The Deceitfulness of Wealth

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Herb Montgomery

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The Deceitfulness of Wealth

Herb Montgomery | July 14, 2023

To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here.

“But wealth creates in us a kind security that isolates us from fellow members of our human family. Community, on the other hand, is a way of finding security to weather potential future hardships together. Even evolutionarily, species that have proven to be the “fittest” over time, are species that don’t go it alone but that practice care for vulnerable members rather than some taking care of themselves at the expense of others.”

Our reading this week is from two sections of Matthew chapter 13:

“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Matthew 13:1-9)

and

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:18-23)

The author of Mathew has mostly taken this section from the gospel of Mark (Mark 4:1-34). And for good reason. There is plenty here that it was important for the early Jesus community to remember.

The parable of the sower gives us a special glimpse into what the gospel Jesus himself preached actually was. What stands out to me is that of all the obstructions that the early Jesus community could have named to following Jesus, all the temptations that could have been mentioned, and all the sins that this parable could have railed against, the one thing named is “the deceitfulness of wealth.”

I ask why? How does wealth deceive and obstruct us from following Jesus? Why was it at the top of the list for the early Jesus community?

Wealth does not obstruct the contemporary gospel message of getting to heaven. You can “get to heaven” in many contemporary gospel narratives and still be immensely wealthy. But in Jesus’ gospel of wealth redistribution and resource-sharing from the haves to the have nots, it becomes immediately apparent how wealth obstructs. The desire to build or hold wealth is directly opposed to giving that wealth away to those negatively impacted in a system built to benefit a few at the expense of the many.

Jesus’ gospel was about creating a different way of being human together, here, now. It was not about a post mortem destination. Jesus was casting the vision of a beautiful community of people dedicated to making sure no one was pushed to the edges or undersides of their community, no one was made vulnerable, and every member of the community held a mutual commitment to share what they could to ensure everyone was cared for.

This was what the gospel authors called the “empire” or “kingdom” of God, a community in which God reigned. It was a community where people came first. So how does the deceitfulness of wealth obstruct this?

First, a community where God reigns according the gospel stories is a community where people are of a greater priority than profit or wealth-building. This is why the gospels repeatedly state that in a community such as the one Jesus describes, we have to choose between God and money. It’s one or the other.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6.24)

This was also the practice of the early believers in the book of Acts:

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had . . . there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” (Acts 4:32-35)

But how is wealth deceitful?

Hoarded wealth gives us a sense of security, but this kind of security leaves us alone, isolated, on our own, each of us in our silos of hoarded resources, feeling that we will be able to take care of ourselves but living against the grain of reality and how we survive as a planet, together. As we discussed weeks ago, we are all connected. We are all part of one another. No one survives alone, and if there is such a thing as social salvation, no one is saved unless we all are saved.

But wealth creates in us a kind security that isolates us from fellow members of our human family. Community, on the other hand, is a way of finding security to weather potential future hardships together. Even evolutionarily, species that have proven to be the “fittest” over time, are species that don’t go it alone but that practice care for vulnerable members rather than some taking care of themselves at the expense of others.

This, too, was a common theme in the early Jesus community. Consider the following words from 1 Timothy:

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.” (1Timothy 6:17)

What does it mean in this context to “put their hope in God”. James Robinson, author of books on the historical Jesus and the gospel that Jesus taught, gives insights on what it might have meant for believers to “put their hope in God.”

“Such ‘security’ [or hope] should be replaced by God reigning, which means both what I trust God to do (to activate you to share food with me) and what I hear God telling me to do (to share clothes with you). We should not carry money while bypassing the poor or wear a backpack with extra clothes and food while ignoring the cold and hungry lying in the gutter. This is why the beggars, the hungry, the depressed are fortunate: God, that is, those in whom God rules, those who hearken to God, will care for them. The needy are called upon to trust that God’s reigning is there for them (“Theirs is the kingdom of God”) . . . Jesus’ message was simple, for he wanted to cut straight through to the point: trust God to look out for you by providing people who will care for you, and listen to him when he calls on you to provide for them.” (James M. Robinson, The Gospel of Jesus, Kindle Location 71)

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians also suggests how the members of early Jesus communities practiced this:

“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality.” (2 Corinthians 8:13)

How can wealth be used, today, not to give us individual, privatized security but to build community where our security is in each other, in people? The Jesus story is offering us two options, two competing places in which to “put our trust.” We can either put our hope in hoarding money against potential future hardships, or we can put our hope in a community of people who are dedicated to making sure their resources care for those in their community. Jesus’ way is about facing the future together, rather than alone. It’s about having each other’s back.

Here in the United States, we are continuing to move toward a society that leaves each person on their own. From Supreme Court rulings to local political supermajorities, we are shaping a country in such a way that leaves people on their own to pull themselves up by bootstraps they don’t even have. Those our system makes most vulnerable are the most being harmed.

Some societies and countries are deeply committed to democracy and also have strong social commitments to one another. They make sure community members’ needs are met. We, too, can still practice the freedom of democracy while we move toward making sure everyone in our democracy has what they need to thrive. These are not mutually exclusive goals. In fact, making sure everyone in our democracy is on level ground is deeply democratic in itself.

This call also harmonizes much more with the call of Jesus to work toward shaping a world where we are committed not to isolated, self-sufficiency in facing survival challenges on our own, but to practice the Golden Rule, love our neighbor as ourselves, and share with those who are in need. As the books of Acts says, “Each according to their ability, and each according to their needs.”

HeartGroup Application

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s eSight/Podcast episode with your HeartGroup.

2. How do you wish our society practiced more socially responsible care. Share that with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.

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Also I want to share that we are partnering in a new weekly YouTube show called “Just Talking.” Each week, Todd Leonard and I will be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.

And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.

My new book, Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels is now also available at renewedheartministries.com

Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

I love each of you dearly,

I’ll see you next week.

Now Available at Renewed Heart Ministries!

Herb’s new book Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels, is available at renewedheartministries.com.

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