Perspective: Not a Country Club

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

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Not a Country Club

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3 (NRSV)

There's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to Heaven
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for

From "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin

I can recall, in my thirty-six years of life, going to a country club only twice.  On one occasion, I was invited by relatives to either a birthday party or an anniversary party that was held at a country club.  On another occasion, I was invited to by an acquaintance.  For many years, my grandmother sewed curtains, and one day one of her recurring clients, who happened to be a member of a country club, once invited my grandmother and I to join her there for lunch.  I had just graduated from high school, and this client wanted to offer me some advice regarding college and scholarships.

What both of my experiences at country clubs have in common is that I was invited.  I was not a member.  Not all country clubs are the same, but what they all have in common is that memberships are expensive.  Yearly dues are in the thousands of dollars.  To be a member of a country club, one must have a significant amount of disposable income.  For this reason, most people don't have memberships to country clubs.

In the Gospels, we read that the Kingdom of God can be compared to a lot of things.  One time, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a vineyard owner who pays all of his harvesters the same amount, whether they worked one hour or twelve hours.¹  At another time, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed, some yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, and a pearl merchant.²  One thing to which the Kingdom of God cannot be compared is a country club.  In fact, the Kingdom of God is very much the opposite.  To join a country club, one must have wealth, but, according to Jesus, the Kingdom of God is a place where wealth is actually a hindrance.

One day, Jesus says to the Disciples, "I assure you that it will be very hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  In fact, it's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God's kingdom."³  There are different interpretations regarding what Jesus meant when He referred to "a camel" or "the eye of a needle," but basically Jesus is suggesting that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.

William Barclay suggests that "riches encourage a false independence."⁴  He writes,

If people are wealthy, they are apt to think that everything has its price, that if they want a thing enough they can buy it, that if any difficult situation descends upon them they can buy their way out of it.  They can come to think that they can buy their way into happiness and buy their way out of sorrow.⁵

Before Jesus describes how difficult it is for wealthy people to enter the Kingdom of God, He is approached by a rich man who asks Him, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?"⁶  As a man of means, he seems to have a "country club" mindset.  He thinks that there is something he can do - some price he can pay - to gain admission to the Kingdom that Jesus has been describing.  Wealth seems to open doors in the kingdoms of this world, but it apparently closes doors in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus instructs the rich man to rid himself of his wealth, saying, "Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.  Then you will have treasure in heaven.  And come follow me."  The rich man walks away, dejected.⁷

Upon hearing that it is extremely difficult for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God, one of the shocked Disciples asks, "Then who can be saved?"  Jesus replies, "It's impossible for human beings.  But all things are possible for God."⁸  Wealthy people focus on what their wealth makes possible for them, but Christ calls us to focus instead on what God makes possible for us.

If the rich man had followed Jesus' instructions, he would have lost not only his wealth but also his independence, but he would have gained something else, a newfound dependence on God.  Barlcay writes,

The basis of all Christianity is an urgent sense of need; when people have many things on earth, they are in danger of thinking that they do not need God; when they have few things on earth, they are often driven to God because they have nowhere else to go.⁹

Behind the pursuit of wealth is perhaps a pursuit of independence.  In other words, we want the means to do the things we want to do.  The Kingdom of God is nothing like the kingdoms of this world, so we need to change our mindset.  In other words, we need to repent.  There is nothing we can do to purchase admission into God's Kingdom or in any way entitle ourselves to it.  We are fully dependent on Christ's invitation.


Notes:

1. Matthew 20:1-16
2. Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46
3. Matthew 19:23-24 (CEB)
4. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 253
5. Barclay, p. 254
6. Matthew 19:16 (CEB)
7. Matthew 19:21-22 (CEB)
8. Matthew 19:25-26 (CEB)
9. Barclay, pp. 255-256

The photograph of Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California was taken by Dan Perry and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Lenten Reflection: That Woman Jezebel

The following is the fifth in a series of reflections on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation.

For more reflections on these letters, check out the hub page for the series.

