Mark 10:17–31
Jesus is approached by a man who kneels before him, and addresses him as “Good Teacher” (v. 17). The man asks Jesus how to “inherit eternal life” (v. 17), and Jesus responds that he must keep the commandments. The man says that he has kept them faithfully since he was a child. Jesus instructs the man lovingly. He must do one more thing: sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor, and then come to follow Jesus. The man walks away, saddened because he owned so many possessions. I imagine Jesus shaking his head and sighing to himself as he turns to the disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (v. 23).
The disciples, surprised and confused, wonder how the wealthy – who have the resources and means to accomplish most things – could have such difficulty entering into the Kingdom of God. If salvation were this difficult for the rich, then what hope do the rest of us have? Jesus explains that while salvation is impossible to achieve by mortals through their own power, “for God all things are possible” (v. 27). God’s saving and liberating grace is for all people. In the Kingdom of God, the poor are liberated from poverty and oppression, while the rich are liberated from their wealth and power. According to Jesus, the first will be last, and the last will be first. This announcement is good news for all, but especially for the poor.
Perhaps some or many of the people in your congregation know what it’s like to experience poverty. People who are poor are frequently punished for the “crime” of lacking wealth and power. Alec Karakatsanis tells the story of a woman who was shackled, taken from her children, and thrown in jail because she couldn’t afford to pay debts the city claimed she owed for old traffic violations. The city had turned her debts over to a for-profit collection agency. She was arrested, imprisoned, and forced into demeaning labor. Her story is, sadly, not uncommon. Karakatsanis notes:
There are 2.2 million human beings confined in prison and jail cells in the United States tonight. About 500,000 of those people are presumptively innocent people awaiting trial, the vast majority of whom are confined by the government solely because they cannot pay enough money to buy their release… Between eighty and ninety percent of the people charged with crimes are so poor that they cannot afford a lawyer. [1]
Our systems of separation, imprisonment, and forced labor oppress the poor while enriching companies that profit from their incarceration. But Jesus announces and inaugurates a reorientation of the world in which the poor are liberated, oppressive systems are dismantled, and people are restored into right relationship with God and each other. Depending on your context, your proclamation of this good news may offer a prophetic challenge to the wealthy or a message of hope for the poor. How might God be calling upon your congregation to participate in God’s liberative work in your community and the world?
[1] https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-punishment-bureaucracy
Jed Tate is a Methodist pastor in North Carolina.