For the last couple of weekends millions of people in the UK have been watching entertaining programmes like ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ or ‘The X-Factor’. I’ve been doing something similar, but I haven’t watched any of the mentioned, as I personally find them rather boring. For the last three Sunday nights I’ve been following ‘Andrew Marr’s History of the World’. Presented in a fascinating way, it helped me to realise that there were two inventions in ancient times which became the foundation stones of human civilisation: alphabet and money. Both became ways of sharing and exchange: the former made possible the sharing of ideas, the latter the exchange of goods. Now we take these two for granted, but just imagine world without them. If they had not been invented we would have been as developed as some tribes in remote jungles in South America or the Pacific.
There are people who try to present those undeveloped tribes as idyllic communities, living in love and peace, uncontaminated by evil and greed. Such people think that the civilisation has brought destruction of the earthly paradise and has produced class divisions. Although it’s nice it’s an untrue vision of undeveloped tribes. Despite of all its imperfections the world we live in now is much better place. Sure there have been many undesirable side effects of the development of our societies. One of them is the unequal share of wealth among people. The rich are objects of envy as much as contempt from the worse-off.
Seemingly Jesus was against the rich; many times in his parables they were villains of the story. In today’s gospel we can see a young and wealthy man, approaching Jesus and looking for his advice. The man’s social and financial status is not a secret to anyone; certainly his outfit speaks for him. Jesus doesn’t reject him just because of man’s high status; exactly opposite, he enters into a dialogue. The man looks for the way to ‘inherit eternal life’, asking ‘what must I do.’ Jesus’ answer is simple and clear: keep the commandments, those regarding other people – not a word about those on God. When in return the man declares ‘I have kept all these from my earliest days’ Jesus looks at him with love. With love! That’s unthinkable! Jesus looks at a wealthy man in fine clothes and loves him!
The wealth itself is not good or bad; the very existence of wealth is morally neutral. When in the Bible it is condemned it’s because of the abuse and exploitation when being amassed, or when being used as a tool of injustice, like bribery. The Bible doesn’t refuse wealth got by hard and just work; in many places it actually praises those who are diligent and foresighted. St Paul was always appealing for collections in aid of poorer Christian communities, and many times accepted hospitality and financial support from wealthier Christians.
So, Jesus looks at the young rich man with love, not because or despite of his wealth – he does because of the young man’s exemplary moral attitude. Jesus’ suggestion of giving away all his possessions touches a very tender place in the young man’s heart: his own safety. Obscurely we can think we love money for its own sake; but actually deep down having money is our safety net. For generations people have kept money for a rainy day. Thanks to our welfare state many people have stopped doing this – since the 1970s we have used money to sate our appetite for things and sensations.
Money can be a very useful and helpful means to enrich your own life and the lives of others. But it also can be dangerous, offering a delusive sense of social importance and self-sufficiency. The figures on your bank account or the number of banknotes in your wallet does not make you better or worse – only the way you use your means does that.