Would you free-solo El Capitan mountain?
Before you answer, here’s a little background: El Capitan in Yosemite National Park is one of the most dangerous mountains to free solo in the world, with it’s first successful climb being in 2017 by Alex Honnold. In fact, El Capitan is so dangerous that most of the world’s elite climbers considered Honnold’s attempt to be suicidal.
So we return to the question, but this time, let’s make it more interesting: would you attempt to free-solo El Capitan without any preparation? No fitness training, no free-solo practice, and no emergency survival training. Nothing. Just put on your sneakers and head up the mountain.
I think most people’s answer would be “no.”
Now to the point:
Luke 18:25 (CSB) — 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Careless theologians immediately undo the point Jesus is making here by using the next verses to erase the impact of Jesus’ words. Jesus means to warn us that wealth is dangerous, but our preachers are teaching us “blessed are the rich, for theirs is the Kingdom of God,” which is not God’s word. Jesus means to tell us that there’s a very high eternal mortality rate involved in wealth, but most Christians are being taught to be at complete ease with wealth. And the real reason for this is because our scholars, theologians, pastors, and ministers are themselves very often wealthy! There’s a conflict of interest between their wealth and preaching Jesus’ word, and so we’ve created a sort of middle ground.
However, Jesus’ next point isn’t meant to undo the shock of what he just said, rather, it’s meant to show us the way to be saved:
Luke 18:26–27 (CSB) — 26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Most take this to mean that those with money can just keep living wealthy lifestyles and be okay because of God’s grace, but that’s not his point. Jesus means that what cannot be done man’s way through man’s strength can indeed be done God’s way through God’s provision. You see? Those who try to free-solo Mt. Wealth by man’s way and man’s strength perish: they are at ease with their luxury and wealth, they are comfortable in their abundance, and they think themselves secure by their possessions. But those who follow God’s way by God’s provision will be saved!
So, we must ask “what is God’s way?“
James 2:8 (CSB) — 8 Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
1 John 2:15 (CSB) — 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Matthew 5:42 (CSB) — 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
1 Timothy 6:17–19 (CSB) — 17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, 19 storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.
God’s way is to live life expressed towards others in tangible love that is set, not on this world or the things of this world, but on God, and, through him, upon others. It’s to set one’s hope solely on God, and not one’s wealth, which hope is proved in one’s eagerness to be generous and willing to share, demonstrating that one’s life seeks to store treasures in the coming age in what consists of true life! This way of life requires us to deny ourselves and take up the cross because it does not use wealth for comfort, pleasure, selfish ambition, or fame. But, this way of life turns how we engage with wealth upside down through love.
The reason wealth is so dangerous is precisely because it has the capacity to captivate our affections, and, in so doing, to corrupt the love that is Jesus’ way of life. Make no mistake, Jesus’ way of life centers around a very specific kind of love. It’s not the kind of love that we understand in our experience of this world. It’s something that can only be received from God, and in receiving from God through Jesus by the Holy Spirit, it can only be expressed via the crucified life.
At the very center of that crucified life is the offense of God’s judgment:
Luke 6:24–26 (CSB) — 24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets.
Jesus pronounces God’s judgment upon the way of life that the rich live, who are comfortable, full, happy, and well liked. And nothing offends the flesh and its affections than God’s judgment. Those who use their wealth this way incur the woes of God’s judgment!
So, what are we to do then? Are we to take a vow of poverty? Make hand-woven tunics for ourselves and live on the streets? No. We are to follow the way of life described above. However, Paul does offer some practical advice to Christians for how we are meant to go about living out Jesus’ way of life in this world.
We must look:
1 Corinthians 7:29–31 (CSB) — 29 This is what I mean, brothers and sisters: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they didn’t own anything, 31 and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.
Paul’s teaching is based on the idea that the very foundations of how we interact with this world are undone by Jesus. How we interact with our family (consider Matthew 10:37), how we treat our enemies (see Luke 6:27-36), and yes, even how we make use of our money are all turned upside down. Everything changes because of Jesus. Yes, we own property, but we relate to our possessions as if we did not own them. Yes, we live in this world, but we don’t make full use of this world. Paul says these things under the full assurance that this world in its current form is passing away. And, if the world is passing away, then those who make themselves at home in this world will also perish! Paul is teaching us to live as sojourners in this world in order to receive the world to come.
So, to return to our original question, would you climb El Capitan without preparation? If, like any sane person, your answer is “no”, then I must ask why, when the consequences are eternal, do so many Christians seek wealth without any preparation to carry the cross in their life?
Very few will listen to or heed this warning, but Jesus has already said that “the way is narrow and difficult.“
A Dedicated Faith 