In Mark 10, Jesus said to his disciples, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The image is funny. Don’t miss that! We often read scripture passages like this with stained-glass seriousness. Jesus had a capacity for humor, and humor sometimes is a great way of skewering our serious self-focus. Can you picture Jesus with a smile on his face?
Sometimes we may think that those who are rich must be special, or blessed, or favored. Jesus was dealing with that assumption in his disciples, too. Richness can come in many forms — in wealth or health, in intelligence or attractiveness, in family or favor. When we experience richness, it can feel sweet. But what happens when we lose something of our health or our family? What happens when we compare ourselves to others in their “richness”?
Jesus lets the disciples know that even without riches, God is still present for us with love and community. Jesus says sometimes the last will be first, and vice-versa. How does that impact the way we treat each other?
Ethicist Peter Singer says we should design our society with what we think is the best way it could work for everyone, with this one caveat: design the society without knowing where your part would fit in! Singer says if we did that, we would design society with much greater fairness than is evident now. What do you think of that? How does that fit with Jesus’ message today?
Three Holy Days
In our tradition, we make space on Maundy Thursday to remember central parts of our faith story. We hear about the...
