Mtr Kelli Joyce

Dear Friends in Christ,

I've heard so many sermons in my life that try to explain away a very clear statement: "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."

We try to explain this statement away because we don't like it. We don't like it because we're rich, or we love someone who is, or we hope to be ourselves someday. But the truth of the matter is, Jesus said what he said. The metaphor isn't complicated. A camel cannot under any circumstances pass through the eye of a needle. And that doesn't seem to bode well for the rich.

I'm not saying that by giving away money we can effectively buy our way to heaven through charitable donations. As Jesus says - if even the most well-resourced people alive don't have enough power to earn God's favor, then we must all put our hope on the truth that with God, all things are possible.

The rich young man whose refusal to sell his possessions is the immediate occasion for today's readings wasn't a scoundrel. He followed the law and kept the ten commandments. And yet, his insistence on remaining wealthy stood between him and God in Christ. He wanted to be good, and he wanted eternal life, but he wanted material comfort and security more.

We don't even have to be particularly rich to choose our money over God. I know for my part that I have hidden ungenerousity behind language of responsibility, and I have overestimated my own "needs" so that I would have less "extra" to give away.

Where poverty leaves God's children hungry and homeless and sick, we have an obligation from God to provide them with food and shelter and healing. Whatever rights we may have in the eyes of society pale in comparison to the responsibilities we have in the eyes of God. Everything on earth belongs to God, and we are, at most, temporary stewards of the good things that God has created. God is watching to see what we will do with them. Will we enjoy comfort at the cost of the continued discomfort of others? Or will we give freely and without conditions, as God has freely given to us?

In peace,
Mtr Kelli