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

That Woman Jezebel

A Reflection on the Letter to the Church in Thyatira

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:

I know your works - your love, faith, service, and patient endurance.  I know that your last works are greater than the first.  But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols.  I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication.  Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead.  And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.  But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call "the deep things of Satan," to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; only hold fast to what you have until I come.  To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,

I will give authority over the nations;

to rule them with an iron rod,

as when clay pots are shattered -

even as I also received authority from my Father.  To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.  Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Revelation 2:18-28 (NRSV)

Ruin my life, the plans I have made

Ruin desires for my own selfish gain

Destroy the idols that have taken Your place

Till it's You alone I live for

You alone I live for

From "Ruin Me" by Jack Johnson

Christ acknowledges the love, faithfulness, service, and spiritual growth of the Christians in Thyatira, yet He calls them out for tolerating someone He identifies as "Jezebel."  This false prophet, He alleges, is influencing believers to do things they should not be doing.  Using some very harsh language, Christ promises judgment for this person and for anyone who follows her teachings.

Like Balaam, who is mentioned in the letter to Pergamum, Jezebel is a figure in the Old Testament.  She was not a good person, to say the least.

Jezebel was the princess of Sidon.  When she married Ahab, the king of Israel, he started worshiping Ba'al, one of the gods of her people, even building a temple to the deity in the capital city.¹  Jezebel had many of the prophets who remained faithful to God put to death, and she forced many more into hiding.²  At one point, Ahab started coveting a vineyard that belonged to one of his subjects.  The owner refused to sell the vineyard because the sale of property was forbidden by God, so Jezebel arranged to have him executed under false charges of blasphemy and sedition so that Ahab could take possession of the vineyard.³

The person identified as Jezebel in the letter to Thyatira is, according to Christ, instructing people in the church "to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols," as are the people He compares to Balaam in the previous letter.  Note that, throughout the Bible, unfaithfulness to God is compared to marital unfaithfulness.  Also note that, in the ancient Roman world, meat sold in the marketplace came from animals slaughtered in sacrifices to Roman gods, making the consumption of meat problematic to early Christians.

In this letter, Christ is identified as "the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze."  Such imagery would have appealed to people in Thyatira, since the city was the home to a number of trade guilds, one of which was made up of bronze and copper smelters.⁴  According to William Barclay, "Abstention from guild membership was equivalent to commercial suicide."⁵  Participation in these trade guilds meant partaking in communal meals.  These meals were likely held in temples to Roman deities, and, at these meals, meat was served that had likely been offered to Roman gods.⁶  Obviously, the Christians in Thyatira faced a dilemma.

For a short time, while I was a teenager, I had a part-time job at the company where my mother worked at the time.  At first, I stuffed fliers into envelopes for mailing, but later on I stuffed catalogs into boxes.  One day, I wore a Christian-themed baseball cap to work.  Christian-themed apparel often features a brand logo or something else from pop culture that is tweaked slightly so that it says something about Jesus.  At that time, the Y2K computer bug had been in the news frequently, so my hat read, "Y2K: Say yes to the King."

That day, one of my mother's coworkers read my hat as he walked by, and asked me, "Who's the King?"

"Jesus!" I replied.

"There you go!" he said affirmingly.

In many parts of the world, Christians face real persecution, but, in my neck of the woods, referring to Jesus as "King" or "Lord" is not at all controversial.  I live in a region of the United States known as the Bible Belt, where Christianity is simply part of the culture.  Calling Jesus "King" is not at all out of the ordinary.  The early Christians, on the other hand, confessed that "Jesus Christ is Lord" in a culture where they were expected to declare that "Caesar is lord."  There can be only one Lord, so, when one says that Jesus is Lord, one is also saying that Caesar is not lord, and there were serious consequences for defying Caesar.

