One way to think about Jesus and money is to consider the old joke about three types of people in the world. 1. Some people don't know what Jesus said about money and they have no interest in finding out. 2. The second group are the believers who care very much. What Jesus said about money becomes the foundation for what they think and feel about money. 3. The people who know what Jesus said about money-or at least they think they know-and wish they didn't. If you want an example of the third type of person, consider the statement I overheard at a seminar about becoming a millionaire. As I was going back to my seat after a break, I passed by a man who was asking the speaker a question. He said: "How can you say it is good to be rich. Jesus said that a rich man can't get into Heaven." This one comment about a rich man and the Kingdom of Heaven is probably the single most misunderstood verse about money among all of the words of Jesus. And it is my candidate for the Bible verse most likely to produce people who are afraid of becoming rich out of fear for their own salvation. The story of the rich man occurs three times in the Bible. In each case, Jesus talked about a rich man and the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, Jesus did not say that a rich man can't get into Heaven. This means that the upset student at the seminar had misquoted the story. And by confusing the Kingdom of Heaven with Heaven, he had missed the real point of the story. The essential point is that the Kingdom of Heaven is equivalent to Heaven. When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, he was not referring to an afterlife. The phrase Kingdom of Heaven concerns life on Earth. What is the remedy for someone like the man at the seminar, who was sure that Jesus taught that a rich man cannot get into Heaven? The solution is context. The words of Jesus must be put into the context of the story. And then the story must be put into the context of the economic situation in which Jesus lived. This is the way to liberate people who are sure they know what Jesus said about money but wish they didn't. Otherwise, you will be like the man at the seminar. He had misunderstood the point of the story because he confused Heaven with the Kingdom of Heaven. He was stuck in an "Eye of the Needle" of his own making. When Jesus told the story, he was condemning an unjust economic system because it created poverty. He didn't say that the rich cannot get into Heaven and he didn't say that the only way to get into Heaven is to be poor.
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One way to think about Jesus and money is to consider the old joke about three types of people in the world.
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