Does anyone here recognize the name Carlos Slim Helu? How
about Mukesh Ambani? Amancia Ortega? OK – these are tough –
here’s an easier one, how about Larry Ellison? That rings a bell I’m
sure, as do Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. So, what do they have in
common? In 2010 they were among the ten richest men in the world.
Carlos Slim Helu is the richest – his fortune stands this year at $53.5
billion, and he made it in the telecommunication business in Mexico.
$53.5 billion is a lot of money. He could spend $1.4 million every day
for the next hundred years before he would run out, and that doesn’t take
into account the miracle of compounding interest. That would make my
head hurt, if I was to try to calculate that! So, the wealthiest man in the
world has a fortune of $53.5 billion. Eike Batista is number eight. He’s
from Brazil, and has made his fortune in the mining industry. His
fortune stands at a mere $27 billion, which would allow him to spend
only $740,000 a day for the next 100 years . . . Eike Batista was quoted
last year as vowing to be the richest man in the world in the next ten
years, and the odds are in his favor, according to Forbes Magazine. He’s
smart, he’s driven, he’s in the right industry.
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“Let us now praise famous men” – these are the words that came to
me as I was reading about the world’s richest men – “let us now praise
famous men.” These words were written by Ben Sirach in the second
century BC. We hear his words whenever we hear a reading from
Ecclesiasticus. “Let us now sing the praises of famous men, our
ancestors in their generations. They were those who ruled in their
kingdoms, and made a name for themselves by their valor; those who
gave counsel because they were intelligent; those who spoke in
prophetic oracles; those who led the people by their counsels and by
their knowledge of the people’s lore; they were wise in their words of
instruction; those who composed musical tunes, or put verses in writing;
rich men endowed with resources, living peacefully in their home – all
these were honored in their generations, and were the pride of their
times.” I’m impressed that it sounds so modern, truthfully. Ben Sirach
then goes on to tell the stories of the greats in Israelite history – Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Moses – and then he tells the stories of the famous but
ultimately not so great – like King Solomon.
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Jesus mentions King Solomon in today’s Gospel – “even Solomon
in all his glory was not clothed like the lilies of the field.” Solomon in
all of his glory was something to behold. He would have made Forbes
Top Ten list back in the day. There was nothing he didn’t have.
Everything that Solomon used was made of gold – silver was nothing!
Ships brought him every fancy thing he wanted, peacocks, apes, gold,
silver, and ivory. And like so many famous men, Solomon had women
– lots and lots of women. Lots of women – among his wives were 700
princesses and three hundred concubines!
It makes me wonder if the famous men of today read about the
famous men of yesteryear and think to themselves, “now that’s living!
King Solomon was the man!” Do they think to themselves, “I’m going
to be that wealthy in the next ten years! My $27 billion fortune –
whatever. I want to be as wealthy as Solomon!”
It’s easy enough to poke fun at these famous men, these obscenely
wealthy men, because they’re almost cartoon characters, they’re so far
away from our daily reality. And so when we hear Jesus telling his
disciples that they shouldn’t worry about money, or food or clothing or
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housing, we might think of these wealthy men and figure, well, it’s easy
enough for them not to worry about money. It’s easy for them to follow
what Jesus has to say, because they don’t have a care in the world. But
what about the little guy and gal? The ones who don’t have $740,000 to
spend tomorrow – is it really fair of Jesus to ask us to not worry about
the things that really matter?
But it’s not just a question of fairness here. Jesus isn’t asking this
of us just for a more equitable distribution of wealth. He’s really
teaching us something, something important. He starts by telling his
disciples that no one can serve two masters – no one can serve God and
wealth. If we try – if we try to have two masters, two bosses, we’ll end
up loving one and hating the other – we’ll be torn in two directions, and
we’ll do a poor job at both. And so when we treat wealth as our master,
when we treat wealth as our god with the lower case g, we end up hating
God, with the capital G. Treating money as our god keeps us away from
God. If money is our god, then we look to money to satisfy our deepest
needs – our need for love, our need for comfort, for security, for
happiness, our need for justice and righteousness. And when we look to
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money to satisfy all those needs, we’ll discover that there is never
enough money. just like Eike Batista and King Solomon –
When we treat money as our god, we are forced to live with the
concept of scarcity as our guiding principle. Scarcity teaches us that
there’s not really enough to go around, so I need to get mine before you
get yours. Money is defined as a limited good. My business school
background is coming out here. Money is a limited good, it’s a scarce
good, and if you have more, I have less. And so there is never enough.
Silver becomes nothing – like Solomon we will want to only have cups
of gold. The family cat? Boring. I want a lion. One wife? She carps at
me and I’m tired of her. I’ll take 700 princesses instead. Eike Batista,
number 8 on the 2010 list says to himself, “$27 billion? Bah – Carlos
Slim Helu has $53.5 billion, and I want to beat him!” Never enough.
When money is our god, we worry endlessly about our food, our clothes,
our life, our bodies, our homes, our competitors, our enemies . . . and as
Jesus tells us, we do not add even a single hour to our life by worrying
about any of these things.
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And besides not adding an hour to our lives . . . we don’t add any
happiness either. If $27 billion isn’t enough, then $28 billion won’t be
enough either. If $27 billion isn’t enough, then your salary isn’t enough,
is it? It will never be enough, we will never be satisfied, we will never
experience contentment, we will never experience abundance. But when
we turn away from serving money as our master, money as our god, and
turn instead to God, maker of heaven and earth, then we come to a place
of satisfaction, of peace, of comfort. When we turn away from the
scarce commodity of money, and towards the infinite God, we
experience the infinite commodity of God – love. And unlike the scarce
commodity of money, which will never, ever be enough, there is always
enough of God’s love to go around – always. We move from scarcity to
abundance.
Jesus isn’t trying to tell his disciples or us that food and clothing
don’t matter. He even says, “indeed your heavenly Father knows that
you need all these things.” He’s telling them not to worry – he’s telling
them not to make the pursuit of earthly goods their reason for living. So
how do we start? If you’ve ever been worried about something, you
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know that just being told to not worry about it does not do the trick.
Start by knowing which master you serve. Are you serving money as
your master? If you are, you will only know worry, whether you have
$27 billion or 27 cents. If you are serving money as your master, try
serving God as your master instead. Start to live into the gift of the
abundant life that God offers. Live into the gift of God’s infinite love –
not a scarce commodity at all! Remind yourself every day that God is
your master and not money. As you turn away from the one master and
towards the other, the worry will decrease. Instead of discontentment,
you’ll know satisfaction. Instead of scarcity, you’ll know abundance.
And instead of worry and anxiety, you’ll know peace. AMEN.
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