Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. - Luke 6:20-24 NIV
Most of us don't want to be like Jesus. We say we do, but our actions belie our words. Very few Christians today are confessing that they want to be poor. In fact, the opposite is true: we are being taught to confess that anything we want can be ours.
How then do we reconcile these words from Jesus. "He can't have meant poor"' we ask, "as in the case of no money, could he?" Well, I think he did. This is not the only instance where Jesus addresses the issue of wealth versus poverty.
Indeed, 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.- Luke 18:25, NIV
Lest one think this is not that important, the phrase is repeated verbatim in three of the four gospels: Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10:25 in addition to the above reference in Luke. Jesus' attitude towards wealth is further illustrated in Matthew, Mark, and Luke by the story of the rich young ruler.
A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, 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 commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.”
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said,
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! - Luke 18:18-24 NIV
How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Those are Jesus' words, not mine. Looking around at this nation which seems to become more fallen with each passing day, I often wonder if it isn't our wealth that has brought us to this point. We really don't need God, we can take care of ourselves, we can take care of others. We've got all we could possibly need.
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.”
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said,
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! - Luke 18:18-24 NIV
How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Those are Jesus' words, not mine. Looking around at this nation which seems to become more fallen with each passing day, I often wonder if it isn't our wealth that has brought us to this point. We really don't need God, we can take care of ourselves, we can take care of others. We've got all we could possibly need.
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? - Luke 9:25 NIV
What good is it indeed?
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