When your Greed owns you...

Mark 10:17-27


The rich man desperately wanted to be right with God.  He had completed the check list of commandments.  What he had not done was live Agape Love with others around him. 
His wealth, like those within empire in that time and in this one, was gained off the exploitation of others in a system that gave more to the ruthless at the expense of everyone else.  One cannot follow Jesus or be right with God if one hurts others for personal gain, whether directly or indirectly.  Jesus offered him penance - make it right.  Give it back.  Change your life.  Repent (metanoia - turn around, change your thinking and direction in life and how you live it).
The man went away shocked that he would not inherit eternal life and grieving because he could not live Kingdom values over empire values, because empire values had helped him gain so much for himself, and he was not willing to give that all up, even for eternal life with God.  He had many possessions (and wanted more).  His Greed Owned him. 


What do we give up when we value our own wealth over the well-being of others who struggle just to survive?  We give up the freedom of knowing that we can trust that God will provide us with enough and that enough IS enough for us, and that we will live a satisifed, thankful life with enough.  We give up the sense of community in knowing that we are contributing to the well-being of those around us in it.  We give up a liberation from being owned by greed and the systems that promote it and that drive our lives into the ground as we try to gain more wealth - always more, regardless of what we already have.  We give up OUR true well-being.  We give up our souls.


Jesus warned His followers about wealth - that being wealthy most probably precludes one from entering the Kingdom.  Why?  Because one does not value the Kingdom, but only empire when one chooses wealth for self over the well-being of all.  His followers' reactions were typical for anyone who has bought the line that God blesses those who are wealthy and powerful and that is why they have their wealth and power.  Wealth and power are not signs of God's favor of some over others, but rather signs of the ruthlessness of people who claim God but actively hurt God's children by benefitting from the systems that provide an abundance for some over others.  Greed is insidious, in that it makes one believe that he/she can be right with self, God and others by living one's life only valuing obtaining more, always more for self at the expense of others.  But God values everyone having enough, and no one being owned by their greed.


Those who are not satisfied with enough, who do not trust that God will provide enough for all including themselves and that it WILL BE enough, cannot be truly thankful for what they have because they are always seeking more as their value.  They cannot be truly connected with sisters and brothers because they are pursuing their own gain even at their expense.  They cannot be right with themselves because they are living in captivity to the acquisition of wealth that will drive them at the expense of their joy, shalom (well-being, completeness and wholeness that produces peace within and around a person) and relationships with others and God.  They cannot be right with God because they have dedicated all love to wealth instead of loving God and neighbor as self (with a healthy love for self).  They cannot be right.


You will know WHEN YOUR GREED OWNS YOU, because you will at some point recognize that you will sacrifice anything or anyone else to gain more wealth or power or status for yourself.  You know that Greed owns you when you are faced with Jesus and His Kingdom values of Agape Love for God and Neighbor and you find excuses and justifications and rationalizations for choosing your desperate, sick need for more wealth, power or status over God and Neighbor.


When your Greed owns you, eventually you will be shocked (like those finding out they are goats and not sheep at the judgment - Matthew 25:31-46) and go away grieving because you cannot break free from what has driven you and now owns you, even to "inherit eternal life." - even to save your soul.


"Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."  Jesus (Luke 12:13-21 - the parable of the Rich Fool)


Pastor Jamie