Security Without Money

Mark 10: 17-31
Jim from B.C.

Perhaps you've noticed, as I have, that the Financial Times, the Financial Post, the Report on Business (whose acronym, significantly, is: ROB) and various other financial magazines and journals are getting bigger and thicker; and financial advisors and investment brokers are getting richer all the time; and the securities and investment business has been growing by leaps and bounds.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. The world is awash in money. More than a trillion dollars a day moves around the world in money markets ALONE: that's just investors exchanging one currency for another, betting that the currency they buy will rise in value over against others— a trillion dollars a day moving around the world in money markets alone!

A lot of people have been buying U.S. dollars, because the U.S. dollar is considered a "safe haven". We might well ask ourselves: "How much security is there in the state of the U.S. economy? For that matter, how much security is there in all those rectangular pieces of paper whose value comes from people's TRUST in it? A few months ago, Microsoft Corporation's stock plummeted, and Bill Gates, whose fortune is mostly in Microsoft stocks, had 20 billion dollars "trimmed" from his fortune in one day.

Our Canadian government, also, has been getting uncomfortably rich, and people like our Finance Minister, Paul Martin, are worried about what to do with this fast-growing federal budget surplus. A conservative estimate, I read, is that the budget surplus accumulated over the next five years will be over 95 billion dollars.

95 billion dollars sounds like a lot of money. So I guess we can sit back and relax, ‘eh? We're rich, and therefore we're secure! Ha!

I remember a year or two ago, when that Penticton couple won that 8 or 10 million dollar lottery prize, how envious people were. And every time you walk along the Okanagan Lake, on Lakeshore Drive, you can see that enormous, multi-million dollar house they built. I'm sure most people think: here's a couple who've got it made! But, what if the economy went bust? What if this couple's mutual funds or investments took a dive? What if that house were destroyed in an earthquake or other act of God, leaving them uninsured? What if they divorced?

It raises the question: "Where does our security lie? Is there any such thing as security?

Jesus once told a parable about a rich farmer, who saw the money rolling in and so he built bigger storehouses for his possessions. And he said to himself, 'Self, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' [Jesus went on to say] So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Death comes, and it's all gone. Our only security is in God our Creator, who said in Isaiah 45: "I form light and create darkness, Imake weal and create woe; I, Yahweh, do all these things."

Today's Gospel Lesson is another of many Scripture texts about wealth and possessions. A rich young man accosts Jesus and questions him. Jesus immediately picks up on his flattery and sucking up, and directs his attention towards GOD'S goodness. Then, the man starts talking about himself, evidently hoping for Jesus' approval. "What a wonderful, moral character I've been, kept all the commandments and so on (the implication being: "I must therefore, be saved— in tight with God). Jesus replies, "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." Our text says: "The man was shocked at Jesus' words, and went away grieving, for he had many possessions."

Jesus saw that this rich man (as with many people today) did not possess wealth; his wealth possessed him. Our last Wednesday evening session was on helping people with addictions. It seems that one can become addicted to almost anything, even to money. Money so easily gets hold of us, captures us, binds us, and enslaves us.

Jesus said money can become the god Mammon, and we can easily worship the gift and forget about the Giver. Instead of keeping the First Commandment in which God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," we are tempted and seduced to fear, love, and trust money above all things. Luther said, if you want to know who your God really is, just ask yourself what you love and trust most of all. Where do you find your security, your status, your feeling of freedom, your comfort, your peace of mind? From your financial cushion? Or from the eternal of God, who came to earth as Jesus the Christ, and died for you to prove that his love is total?

We're human. We're tempted to trust the dollar that we can see, rather than the God we can't see. But it's a foolish choice.

The rich young man in today's Gospel Lesson would have had far more security in laying up treasures in heaven than on earth, in trusting in GOD'S riches: his generosity and mercy and power to save.

How DO we lay up treasures in heaven? According to Jesus, by giving away earthly treasures to please him; by spending what we have on those who don't have; by sacrificing house or property or even family (as Jesus suggests in the lesson) in order to receiveback a hundred times more, even in this life, and in the age to come eternal life.

I should make it clear that nowhere in the Bible does it say that money is evil. God showered wealth on Abraham and Joseph and David and Solomon and many others, as a BLESSING. OUR generation and OUR COUNTRY has also been blessed with great wealth, and it has enriched our lives immensely! But it has also impoverished our lives, spiritually and in other ways. It has led to the illusion that we don't need others because we have money. It has led to narcissism and greed and shallow, distrustful relationships. It has led to a callous and careless attitude toward the environment, and the fragmentation of community life and family life.

North Americans who visit South America are often amazed at the happiness and joy the poor people have there, and the rich family and community life they have. It seems that many who are last have become first, and the first last.

My question to you is, if you had no money, would you still be rich? Would you still be happy? You would, if your treasure is in heaven, eternal and incorruptible, and if your heart belongs to God, and your security rests in God's love for you, guaranteed in Jesus Christ. With that, you are rich no matter what your circumstances.

One way for me to convey this message of Jesus is to announce that you've already won the lottery. All the riches of heaven, and all the blessings of earth are yours as a gift, including money. St. Paul said, "All things are yours, whether . . . the world or life or death or the present or the future--all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." If it isn't in our hot little hands right now, it will be one day!

Praise God from whom alone we have security! Amen.