Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 09:2 (Fall 1988)
Article: Burden, Barrier, Blasphemy: Wealth In Matt 6:33, Luke 14:33, And Luke 16:15
Author: Thomas E. Schmidt

TrinJ 9:2 (Fall 1988) p. 171

Burden, Barrier, Blasphemy:
Wealth In Matt 6:33, Luke 14:33, And Luke 16:15

Thomas E. Schmidt

Westmont College

The danger and proper use of wealth is far and away the most common ethical subject in the synoptic Gospels. The subject accounts for just over ten percent of the total content of Luke and about five percent each of Mark and Matthew. Twenty percent of the parables of Jesus deal directly with the use of wealth. The Gospel writers demonstrate thereby a strong interest in preserving this material for application to a late-first century audience. It had relevance for them beyond the period of Jesus’ ministry, beyond the first generation of believers.

The late-twentieth century audience encounters the hostility of Jesus toward wealth through filters accumulated over several centuries. Most of the standard Evangelical interpretations of key passages can be traced historically to Puritan England, where an increase in the general level of prosperity encouraged accommodation of the biblical message to the situation of the audience. The sting of Jesus’ teaching was removed by some interpreters either by making it too situation-specific to affect the later audience or by spiritualizing possessions so that they would only “appear” to be retained by the believer: in “reality” they were in God’s hands. Wealth as evidence of divine favor was seen as the dominant biblical view, and Jesus provided, at worst, an exception that could be accounted for in one of several inexpensive ways. Today’s popular “health and wealth gospel” may involve only the attachment of a new (designer) label on a well-worn garment. With a higher and more common level of prosperity, and without the checks of Puritan standards of modesty, charity, and personal discipline, the recently evolved form of the justification of wealth is damaging in ways never envisioned by the Puritans.

Political agendas and the tendency toward self-justifying exegesis are not the only challenges for the interpreter of Jesus’ teaching about wealth. One of the most insidious barriers to the appreciation of any one passage is the nagging thought that there is some other passage or some other explanation that would, if known, diffuse the tension. The temptation is, therefore, to anticipate and respond to all possible exceptions, opposing texts, and counter-

TrinJ 9:2 (Fall 1988) p. 172

arguments. But comprehensiveness is impossible in this context, and I can only warn against the fallacy of interpretation by exception. My approach will be simply to advance arguments for the expression of a negative view of wealth in three texts: Matthew 6:33, You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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