Being rich is an economic state but it is also an attitude of the heart and soul. Being rich means centering your life on your own economic power whether it be high or low. Being rich means trusting in your own power to manage your life; being self-sufficient. Being rich means trying to use your economic power to guarantee your life. A heart centered on money tends to lead us to a self-centered, selfish, abusive lifestyle. An economically wealthy person whose heart and soul are enslaved to riches becomes hard, stingy, mean, and sad like the famous character Scrouge. They are never satisfied and always lusting after more. An economically poor person whose heart and soul are enslaved to riches also becomes stingy and mean, but tragically violent, profoundly sad, and hopeless.
The disciples were astonished when Jesus points this out to them in today’s Gospel using the metaphor of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. The disciples are so shocked they ask who could be saved and the exclaim that they have given up all to be with him. To pass into the kingdom of heaven one must have confidence in God, not in wealth and power.
The economics of the kingdom of heaven are based on confidence in God and investing in others and the common good. That is to say renouncing ourselves and our own plans or desires. Our joy as Christians is that Jesus assures us in today’s Gospel that it is possible to reach the kingdom of heaven and that we will receive a hundred times more than what we have sacrificed. Christians live their lives investing in sacrifice and service.
Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven…
And everyone who has given up …. will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.