It is always the same story

In Mark 10:17-31, Jesus is approached by rich young man. The man wants to add eternal salvation to his trophy case after his life of abundance and privilege. Jesus reminded the man that only God is good and pleasing God starts with following the commandments not to harm others. The rich dude was feeling pretty good about his chances for a mansion in the sky. It was then that the Lord threw him a curve.

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Sell your possessions, give all the money to the poor, and become one of His disciples. Illusion shattered. The poor rich man walked away in a funk because he had no interest in parting with his luxuries. Jesus saw that the man loved material things more than God. He challenged the man to shift his focus from wealth to God. The man refused and they parted ways.

The story is not ambiguous. Jesus calls us to put God first and wealth last. It does raise one question. What would the Lord think about our country with the poor called worthless freeloaders while the rich are exalted? Many Christians are being taught that the poor deserve to suffer and the rich deserve more and more and more. Morality is now limited to matters of sexual intercourse; you are free to worship materialism as long as you toss a few pennies to the poor and pay a tidy tax to your friendly neighborhood church.

If that characterization of America in the 21st century seems unfair, please let me know what I have missed. Be sure to explain things like this:

WASHINGTON -- After bailing out a global financial crisis, enacting a series of major tax cuts for the wealthy and waging two unpaid-for wars, the U.S. government is some $16 trillion in debt. Now, in exchange for paying off a bit of that debt by returning some of the tax rates to their previous levels, Democrats have offered, in a series of high-profile negotiations, to slash trillions in spending, much of it hitting the elderly, the poor and the middle class. This process of tranaferring wealth up the economic ladder is known in Washington as a "grand bargain."

The one thing our elected officials agree on is to sell out the most vulnerable so as not to displease the "job creators." Evangelical Christians cheer loudly for politicians that promise prosperity (for the privileged few chosen ones).

Or how about the CEO that was at the helm when bad business decisions threw a megabanking corporation into insolvency but walked away with his pockets overflowing with cash. It makes you wonder how many Christians believe that God helps those that help themselves to everything. With all the slobbering praise of capitalism, you might be tempted to think that we worship capital, that Jesus missed the mark. He should have fist-pumped the rich man for paying lip service to God while being thankful for all his treasures.

You have to admire the chutzpah of being able to call "transferring wealth up the economic ladder" a "grand bargain" for the greater good. I wonder how many Christians could recognize Jesus if He appeared among them. Something tells me that the Lord can spot hypocrisy from a mile away.

Now is the chance for followers of Jesus to remind others that you cannot serve God and Mammon. If they have any doubt, just tell them that Jesus said it was impossible. It is their loss if they do not believe you.