Farewell to Bad Love

The scriptures referred to are Mark 12:38-44.

Some passages of the Bible have tons of commentary written about them. Some, while not obscure, have very little written about them. Today's passage about the widow's mite is a familiar story but when you try to see if there are any other interesting points in it to explore, you just find things like the fact that the temple treasury, or at least the collection boxes, were adjacent to the women's court, and that the widow's coins were probably worth 1/64 of a laborer's daily wage, less than what he would make in 10 minutes. William Barclay's Daily Study Bible does tell us that the 13 collection boxes were shaped like inverted trumpets and each was designated to a particular aspect of the temple and its maintenance, like for the wood for the sacrifices, the incense, the upkeep of the golden vessels, etc. And then you get a comment to the effect that it is not the amount of money that one gives to God that counts but the proportion of one's money. The rich had enough surplus wealth that they could give large sums without depriving themselves, but the widow in giving her 2 small coins gave a larger share of what she had, in fact, everything she had to live on. That's why Jesus commends her.

What no one seems to comment on is: was this a wise thing for the widow to do? If that is literally all she had, how did she expect to eat? Somewhere, and I can't find where, I read that the widow may have been counting on the weekly collection for the poor made by her synagogue. Members who were the equivalent of our deacons went around to every other member and took donations for the poor. There wasn't enough for everyone, so they decided who needed it the most that week and gave it all to them. The 2 small coins the widow had were not nearly enough to feed her for a week. By literally giving everything she had the widow was more likely to get that week's help. But she could just as easily lose out to, say, a widow with small children. So she really was trusting God.

If this strategy factored into Jesus' commendation of her, he says nothing about it. What impresses him is her sacrificial giving.

None of the commentaries, or the chain references, connect this with another story about giving up everything: that of the rich young ruler, who wants to follow Jesus and claims he has kept all the commandments. We are told, “As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, 'You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'” (Mark 10:21) The young man turns away sadly, unable to part with his wealth. This prompts Jesus to make his famous statement: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25) Peter points out that he and the rest of the twelve disciples have left everything to follow Jesus. Jesus in turn commends their self-sacrifice and promises they will receive it back one hundred times.

Again most commentaries note that this is a specific requirement Jesus makes of this one man who cannot choose following Jesus over his wealth. They say that Jesus doesn't ask this of every Christian. Still Jesus approves of what Peter and the others have done in giving up everything. And none of the commentaries want to deal with what Jesus says about the impossibility of the rich entering God's kingdom. Some do note that by saying it is impossible for humans but possible for God, Jesus is teaching that all, rich or poor, must rely on God's grace to be saved. And I agree. I think this is Jesus' clearest teaching on everyone's need for grace. But no one wants to go into much depth on why it is particularly hard for those who have a lot. Nor on the implications of giving all for God.

One other passage this brings to mind is the story in Acts about an early form of communism among the first Christians. And, yes, that's what it was. The book of Acts says, “The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common....For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales and placing them at the apostles' feet. The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:32, 34-35)

In the next chapter we are told of a couple named Ananias and Sapphira, who sell a piece of property and keep back some of the proceeds. But when Ananias brings the money to the apostles, he doesn't disclose that. Peter says, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!” (Acts 5:3-4) Ananias drops dead on the spot. As does his wife 3 hours later after she also says the donation was the same as the price they got for the land. Then it says, “Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.” (Acts 5:11) Frankly, I would be surprised if it didn't.

Now the point seems to be not that the couple held some money back but that they lied about this and said they had given all the proceeds to the church. Peter said they could do what they wanted with the land; it belonged to them. The same goes for the money they made. Their sin was in lying and making themselves sound more generous than they were. They probably did that because others were giving everything. In other words, that seems to have been the norm in the church at this point.

The verse which seems to inspire this attitude is in Luke. After stating that “Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple,” (Luke 14:27) Jesus gives 2 examples of why it is important to count the cost before doing something. And then he says, “In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions.” (Luke 14:33) So are we Christians to give up all our possessions and wealth? Because one may be forgiven for thinking that is what is being demanded of us.

But there is an interesting word being translated “renounce” in that statement. The Greek word is apotassetai, which is usually rendered “to take leave of” or “say goodbye to.” William Barclay translates this verse, “So, therefore, everyone of you who does not bid farewell to all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” The word literately means “separate” or “set apart.” What difference does that make?

