“This just in, Jesus has just responded to a man who asked him to act as an arbitrator in a financial dispute, an inheritance issue if I understand correctly, issuing in response some sort of general statement regarding possessions and wealth. Rachel, are you there? Rachel…? We go to Rachel who is on scene now.”

“Hi Ben. That’s right. I am on the scene somewhere outside Samaria with Jesus.  As our viewers might recall, he is claimed by his followers as a Messiah and they have been gathering energy and followers as they travel south. I am here with Jesus now as he and his followers move towards Jerusalem in what some are calling an “Occupy Jerusalem” movement.  Jesus himself has spoken of wanting a “new Jerusalem,” but has been weak on details as to what this means.”

“Rachel, can you talk to the man? Is Jesus nearby? What does he want? What are the issues with respect to possessions and wealth?”

“Ben, yes, yes, I am drawing near to him now, but people are crowding around him, people who do not take seriously the role of the media in reporting truth…he might want to think about creating some sort of bodyguard, a group of 12 men, let’s say, to keep him from the people, but I see him now….Jesus, Jesus…”

 “Rachel?”

“Yes, I almost touched the hem of his garment, but I have here now the man who asked about the financial markets. Sir, what happened?”

“So, I heard Jesus was into justice and fairness, so all I said was to ‘tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me,’ you know? A simple act of equity, but Jesus was all like, ‘friend who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And I was all like, “Uh, you, if you’re the Messiah,” right? I mean doesn’t the Messiah want equity? What the hell. What is this “Occupy Jerusalem” movement if not about sharing, right?”

 “Thank you Sir…oh, there he is now? Jesus, against equity? Against equity?”

 “Rachel, Ben here, please take care, the crowds seem to be pressing in on all sides…”

 “Rachel, I am Jesus, I heard you were looking for me.”

 “Yes, what is the point of your movement; do you not want equality in wealth and finances? Are you for wealth or against it?”

“Rachel, I am all in favor of equality and economic justice. I just ask my followers to beware. I said, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’” I know they want food, I know they need work and money, but they need so much more.”

 “Jesus, what’s your point, then? Do you want economic justice or not?”

“Let me tell you a parable: The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.’”

 

“Jesus, what does that mean?  What are you getting at? It sounds like he made the right economic decisions to maximize profits. Should he share the wealth? Should we ask for economic equity here on earth?”

“Look, Rachel, I am concerned with the fate of every soul, whether wealthy or not, but if you are hoarding money and not sharing with your neighbor, what’s the point? If you want to be rich towards God, share the wealth. Sooner or later we all die. What’s the point of the money? The poor need it. I know a man Lazarus, who begs at the gate of a rich man – his name escapes me – and he just wants some food. How do you let people starve, while you get to feast every day with your friends? Why hoard wealth while people need work?”

“Is it that simple Jesus? These things are far more complicated than that. Markets, government policies, tariffs, free trade agreements, taxes, tax rates… Jesus can you speak so definitively on wealth and economics when you really do not seem to have a grasp on the economic system? These people have earned their wealth. This money belongs to them.”

“Well, Rachel, I suppose that is one way to look at it, but I think of all things belonging to God, who desires not only that all people be saved, but that all people eat and work.”

“Ben, there you have it. Simplistic economic formulas from someone who wants to “Occupy Jerusalem”…

“Actually, let me clarify something, Ben and Rachel, I don’t want to “occupy” Jerusalem, I want to make all things new, including Jerusalem, and you and your neighbors and friends, but this depends on a new attitude towards wealth as well. Caring more for our neighbor than wealth…”

“As I said Ben, simplistic economic formulas which frankly seem unworkable. Back to you in the studio Ben.”

“Thanks Rachel. A word from our sponsors and then a panel of experts to rip apart, that is, discuss, what Jesus said.”

John W. Martens

Follow me on Twitter @johnwmartens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.