Balaam and Jezebel are used symbolically in these letters because they were both people from the Hebrew Scriptures who enticed the people of God into doing things that God did not want God's people to do.⁷  M. Eugene Boring suggests that "the 'Nicolatians,' 'Balaam,' and 'Jezebel' promoted the 'progressive' doctrine of accommodation to the culture around them."⁸  He writes,
The Nicolatians and related groups taught that Christians should attend the cultural festivals, buy and eat the sacrificial meat sold in the marketplace, and participate in the cultural lifestyle.  For Israel's prophets and for John, such accommodations to pagan ways was a betrayal of the faith, equivalent to idolatry and fornication, to which John may not have been alluding only figuratively.⁹

Christianity might be part of the culture here in the United States of America, but American Christians are still tempted to worship and serve false American gods.  Many Christians in America like to claim that they live in a Christian nation, but, personally, I beg to differ.  I say this, not because the United States Constitution forbids the establishment of a national religion, but because the USA is a capitalist nation, meaning that the Almighty Dollar is lord.  I suspect that even most of us professing Christians in America base most of our decisions not on what Christ is calling us to do but on what is most financially advantageous.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth."¹⁰  As a friend of mine once said, Jesus does not leave us any wiggle room in this regard.  What Jesus says about wealth could also be said about power, fame, or anything else one might pursue in life.  There can be only one lord of a person's life.

For American Christians, faithfulness to Christ means not simply saying that He is Lord, which is tolerated and even expected, but actually living as if He is our Lord, which is truly countercultural.  Christ identifies Himself as "the one who searches minds and hearts."  Perhaps, during this Lenten season, we who profess to be Christians should examine our motivations, so that we may see if Christ really is the Lord of our lives.

---

Questions for reflection:

• What kind of "gods" does the culture around you try to seduce you into serving?
• What does it mean to actually live as if Jesus is Lord?
• What might it cost you to live in this way?

Notes:

1. 1 Kings 16:29-33
2. 1 Kings 18:4
3. 1 Kings 21:1-16
4. N.T. Wright.  Revelation for Everyone.  2011, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 25
5. William Barclay.  The Revelation of John, Volume 1, Revised Edition.  1976, The Westminster Press.  p. 107
6. ibid.
7. M. Eugene Boring.  Revelation (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching).  2011, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 31
8. ibid.
9. ibid.
10. Matthew 6:24 (CEB)

The Almightier was drawn by Carl Hassmann and was featured in Puck magazine in 1907.  It has been released to the public domain.

Lenten Reflection: Even Though You Are Rich

The following is the third in a series of reflections on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation.

For more reflections on these letters, check out the hub page for the series.

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Even Though You Are Rich

A Reflection on the Letter to the Church in Smyrna

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life:

I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich.  I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.  Do not fear what you are about to suffer.  Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction.  Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.  Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.  Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.

Revelation 2:8-11 (NRSV)

Cure your children's warring madness

Bend our pride to your control

Shame our wanton, selfish gladness

Rich in things and poor in soul

From "God of Grace and God of Glory" by Harry Emerson Fosdick

Christ, in His letter to the Christians in Smyrna, acknowledges their poverty, and He recognizes that they have been the subject of slander by a group He calls a "synagogue of Satan."  Before I continue, I want to acknowledge that some of the language in this letter has probably been used in antisemitic ways in the past.  Remember that many of the early Christians were also Jews.  This letter reflects, in N.T. Wright's words, "a struggle within Judaism, not against Judaism."¹

Note that one meaning of the Hebrew word satan is "accuser."  At the beginning of the Book of Job, when the heavenly beings present themselves to God, someone identified as Satan arrives and lobs accusations against the titular character.²  Wright suggests that there was a religious group in Smyrna that similarly lobbed accusations against the Christians in Smyrna.  He writes, "Perhaps it was accusations like that, with social and political consequences, that had given Smyrna's Christians a taste of poverty in an otherwise rich city."³

Though Christ acknowledges the poverty of the Christians in Smyrna, He tells them that they are actually rich.  He warns them that they will soon face persecution, but He promises a crown of life to those who remain faithful in the midst of it.

The letter to the Church in Smyrna is a letter about courage and perseverance.  That said, I think it is also an invitation to rethink what it means to be rich.

When I was a child, one of my favorite television shows was Fraggle Rock.  Truth be told, I'm still rather fond of it.  The show was created by renowned puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets.  Fraggles were essentially Muppets who lived in underground caves.

On one early episode,⁴ two of the Fraggles - Gobo and Red - find a treasure map that leads to the Ancient Treasure of the Fraggles.  At first, they believe that the treasure is one million diamonds, and they are initially hesitant to tell anyone about the map, because they know that, if they tell more Fraggles, they will have to divide the treasure with them.  Eventually, they realize that they will need help finding the treasure, as it is hidden in a dangerous place, so they tell their three best friends and agree to split the treasure five ways.

