Jesus warned about dangers of wealth, possessions, money

While preparing this column, this thought came to mind, “How often does Jesus talk about money, possession, wealth?”

From my years of experience, it seems like this was a important topic. So, I decided to do some research.

I have a computer program containing three translations of the Bible. If someone wants to find a word or phrase used in the Bible, they would type in the word or phrase, tell it to look in various books of the Bible, and it will give the place where it can be found.

I typed in the word “money” and it gave me eight different places where Jesus spoke about money.

One place was in Mark’s gospel when Jesus challenged the rich young man. “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.'”

The next word I typed into the program was “possessions.” Seven different places had quotations from Jesus like, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

The word “treasure” was cited six different times, for example, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I next typed in the word “wealth.”

Six different passages like this came up: Jesus said, “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

My last entry was “coins” and it gave me two entries, including the story of the poor widow, “He (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.”

Who could be poorer than this woman, who has only a penny? She is one who should be receiving, and yet, here she is giving – not just something, but all she has.

The wealthy people gave from their surplus. Jesus does not criticize them for what they gave; instead he lifts up the unbelievable generosity of the widow. He shows that while she did not give nearly as much money as the wealthier people, she gave a great deal more.

My conclusion is that Jesus talked a lot about the proper use of money and possessions. 16 of Jesus’ 38 parables (42 percent) are concerned with how to handle money and possessions. In the gospels, an amazing one out of ten verses deals directly with the subject of money.

The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but almost 300 verses on money and possessions.

Statistical studies have shown that lower income people often give more, percentage-wise, than wealthy people. You wouldn’t think it would be that way. The more people have, the more they can afford to give for others. Those with less need to keep a greater percentage for their own needs. Apparently, the more we have, the more we become attached to what we have. Those who have less tend to be more generous.

P.T. Barnum reminds us, “Money is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.” That’s the whole point of Jesus’ teaching on possessions and wealth.

Jesus often spoke about the proper use of money and possessions because they can be either stepping stones or stumbling blocks on our road to God’s kingdom. What Jesus wants to teach us is: make sure we use possessions properly and never let possession use us.