Even Good Rich People Can Go to Hell
Every religion says that if you live a good life, you'll go to heaven. But that's only half true. For the rich, sometimes it doesn't fit at all.
"Just be a good person. Just give a lot." Everyone says that, but for the rich, the math doesn't work out.
Look at the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man went to hell. Did he kill someone? Did he steal? No. He just ignored Lazarus, starving at his gate. He fell not because he committed a crime but because he failed the duty that matched what he'd been given.
The reason is the talents. The master entrusts his servants with five, two and one, and at the reckoning he says: if you received much, return much. The rich aren't judged by the same standard as everyone else. They're measured with a heavier ruler.
Great wealth isn't built from pure sweat alone. Mixed into it is extraction dressed in legal clothes: the tightrope between tax avoidance and tax evasion, the space taken from other people's opportunities, the loopholes in the law.
Look at Zacchaeus. When Jesus came to his house, he jumped up, gave away half his wealth, and declared he would repay four times over anything he'd taken by fraud. In that moment Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house." He didn't give up his wealth. He blew the narrow outlet wide open.
Every country and every society has its own standard. What Zacchaeus touched was the size of the outlet.
Some people take in a lot and let out a trickle. A river pours in, but they open the outlet only as wide as a needle, and with those few drops they claim, "I give too." The direction is right. But that's not a channel. It's a reservoir with a faucet on the outlet.
The Bible warns about sexual lust over and over, almost tiresomely. It's strange. It's legal and I'm paying with my own money, and yet it's forbidden. Then the thought comes: what's the point of being rich?
Stranger still is the scale of judgment. Other sins are dealt with quietly, but sexual indulgence brings the Flood that sweeps the world and the fire that burns Sodom and Gomorrah. World-ending scale. It's not that God just dislikes it; He really, really dislikes it. Could there be some secret of creation hidden here?
Unlimited pleasure kills two things. Outside, countless people are burned up to supply it, and the person who takes it all finds their brain dulled by pleasure, their capacity to be moved fading, so they need ever more money.
A rich young man came to Jesus. He said he had kept all the commandments. Jesus said, "Sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow Me." But the young man went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Watching him go, Jesus said, "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."
Maybe this era is pushing the rich from behind. Through taxes, regulations and public opinion, the hands pressing them to share keep tightening. So it's better to move first. Giving because you're pushed and opening the channel yourself may involve the same amount, but the results differ. Water squeezed out by force leaks away somewhere along the way. Only the channel you open with your own hands reaches the thirsty directly.
"Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." (Luke 12:48)
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"Just be a good person. Just give a lot." Everyone says that, but for the rich, the math doesn't work out.
First, a rich person's duty is as heavy as a mountain
Look at the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man went to hell. Did he kill someone? Did he steal? No. He just ignored Lazarus, starving at his gate. He fell not because he committed a crime but because he failed the duty that matched what he'd been given.
The reason is the talents. The master entrusts his servants with five, two and one, and at the reckoning he says: if you received much, return much. The rich aren't judged by the same standard as everyone else. They're measured with a heavier ruler.
Great wealth isn't built from pure sweat alone. Mixed into it is extraction dressed in legal clothes: the tightrope between tax avoidance and tax evasion, the space taken from other people's opportunities, the loopholes in the law.
Second, it's not the total. It's the outlet.
Look at Zacchaeus. When Jesus came to his house, he jumped up, gave away half his wealth, and declared he would repay four times over anything he'd taken by fraud. In that moment Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house." He didn't give up his wealth. He blew the narrow outlet wide open.
Every country and every society has its own standard. What Zacchaeus touched was the size of the outlet.
Some people take in a lot and let out a trickle. A river pours in, but they open the outlet only as wide as a needle, and with those few drops they claim, "I give too." The direction is right. But that's not a channel. It's a reservoir with a faucet on the outlet.
Third, the secret of unlimited pleasure
The Bible warns about sexual lust over and over, almost tiresomely. It's strange. It's legal and I'm paying with my own money, and yet it's forbidden. Then the thought comes: what's the point of being rich?
Stranger still is the scale of judgment. Other sins are dealt with quietly, but sexual indulgence brings the Flood that sweeps the world and the fire that burns Sodom and Gomorrah. World-ending scale. It's not that God just dislikes it; He really, really dislikes it. Could there be some secret of creation hidden here?
Unlimited pleasure kills two things. Outside, countless people are burned up to supply it, and the person who takes it all finds their brain dulled by pleasure, their capacity to be moved fading, so they need ever more money.
Conclusion
A rich young man came to Jesus. He said he had kept all the commandments. Jesus said, "Sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow Me." But the young man went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Watching him go, Jesus said, "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."
Maybe this era is pushing the rich from behind. Through taxes, regulations and public opinion, the hands pressing them to share keep tightening. So it's better to move first. Giving because you're pushed and opening the channel yourself may involve the same amount, but the results differ. Water squeezed out by force leaks away somewhere along the way. Only the channel you open with your own hands reaches the thirsty directly.
"Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." (Luke 12:48)
