Column: Jesus on money

By DR. MARK ROSS/Columnist

My retirement statement arrived in the mail yesterday. I chose not to open it when I saw that it came enclosed in a sympathy card, a very cheap sympathy card.
The news of the morning is that for the third straight day, the Dow has lost ground. The losses came despite the $700 billion bailout package and federally lowered interest rates. All of the experts say that the stock market will recover and eventually most of us will recoup some of the money we have lost, if we can wait that long.
Having had enough bad news, I reached for some good news and opened the New Testament. That was my first mistake. The second was that I began to read the words of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 6.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
There are days that I really do not want to be like Jesus. On most days, I say that I want to be like him, and on a good day, I mean it. However, sometimes I do not really want to be like Jesus, at least not in the ways that count the most.
Do not misunderstand me, there is a great deal about Jesus that I would like to imitate. I would like to be unruffled in the face of storms. It would be nice to walk on water rather than simply tread it. I would like to be fearless in the presence of my enemies. “He set his face like flint toward Jerusalem.” It would be nice to be able to speak in such a way that people would say, “He speaks as one with authority.” Most of the time, I simply quote smarter people than myself. If I could perform miracles, I would do some good, heal the sick, and feed the hungry. I would like to be kinder and gentler rather than abrupt and impatient. In those ways and others, I want to be like Jesus.
Yet, he bothers and disturbs me in some fundamental ways. Jesus was broke. In fact, he was so broke he did not even have the cash to pay the poll tax of the day. Any money that he had was in the possession of Judas, whom John called a thief. Jesus was a carpenter, but was unemployed. There is no record that he ever built anything and sold it. He was indigent, “The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” In the end, all he had of value was the cloak on his back and the soldiers at the foot of the cross threw dice for that. Jesus was broke.
I suppose that is my problem with Jesus. I want to be like him in some ways but not all ways. I want to be unconcerned about money but I do not want to be broke. While I do not want to serve “mammon” or money, I still want to be able to pay my taxes and have a place to lay my head, and I want more. A place to lay my head becomes a nice place to lay my head. Money saved for taxes becomes a savings account, and then investments, a 401K, and a retirement account. The truth is that there would not be enough room at the foot of the cross to place all my clothes and dividing my possessions would take an auctioneer rather than a roll of the dice.
I suppose the bright side of this financial crisis for me is that as the “Thieves break in and steal” I may become like Jesus whether I want to or not. Wall Street may get my treasure right, now if only I can get my heart right.

Dr. Mark Ross is the pastor of Marion Baptist Church. To learn more about MBC, visit http://www.marionbaptistchurchva.com/.