I was going to write about something else, but I decided to write this instead. It is not a real deep theological question, but it is one that has raised it's head on occasion recently. That is the question of money and christianity.

Is it christian to be rich? I don't believe that God is going to send you to hell, if your checking account balance hits a certain point. I think God cares more about what you do with your wealth, then how much money you have. If you look at the story of the talents. Jesus did not condemn the servant who recieved 5 talents, and worked to get 5 more. Jesus did however speak poorly of the man who got one talent, and did nothing to get more.

It is common in some circles, to object to Christians being rich or having money, by pointing to Luke 9:58 and using it as proof that Jesus didn't have a house. However, they seem to forget verses like Mark 2:1 which when used together with Matt 4:12-13 seem to suggest that Jesus had a home in capernaum. So Luke 9:58 must mean something other, than Jesus being dirt poor, please don't get me wrong. I am nut suggesting that Jesus was a rich millionaire. Only that he had more money than we might give him credit for. So if Luke 9:58 does not mean that Jesus was homeless, what does it mean?

Let's view the whole thing in context. As always, all scriptual references are in the English Standard Version.

Luke 9:51-58 "⁵¹When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵²And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. ⁵³But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" ⁵⁵But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶And they went on to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

 ⁵⁷As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Does it make a little more sense now? Jesus had gone to one village, and the people rejected him, because he was going to Jerusalem. Back then, you couldn't just go to a motel 6 and plunk down a talent or two and get a room to rent. You would instead, enter a town and someone if they had an empty room, would hang something in the door. If you saw that, you could turn in and use the room for the night. This town had rejected Jesus, He and his followers literally had no place to sleep that night. They had been tossed out on their ear, and here is someone who wants to follow Jesus. So Jesus warned him how hard it would be. It was not a general statement about being poor. It was a local statement, that talked about that particular point in time.

As I said at the beginning, I think God cares more about what we do with the money he has given us, than he does with how much. We need to be generous and loving with what he has provided for us.

What do you think? Is it Christian, to be rich?