Greed: The Neglected Commandment

 

J. R. R. Tolkien's dragon from The Hobbit, infected with "dragon sickness" or greed

A billionaire President became a hero of evangelical Christians despite his wildly unChristian personal morality, including two divorces, unrepentant adultery, counterpunching, holding of grudges, and habitual name-calling--all condemned in the Gospels. This variant of Christianity emphasizes opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage (and, more recently, transsexualism), issues on which Jesus is silent. We may speculate what Christ's teachings might have been on these issues, but making a hero out of a billionaire ignores the most frequent and explicit of Christian teachings.

One of his strongest teachings about wealth, the story of the Rich Young Man, appears in three gospels. Taken literally, Jesus says that the wealthy can't saved unless they donate everything to the poor: 

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother." "Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth (Mark 10:17-22, NIV).

The gospels of Matthew (19:16-22) and Luke (18:18-23) repeat this, with Luke doubling down by calling the rich man an archon 'ruler', a term that Jesus uses to describe Satan (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). There is ambiguity in this story, however. Jesus is said to "love" the man for keeping Moses' commandments. However inadequate, this is good. And immediately after the story in all three gospels, hearers ask Jesus how, with such strict requirements, anyone can be saved, and Jesus replies in two ways--one emphasizing the sinfulness of wealth, the other God's ability to forgive even that grave sin.

Initially, Jesus says, in effect, that the rich can't be saved: "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 10:25, NIV). This is obviously hyperbolic, but its message is harsh. Then Jesus softens this by allowing that "all things are possible with God" (20:27). Still, even if miraculous mercy can rescue a billionaire, any sin it takes a miracle to forgive should be avoided by Jesus' followers and repented by donating to the poor. Between these two extremes, inevitable damnation and amazing grace, Jesus leaves no doubt that, as Paul will write later, the love of money (literally 'silver-love') is the root of evils (1 Timothy 6:10).

The Sermon on the Mount makes this point directly--Don't accumulate wealth--and finally associates the pursuit of money with idolatry, the ultimate sin in the Jewish tradition:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . 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 6:19-21, 24, NIV). A self-made billionaire must be an infidel.

Like the birds and flowers, believers trust God, not wealth (Matthew 6:25-33, Luke 12:25-31). God in Heaven may be personified as a king, but the Christian God-on-earth is the opposite, a homeless man condemned to die as a criminal. Again in Matthew: "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (8:20, NIV.)

Luke's gospel most often condemns wealth, with at least eight passages on the subject. The Beatitudes are spiritualized in Matthew, where the blessed are poor in spirit and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Luke's Jesus, however, is bluntly economic: "Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry for you shall be filled" (6:20-21, NIV). That the rich can't keep their material fortunes and rely on spiritual conversion to save them is suggested a few verses later: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. . . . Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back (6:24, 30, NIV). Like much of Jesus' teaching, these texts may be extreme language to shock people out of complacency, but it is nonsense to suppose that a man who does the exact opposite, amassing billions and habitually filing lawsuits, is a follower of Christ.

Appearing only in Luke is the parable of the Rich Fool who produces a crop surplus and, rather than sharing with his neighbors, builds larger barns to hoard his grain in. He imagines that this will give him security and says to himself, 'You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'" But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" (Luke 12:19-20, NIV).

Luke tells later a darker story with the same moral, going further to say that not sharing with the poor--even enjoying luxury in their presence--is grounds for damnation:

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire." But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment." Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them"  (Luke 20-31, NIV).

Jesus reminds his hearers that his commandments to avoid luxury and help the poor go back to laws attributed to Moses: I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land (Deuteronomy 15:11, NIV). The reason the prophet Ezekiel gives for the destruction Sodom is not the one associated with its name: Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy (16:49, NIV). The faithful are called, not just to charity, but to avoid luxuries. Predicting the God's punishment, the prophet Amos warns the Jews: You put off the day of disaster and bring near a reign of terror. You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves (Amos 6:3-4, NIV). Luxury goods, the trappings of wealth, are evils, invitations to destruction: The greatest among you must become like the youngest, the leader like one who serves (Luke 22:26, NIV).

Luke tells one more story on this theme, about a rich tax collector named Zacchaeus. Tax collectors, who served the Roman occupation by collecting money from Jews, were regarded as traitors and had a reputation for dishonesty. A short man, the tax collector ran ahead and climbed a tree so that he could see Jesus, who surprises him by saying, “Zacchaeus, come down. I must stay at your house today.” The people are outraged that Jesus dines with an outcast, but his gesture converts the man. Presumably at table, Zacchaeus stands and says, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount" (Luke 19:5-8, NIV). This is smaller than the sacrifice demanded of the Rich Young Man, but Jesus declares that "Today, salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9, NIV). This suggests that Jesus exaggerated for effect in his response to the Rich Young Man (Mark 10:17-22), exposing the man's shallowness. In contrast, Zacchaeus' gesture is a real and significant, signaling a change in heart. What a seismic shift it would be in society, alleviating the sufferings of poverty, if the wealthy gave even half their possessions to the poor.

Condemnation of accumulated wealth permeates the New Testament. Alongside his instructions to respect marriage, show hospitality, and visit prisoners, the author of Hebrews writes: Keep your lives free from the love of money (13:5, NIV). And James phrases it more forcefully: Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you (James 5:1, NIV). We read in Acts that the earliest Christians held goods in common, selling everything they owned and giving it to the church. Members who held back, Acts tells us, were twice struck dead (Acts 5:1-10). Christian communism was later abandoned, maybe because of reluctant donors and corruptible wardens, but it emphasizes the gospel onus on private  wealth. Wealth is a Christian evil.

So what does this mean? Like many people, I am agnostic on much of the theology, but I revere Jesus as a moral teacher, Paul and Moses less so. If Jesus says Jump, I may not ask How high? but I'm ashamed to stand still. If I read that he tells me to give all I have to the poor (or in Zacchaeus' case, half)--to deliberately impoverish myself--that makes me uncomfortable. 

It's easy to condemn a billionaire politician as an off-the-charts non-Christian, but what about a couple of retired teachers drawing a combined income above the national average. My wife and I could donate half and not starve, especially if we moved to my native Alabama, where the cost of living is low. Don't we live in luxury even if our bed isn't adorned with ivory? I humor myself by supposing that Jesus doesn't frame categorical absolutes but gestures toward attitudes. Even so, he shows me my imperfections even if I look up (or down) at the dramatically more imperfect.