Hugh's Views

I am sitting in an overheated living room, surrounded by college age people. I thought I was here to talk about the work I do, but I was told by the host that I would get to talk after the “Bible Study” was over.

The topic was the rich young ruler. You may remember the story – the Gospel of Mark tells it this way:

As [Jesus] was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

And after hearing that story read, a young guy in the room – richer than 80% of the planet, born the predominant race and the most privileged gender in the most wealthiest country in the world – the very epitome of a rich young ruler to the majority of our planet – it was then that this kid said ”I think the important thing to keep in mind is to have a balanced view¹. After all, God gives us our possessions for a reason, and…”.

It was then that I lost it.

“Hold on”, I said. “God didn’t give you your possessions. You have those things because you paid money for them. You had money to spend because you are employed. You are employed because you are well educated and look trustworthy to employers, two benefits of growing up white and male in a culture built on stolen land with enslaved labor.”

To see the look on their faces, you would have thought I drop kicked a kitten² across the room.

Look – I have a friend who lives in a car. And at night, when it’s 25 degrees and she is shivering and shuddering and wanting to turn the car on for heat but knowing she does not have the money for gas – all the while crying out to God and praying for help… but no help comes.

So if you tell me that God has given this rich young ruler in that overheated living room his possessions while leaving my friend in the car to shiver, I call shenanigans. Because if that is true, then you are saying that God loves this kid more than he does my friend in her car. Or more than he does the 80% of the planet that lives on less than $10 a day.

And a God that would do that, I have no interest in.

¹That he is clearly trying to say Jesus does not mean what Jesus very clearly says is not lost on me.  But that is nothing new – we all try to tone Jesus down. Much worse to me is that he believes his good fortune is a sign of God’s pleasure.

²No kittens were harmed in the making of this post.