebody.”

Is it impossible for the wealthy to enter heaven? No. Is wealth in itself evil? No. Jesus did say in another place that it is the pursuit of money, not money itself, that is the root of all evil. When the prophets spoke God’s Word to the children of Israel they were not condemning wealth per se. What God was condemning were the unjust, unscrupulous, dishonest, and predatory ways in which that wealth was amassed. Eventually God’s wrath fell on Israel. It was in part as a judgment of their apostasy and immorality – they were worshipping false gods and engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior. They were also engaging in gross acts of social, judicial, and economic injustice.

That rich young ruler was not an evil man. We cannot say for sure how he came to be wealthy. For all we know he was the epitome of honesty and integrity. His sin wasn’t being wealthy. It probably had nothing to do with how he had acquired his wealth. His sin was his attitude toward it.

He liked it too much, maybe even loved it too much. His money and the lifestyle it afforded him were like a security blanket. He wanted to follow Jesus, but when push came to shove – when he had to choose between discipleship and his wealth – he, though it made him sad to do so, chose wealth.

Why? His prosperity had become the object of his ultimate trust and concern. That’s apostasy, the worship of a false god. The security his prosperity afforded him was, in his heart, mind, and soul, far too important to risk. His very identity was wrapped up in it. Jesus’ requirement to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor was like a kick in the gut. He could not do it: neither for the sake of the poor nor for the sake of Jesus. Nobody, not even God, was going to take his money away from him.

One must take care in talking to Presbyterians about money. We are, on a per-capita basis, the wealthiest Christians in America, and thus the wealthiest Christians in the world. Much as we’d like to deny it, you and I are filthy rich in comparison to much of our planet’s population. We’re pretty well off when compared to our great-grandparents.

We are wealthy people. That does not make us evil. It does, however, pose a problem. The problem is, that within the context of modern American culture, we don’t realize how well off we are. We confuse our wants with our needs. We’ve come to see luxuries as necessities.

In the process we have drifted more and more toward our own brand of apostasy. We worship things. We, mostly unconsciously, are willing to sell our souls for the social status that having these things gives us. We measure our self-worth on a golden scale. The modern version of the Golden Rule is that those who have the gold rule.

Does that make us evil? Other than in the sense of the doctrine of total depravity, no. Although we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, I doubt that anyone here earns their living by devious or dishonest means. None of us, I’m sure, are getting rich by way of gambling, drug trafficking, maintaining pornographic web sites, or any other method by which human life is degraded and destroyed.

Our sinfulness is much more subtle, and as I said earlier, mostly indulged in unconsciously. Just like the rich young ruler in today’s text was probably a pretty nice guy, we are by and large pretty nice people. We love our families, make honest livings, try to be good citizens and good neighbors, and seek to faithfully follow Jesus Christ. Directly and indirectly we help those in financial or other need. We respond to calls for disaster relief. We can be extremely generous.

But one thing we often lack is a willingness to give up our things: our money, our possessions, all that stuff we continue to accumulate. Our identities are too much wrapped up in what we have. Too much of our time and energies are spent in the quest to buy and own stuff. Too many of our resources are tied up in debts accumulated in the pursuit of the so-called American dream. Sometimes this pursuit prevents us from being good stewards of our own physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Sometimes it interferes with our ability to nurture the important relationships in our lives.

Worst of all it gets in the way of following more fully in the footsteps of our Savior. Faithful Christians though we are, we let our possessions come between God and ourselves. Prosperity becomes more important than discipleship. Social status, keeping up with the Jones’, and hanging on to that false security blanket we call wealth prevent us from being faithful servants of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. We just can’t seem to let it go!

The good news is that God loves us anyway. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ he has provided for our salvation. In Christ he has provided for our eternal security. There is no need for us to try dragging camels through the eyes of needles. It is not God’s will that we kill ourselves in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. He did not create us for the purpose of amassing back breaking wealth or accumulating soul-killing possessions. He created us, in the words of The Shorter Catechism, to “glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Although this sermon is part of a series dealing with financial stewardship, the issue confronting most American Presbyterians goes way beyond how much we give to the church. Our lack of giving to the church is merely a symptom of a deeper problem. The issue confronting us is the faithful stewardship of our very souls. There’s an old bumper sticker that tells us to live simply that others might simply live. Maybe we need to take that phrase to heart, but in a different way. Maybe it’s time for us to live simply so that we can simply live and not just exist. Maybe it’s time for us to set ourselves free to live lives that glorify God and enjoy him forever instead of killing ourselves in the pursuit of what the prophet Isaiah called that which does not satisfy.

Jesus was not being arbitrarily harsh or judgmental when he asked the rich young ruler to give away all of his wealth. He was being the Good Shepherd, a loving pastor whose primary concern that young man’s soul. Jesus wasn’t trying to punish him; he was trying to set him free.

It is easy for the unfettered soul to pass through the eye of eternity’s needle. But if we try to drag the excess baggage of worldly goods into the Kingdom of God, we might as well be trying to drag a camel – or an elephant - through the eye of a needle.

Is that hyperbole? Yes it is. It is the holy hyperbole of a Savior who only wants what’s best for us. Amen.