DEACON KEITH FOURNIER — There is a sobering parable of Jesus recorded in the Gospel (Luke 16: 19-31) — about a rich man who embraced a wrong relationship with the goods of the earth and a poor man named Lazarus, who was in dire need of his assistance. Instead of offering these goods back to the Lord, who is their Source, and using them to serve others, the rich man allowed his disordered appetites to blind him. He was trapped.

But notice this in the Gospel text: the Lord said nothing about the rich man’s material possessions. It was his wrongful use of them that needed to be addressed. The rich man failed to recognize the needs of others. His sin, his wrong choice, his abuse of human freedom, was that he failed to see the needs of his brother.

Augustine, the great Bishop of Hippo, gave a powerful sermon on this passage during his ministry, in which he noted: “Lazarus was received into heaven because of his humility and not because of his poverty. Wealth itself was not what kept the rich man from eternal bliss. His punishment was for selfishness and disloyalty.”

Having temporal goods is not sin. Sin enters when those goods have us. In this parable, such goods have the man. They have thus become an idol, taking the place of prominence in a heart that was built for God.

In an age of bumper stickers such as “Whoever dies with the most toys wins” and “I am spending my retirement spending my children’s inheritance,” Christians are called to a different approach towards earthly goods. We are invited to embrace evangelical simplicity in our life. Such simplicity is not about the quantity of the things we possess. It is about our relationship to them. Jesus said: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21)

How often have we have heard the saying: “Money is the root of all evil?” That is not what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy. In fact, it is one of the most frequent misquotes wrongly attributed to the Bible. He wrote about the love of money.  Timothy was a young disciple in a position of leadership over the Christian community at Ephesus, a city known for its wealth and luxury. Knowing that those Christian believers would struggle when dealing with the wealth of that city, he reminded Timothy:

Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain; for we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. (1 Tim. 6: 6-11)

Money itself is not evil. It is one of the goods of this earth entrusted to us by a loving God. But it has an obligation attached, an obligation to stewardship. Neither is having a great deal of money proof of God’s blessing and favor. That view insults many Christians who struggle daily to survive. Both errors are rooted in a mistaken foundation. They are self-centered rather than centered on God and others. The phrase “love of money” speaks to the heart. In the biblical language, the heart is the place where people make the major decisions of life.

When we love the goods of the earth more than we love the One who created them, we commit the sin of idolatry. A destitute person can be just as obsessed with greed as a wealthy one. Greed is a form of idolatry. In a letter written to the Philippians, Paul explained his own approach to material things:

I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. (Philippians 4:12)

Paul was free from the love of money. We need to be as well.

As one of the goods of the earth, money is entrusted to us so we can participate in the ongoing mission of the Church, the Body of Christ.

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark describe an encounter between Jesus and a wealthy young man. This young man had followed God’s commandments since his youth, but Jesus told him it was not enough. He instructed the young man to give up his possessions and follow Him. We read that the man refused and went away sad — because his possessions possessed him.  Consider the sobering words which follow this encounter:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

When we recognize our own poverty of spirit and voluntarily embrace it, we are freed to live lives which are totally dependent upon Jesus. When we have Him, we have everything, even though we may possess nothing of material value. We discover the secret of what I like to call the economy of heavenly scale. Those who live in evangelical simplicity are the richest people on the earth. Jesus called them the “poor in spirit.” He promised them blessedness. He proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. (Matt 5:3)

The life of Jesus and his earthly family can teach us some important lessons about how we should relate to this world.

Jesus was born in a manger. As an adult he had no place to lay his head. He was raised in a simple home by a woman whose heart recognized true wealth. Remember the words that the angel spoke to Mary when she asked how it could be that she would bear the Messiah. “Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) Mary understood that when you have the Lord, you have it all. She lived in the economy of heavenly scale. If we choose to do so, we can live there too.

There is an invitation to evangelical simplicity in Gods loving plan for each one of us. To those who voluntarily embrace it, evangelical simplicity can become a school of sanctity. Its embrace can change all relationships, with persons as well as with the goods of the earth. Christians do not avoid economic struggle any more than they avoid relational struggles, suffering, hardships and difficulty. That is not to say that the Lord cannot intervene and deliver us from all the effects of these very human realities. He often does. But when He does not, that does not mean he has not heard our prayer. Rather, it means that He has a different loving purpose in mind.

Evangelical simplicity, when embraced voluntarily, helps to strip away only that which impedes real love. In finding our proper relationship to the goods of the earth — not utterly rejecting them, craving them, or turning them into an idol — we can find true and lasting freedom. Our eyes are opened. We learn to see Lazarus. We are also given the grace to see Jesus in Lazarus. We can learn to walk the way of evangelical simplicity. We can learn to live in the economy of heavenly scale. We can also smash the idols of the contemporary age as they vie for our hearts and attempt to rob us of the freedom which is ours in Jesus Christ. (Gal. 5:1)