Christ’s call to the rich

I’m glad to see someone articulate something I’ve long thought about, but which doesn’t tend to get much attention given to it, in your average Bible study or sermon topic.

That is, that not only did Christ have compassion on and pay particular attention to the poor, but also to the rich.

When Christ is seen eating with “sinners and tax collectors”, to the disapproval of the Pharisees (Matt. 9:10-13; Luke 5:29-32) — the modern analog of which would be befriending IRS agents and Wall Street bankers, while the ‘social justice’ crusaders look on with rueful scorn — this caused some scandal. Of the various sorts of sinners he’s eating with, only tax collectors are singled out by name, signaling that their profession was seen as especially odious and sinful by many. In much the same way, the IRS and Wall Street bankers are widely despised today, given their intimate dealings with the money of others and possible, or actual, corruption associated with it. And why does Jesus choose such dubious company? “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. . . for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Christ reiterates this ‘preferential option for the sick and lost’ when he asks what a man would do if he had a hundred sheep and one went astray. “Does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.” Matt. 18:12-13. And who is more afflicted, more sick, and more lost than a worldly person obsessed with wealth?

Ironically, this is made especially clear in the account of the rich man who had kept all the commandments from his youth (Matt. 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27; Luke 18:18-27), which is usually cited to opposite ends. The rich man’s inquiry in this incident is “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ responds by telling him that “if thou wouldst be perfect”, in addition to keeping the commandments, he ought to sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor. The central concern here is explicitly the eternal life and spiritual perfection of the rich man. Christ seeks to cure him of his worldly affections — which he knows to be inimical to the life of the eternal Kingdom — and laments when the man leaves dejected by this call to dispossession. Christ does not lament, you’ll note, because the poor will suffer so terribly without the man’s wealth, but because it will be so difficult for the man to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

In Luke 19:1-10, Jesus singles Zacchaeus, “who was a tax collector and rich”, out of a crowd and treats him with kindness and love, again to the grumblings of the crowd — grumblings which are very familiar these days and can be heard coming from self-righteous liberals who treat the rich with naked animus, while expecting all enlightened persons to do likewise. In response to Christ’s love, Zacchaeus demonstrates repentance in deed by selling half of his goods to give to the poor, and restoring what he has taken illicitly fourfold. This brings him salvation (which again appears as the central concern), and Christ reiterates in this context that he came to seek what was lost. And who was lost? Zacchaeus with his earthly, worldly, self, and wealth-mindedness. This great affliction of Zacchaeus’ elicited special attention and care from Christ, precisely because he was lost; because he was sick; and because Christ has come to find the lost and heal the sick.

In the parable of the Publican (or tax collector) and the Pharisee, found in Luke 18:9-14, Jesus chooses — of all people — a tax collector to exemplify a stance of righteousness before God. If we replaced ‘publican’ with ‘Wall Street banker’ in this parable, we would see the Pharisee thanking God that he ‘isn’t like that nasty Wall Street banker’ and might get a sense of how this parable would strike the ear of its first-century audience, and what a scathing rebuke it remains today.

Good on Nathan Duffy for emphasizing something we may not think of, all that often.

That being the case, how shall we minister and witness to the rich? After all, there are missions in inner cities to the poor, everyone knows about the Salvation Army, World Vision, and so on.

But has anybody ever thought of, say, hosting cocktail parties with Gospel presentations for the rich?

Just a thought.