The Pharisees were influential. As a religious and political party, they had more power than the Moral Majority or the Tea Party ever dreamed possible in the United States. Their name meant “to separate.” First, the name was designed to insult them as they were booted out of the Sanhedrin, the governing party, for their right-wing beliefs and strict religious ideology 120 years before Jesus. Second, in the time of Jesus’ public ministry, the Pharisees were the insiders and the power brokers of what was considered right and holy.
They carefully observed the Torah, even providing oral interpretations of the first five books of the Old Testament that would govern all kinds of behavior in almost every kind of situation. They were respected by most as reliable guides of right religion, but not by all. One particular and increasingly popular person had a problem with them, and the Pharisees had a problem with that one person. His name was Jesus.
What was the problem? Jesus saw right through their religious talk, holier than thou attitude, and justifying behavior. He saw their heart and he knew most of them were lovers of money instead of being lovers of God (Luke 16:14-15).
The Pharisees wanted more and more power. If a thing represented power, they wanted it. If it was status, they wanted it. Above all, they wanted wealth. In their day (and ours), wealth bought you certain privileges. The Pharisees certainly could identify with modern day Americans striving to move from survival, to sustaining, to hopefully succeeding in their financial goals. They could identify psychologically as they sought significance in a seemingly meaningless Roman world of idols and power mongers. What they were unwilling to do was to leave those aspirations and attachments behind while attempting to live in spiritual unity with God. So they lived as hypocrites and charlatans, living as a lie to even themselves (Matthew 23).
To all those in listening distance Jesus said, “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”
WHAT? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! That is what the Pharisees thought too! The Bible says, “The Pharisees heard all this, and they ridiculed him.” That’s right; they mocked him, scoffed at him, filled with looks of derision and scorn.
So Jesus pulled a “Jesus” and told a parable of Lazarus and a rich man. You can read about it in Luke 16:19-31. The parable is full of contrasts and reversals. The poor man is named; the rich man is not. The rich man is dressed in expensive clothes; the poor man is dressed in “sores.” The rich man has a proper burial, while the poor man has none. By the end of the story, Lazarus, the poor man, is looking down from heaven, and the rich man is the one looking up, begging. Two worlds (rich and poor) within two worlds (life and beyond life) that are connected by the experience of death – wow! What drama!
What was the point of the parable? The rich man did not harm the poor man in any way. The rich man is not disdainful of Lazarus. The rich man’s sin was that he simply did not see the poor man as significant! His attachments to his wealth clouded his vision and impaired his ability to see the other like God sees others. The danger of not giving up all your possessions is that you will not see what God sees, you will not hear when God speaks, and you will not love whom God loves. If you are unwilling to see what God sees, hear when God speaks, and love whom God loves, Jesus says you can not be his disciple.
God sees the invisible suffering in this world and He wants all of us in the Church, as the embodied Christ, to see and then make visible, the visible suffering in the world. Paul writes to the Christ followers under Timothy’s care to be content in their present status with food and clothing and not strive to be rich for the “love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith.” (I Timothy 6:9-19).
In the age of consumption where greed is considered good, the followers of Christ must store for themselves treasures that will make a difference on earth as it is in heaven. Paul closes his letter to Timothy with a reminder to those who have in I Timothy 6:17-19, “command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and read to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”
For His Kingdom, a church for the sake of others,
Fr. Tony Baron