During the night, the Fraggles find the treasure and bring it back to their home.  Gobo says to his friends, "In a minute, we may all be rich," and he proceeds to open the treasure chest.  Inside the chest, the Fraggles see a sparkling gold cylinder.  The cylinder starts turning, and the chest starts playing music.  The treasure chest is actually a music box, and the Ancient Treasure of the Fraggles is actually a song.  The Fraggles realize that they have to share this treasure with everyone, so they take the music box to the Great Hall.  The other Fraggles in Fraggle Rock awaken, gather in the Great Hall, and begin singing along to the music box.

Gobo and Red look around them at all the Fraggles who have gathered around the treasure they found, and Red says, "You're right, Gobo.  We are rich."

Gobo and Red thought that the treasure they were seeking would be something they would not want to share, but the treasure they found turned out to be something they could not keep to themselves.  Furthermore, they started to realize that they were rich even before they found the treasure.

Jesus begins His sermon on the mount with an announcement of blessing upon the people He calls "poor in spirit," saying that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.⁵  Later on, in the same sermon, He encourages us not to collect "treasures on earth," which don't last forever, but to instead collect "treasures in heaven," which cannot be taken from us.⁶  Some people believe that Jesus is saying that the good things we do in this life will be transformed into literal riches in the next.  I believe that Jesus might be saying something else.  Jesus teaches us to pray that God's kingdom comes to the earth and that God's will is done on earth as in heaven.⁷  One way we can prepare for God's will to be done on earth as in heaven is to start treasuring in our hearts what is valued in heaven.

Paul writes to one church about having "treasure in clay jars."⁸  The treasure of which he speaks is the message of hope we call the Gospel, and the clay jars are the ordinary, imperfect, lackluster lives through which we embody and share the Gospel message.  In other letters, Paul writes about the spiritual gifts that enable us to work together as the Body of Christ,⁹ which are simultaneously gifts God gives to us and gifts God gives through us.  These are treasures we are not meant to keep to ourselves.

Personally, I tend to feel poor when I compare my life to the lives of others, but, when I consider that I have gifts to share with people, I realize that I am indeed rich.

Having a lot of money and possessions does not make us wealthy, and not having a lot of money and possessions does not make us poor.  During this Lenten season, may we reconsider what it means to be rich, and may we learn to treasure what is truly important.  May we never forget, amid life's struggles, how richly God has blessed us.

---

Questions for reflection:

• What does it really mean to be rich?
• In what ways do you think of yourself as poor?
• Why might Christ call you rich?

Notes:

1. N.T. Wright.  Revelation for Everyone.  2011, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 16
2. Job 1:6-11
3. Wright, p. 17
4. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0778237/?ref_=ttep_ep9
5. Matthew 5:3
6. Matthew 6:19-20
7. Matthew 6:10
8. 2 Corinthians 4:7
9. Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-10, 27-30

The photograph featured above has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: Lessons from a Questionable Bookkeeper

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Lessons from a Questionable Bookkeeper

People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light.  I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it's gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

Luke 16:8b-9 (CEB)

Money, so they say

Is the root of all evil today

But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise

That they're giving none away

From "Money" by Pink Floyd

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a rather strange story about a man whose job is to manage the property of a rich man.¹  One day, the rich man catches wind that his manager is mismanaging his assets, so he summons him and demands a report of his business dealings.  The manager, knowing that he will soon be out of a job, has to figure out how he will provide for himself since he is, by his own admission, "not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg."  He contacts all of his employer's debtors and tells them to alter their bills so that they appear to owe less.  He is hoping that, if he can endear himself to them, then maybe one of them will help him out after he is fired from his job.

When the manager meets with his employer, he is commended for his shrewdness.

What makes this parable perplexing and even troubling is that, in the end, a seemingly dishonest person is commended.  It is not the type of parable we would expect Jesus to tell His followers.

I decided to write about this strange parable in order to force myself to figure out what it means.  It has been suggested that one of the best ways to learn about something is to teach it to other people.  I consulted the various commentaries at my disposal, and, if I've learned anything about this parable, it is that there are numerous different interpretations out there and that there are many different lessons we can glean from it.