First off, we know Jesus and his disciples had possessions. It would make no sense for him to tell them, when he sent them out two by two in Galilee, not to take a bag, an extra tunic, or money, if they didn't already have them. (Mark 6:7-11) We also know they had money and could buy things to eat (John 4:8) or food for the Passover. (John 13:29)

So I think what Jesus is saying is to bid farewell to your possessions in the sense that you know they aren't really yours to hold onto. Set them aside as belonging to God. The snare for the young rich man is that what he thought he possessed actually possessed him. Mentally his possessions had their hooks in him. He could not imagine giving them up and living without them. He couldn't say goodbye to them and then trust God for his needs as he followed Jesus. And Jesus knew this. When asking the young man if he followed the commandments about how we act towards others—“Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your mother and father,”—the one Jesus omits is “Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” It's the only one of the Ten Commandments that isn't about an action but a desire. I think Jesus knew that this was the man's Achilles' heel. And that's why Jesus told him to sell all he had. But the man just couldn't do that. As it says in Ecclesiastes, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Now in the case of Zacchaeus, Jesus doesn't tell him to divest himself of everything. Jesus just invites himself to the tax collector's home. And when people grumble about the kind of person Jesus is dining with, Zacchaeus says, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household...” (Luke 19:8-9) Zacchaeus gives up a lot, more than half of his wealth, but not all. Again the important thing was not the amount but that the man was able to part with his wealth and do good with it. He was not possessed by his possessions.

We are not told to sell all we have but to say farewell to it all. Don't chase after wealth and possessions. As the book of Proverbs says, “Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off into the sky like an eagle.” (Proverbs 23:4-5) (Obviously the author has seen my bank account!) Instead we are to separate our hearts from money and our other things and set them aside for God's use. As David says to God at the dedication of the gifts for the temple, “Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.” (1 Chronicles 29:14) The attitude we should possess is that everything we have is on loan from God and is therefore to be used for his purposes.

Paul says to Timothy, “...godliness combined with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10) Notice that, like Jesus and Ecclesiastes, Paul is focusing on the desire. It is love of money, the hunger to get rich, that he condemns. Because if making money is your primary goal there are plenty of ways to go about it, provided you don't care how you do it. When the bottom line is your top priority, your value system is inverted. We see this today when hedge funds take over successful businesses, neglect the products or services they provide, extract all the cash they can any way they can and leave the hollowed-out corpse of a once viable company, like Sears, Toy R Us, Simmons Bedding, Payless, and literally dozens of others. Hedge funds and private equity firms provide no goods or services; they just suck money out of businesses that do, killing companies and millions of jobs. That's what love of money does.

Wealth is not a measure of virtue nor poverty a measure of vice. The pandemic caused a lot of people to lose businesses, jobs and money through no fault of their own, while others prospered by taking advantage of the effects of the disaster. 15 billionaires got a total of $1 trillion richer during the pandemic, a more than 60% increase in their wealth.

Though nowhere that rich, there were members of the early church who were wealthy, like Lydia and Philemon. Often the churches met in their houses. What does Paul about them? “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

Christians are not to unnecessarily impoverish themselves but to use their gifts to help those who have unmet needs. That is a very practical and visible way to show God's love to others. As James says, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,' but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16) And in 1 John it says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother or sister in need but has no compassion on them, how can the love of God reside in such a person? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18) God gives to us out of love, and out of love we should share those gifts with others.

Jesus said we cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24) We talk about money working for us, but really we work for money. Money is powerful and power is tempting. As Lord Acton said, power corrupts. The power that money bestows can tempt us to do things, not because we have to, or because we ought to, but simply because we can. Like become a faux astronaut for 10 minutes and 10 seconds at a cost of $5.5 billion. You could use that $5.5 billion to keep 37 million people from starving, or give vaccines to 2 billion people in low-income countries, or help 50 threatened communities adapt to climate change, or house nearly 430,000 people, nearly 3 quarters of the homeless in this country. But people rarely do. Yet the Bible says that helping the poor is lending to God, who will repay us. (Proverbs 19:17) Unfortunately, it is just so easy to succumb to using any money we don't need to do what we desire, rather than what God desires. And that gets in the way of entering the kingdom of the God who is love.

Jesus said, “What benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36) Like hedge funds hollow out companies, the love of money can hollow out a person, leaving a huge spiritual hole in their life. And over and over again we have seen people try to fill that spiritual emptiness with more money and the stuff money can buy. Studies have shown that once you have enough money to meet your needs now and for the foreseeable future, more money doesn't buy much more happiness. Psychologist Dr. Robert Kenny studied 165 households worth $25 million or more. He found that the rich say their money causes them anxiety about their children, uncertainty over whether people love them for themselves or for their money and brings isolation from others.

Love of money is love of something that cannot love you back. It is love of something with the power to corrupt and to enslave those who run after it. We should regard money like salt or vitamin D or calcium or potassium. You need a certain amount to be healthy but too much is unhealthy or even deadly. So if you have more than you need, you should give it to people suffering from a deficiency.

We don't have to give up all our money or possessions to follow Jesus. Zacchaeus didn't. Yet we must keep in mind that we don't actually possess anything in this world, be it money, goods, home or health. They all can be taken from us. One day they will! So we have to bid farewell to it all in our hearts. We must not love or pursue it, but set it apart for God's use, which is to help those who need it. As someone once said, money is like manure. Spread it around and things grow. Make a big pile of it and it just stinks.