I'm rich

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ’Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘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.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ Mark 10:17-25

A few of weeks ago, I was listening to NPR’s Market Place Money talk show and the featured topic of the show was defining what it meant to be “rich” or “wealthy”.
As I listened, I was surprised by how few people believed that they were rich. Even people with a million dollars in the bank were saying things like, “I’m just like the rest of the people in our neighborhood,” and “I’m not rich; Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are rich.” Most of these people insisted on comparing themselves to the richest people they knew. Like the rich man in the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” they couldn’t even see the poor people lying at the entrance to their gated communities.

As the income disparities between rich and poor grow in our own country, the disparity between the average American’s life style and that of the rest of the world is even more dramatic. Depending on who you believe, the median household income in the US is somewhere between 49 and 60K. According to the World Bank, this means that the average American sits easily in the top 0.97 percentile of all money earners in the world. Our standard of living is stratospheric. Our country thrives on consumption and we consume nice things.

I don’t pretend to stand above the fray. I like having nice things. I want my organic, shade-grown, small-batch coffee beans. I want to take a nice vacations. I like living in a nice community, with great schools. I enjoy treating myself to new things and sushi outings rank high on my list of favorite things. Even though my family had to cut back a lot when my husband lost his job, our standard of living hasn’t changed much. We cut out some non-essentials, but, thanks to my husband’s frugality, we continue to have a full life.

That is not to say a million dollars wouldn't be nice. As a kid who grew up with a single mom in Spring Lake, North Carolina, a million dollars still sounds like a lot of money to me. And perhaps my small town upbringing explains why I was so surprised to hear millionaires claim that they were not rich on Market Place Money.

I was not surprised, however, by the anxieties and insecurities expressed by many of those with financial means. Those who had inherited money were particularly plagued by self-doubt and depression. They were afraid of losing all that their parents had worked for; they were afraid that people only liked them for their money; they questioned whether they deserved anything they had.

When the show aired the following week, it was clear that few had any sympathy for the sufferings of the wealthy. Many who called or wrote in to comment on the show were outraged by the implication that wealthy people were worthy of compassion. One person commented that it was sickening for a person sitting in a mansion to whine about how tough their life was. This comment (and others like it) testifies to how strong the myth of money buying happiness continues to be in our cultural consciousness. If people believe that having a high-paying job or inherited wealth removes one’s right to feel pain, it is because they also believe that if they were in possession of those things they would be pain free.

The reactions voiced on the show, sent me to the story about Jesus and the rich young man/ruler. The story is told in all three synoptic gospels, but only Mark’s version has these words: Jesus, looking at him, loved him. I have come to assume that every human being, rich or poor, has pain in their life. In addition to that, I believe that every human being, rich or poor, is loved by God.

Jesus’ advice to the rich guy was clear: give your money away. And the reason Jesus said this is even clearer, given the man’s response: he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Jesus knew that money can take over our lives very quickly. Our drive to consume can consume us. By comparing ourselves to the Bill Gates and Warren Buffets of the world, we lose touch with the world and we lose sight of our own abundance. Before we know it, we are stepping over the poor on our way to getting more stuff. We become “rich in things and poor in soul.”

So for my soul’s sake, let me now confess it: I’m rich. I have a job, health insurance, a house, and my own computer. More than that, I have four beautiful, healthy, above average children and a husband who adores me. More than that, I am in good health and (usually) in my right mind.

I may not have a million in the bank, but by God’s grace: I’m rich.