There is a lesson about our priorities, particularly what drives us to think and act.  Speaking of the rich man's manager, Jesus says, "People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light."  On this note, scholar William Barclay writes,
If only Christians were as eager and ingenious in their attempt to gain goodness as those with more worldly concerns are in their attempts to attain money and comfort, they would be much better people.  If only people would give as much attention to the things which concern their souls as they do to the things which concern their business, they would be much better human beings.²

There are also lessons about how we use the resources available to us.  Jesus says, "I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it's gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes."  In the parable, the manager leverages the position he fully expects to lose in order to gain help for himself when it is gone.  Perhaps Jesus is suggesting that we should similarly leverage our temporal resources, which we will not have forever, for eternal gain, which we cannot lose.  When it comes to our worldly resources, we need to use them before we lose them.

The great preacher Fred Craddock notes that "how one handles property has eternal consequences" and that, "for all the dangers in possessions, it is possible to manage goods in ways appropriate to life in the kingdom of God."³

There are additional lessons to be gleaned if we are willing to consider alternative interpretations of the parable.  Perhaps the manager wasn't quite as dishonest as he seems.  It is worth noting that the Jewish people were forbidden by their Law from charging interest on loans to fellow Jews.  In the Book of Deuteronomy, we read, "You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent."⁴  The Jewish people were especially forbidden from exploiting the poor through interest.  In the Book of Exodus, we read, "If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them."⁵

A number of commentators, including scholar N.T. Wright, speculate that, if the manager in the story is to be commended, then maybe, when he told his employer's debtors to alter their bills, he was knocking off interest they were wrongly being charged.  According to Wright,
If [the steward] reduced the bill in each case to the principal, the simple amount that had been lent, the debtors would be delighted, but the master couldn't lay a charge against the steward without owning up to his own shady business practices.  Thus when the master heard about it... he could only admire the man's clever approach.⁶

Maybe the manager used his position to endear himself to others by righting wrongs that had been committed.  According to  Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson, "By cutting the deals that he did, the manager makes his boss look extremely generous while simultaneously bringing him into alignment with God's law."⁷

There are lessons in the parable about making friends.  Jesus tells us to "use worldly wealth to make friends for [our]selves."  N.T. Wright suggests that maybe the unlawful interest that the rich man was charging represented the rules and regulations the religious leaders of the day added to the Jewish Law.  He writes, "Jesus in this parable, indicates that if Israel is facing a major crisis the answer is rather to throw caution to the winds, to forget the extra bits and pieces of law which the Pharisees have heaped up, and to make friends as and where they can."⁸

I suspect that Jesus would want us to use our resources to make friends with the very people with whom He identifies: the widow, the orphan, the poor, the immigrant, and other vulnerable populations.  In the end, we will be judged by how we have treated such people.  In another Gospel, Jesus says
I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.  I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.  I was a stranger and you welcomed me.  I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear.  I was sick and you took care of me.  I was in prison and you visited me...  I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.⁹

Having studied this perplexing parable, I haven't come to any conclusions regarding a definitive meaning.  That said, I think I'll take some advice from The Beatles and "get by with a little help from my friends."  My friend Wendell called the Bible "a tough book" in our church small group discussions.  My friend Marti, a fellow teacher in my denomination, would say that only Jesus really knew what He had in mind when He told His parables.  My friend David would say that it makes God smile to see us trying to figure such things out.

So let's keep trying to figure it all out, shall we?

If you have any thoughts about this strange parable, please share them in the comments.


Notes:

1. A majority of this perspective is based on Luke 16:1-9.  Quotations from this passage are taken from the Common English Bible.
2. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 247
3. Fred B. Craddock.  Luke (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching).  1990, John Knox Press.  pp. 190-191
4. Deuteronomy 23:19 (NRSV)
5. Exodus 22:25 (NRSV)
6. N.T. Wright.  Luke for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  pp. 193-194
7. Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson.  Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You've Only Heard About (Participant's Guide).  2012, Thomas Nelson.  p. 42
8. Wright, p. 194
9. Matthew 25:35-36, 40 (CEB)

The photograph of the old ledger has been released to the public domain.