Did you hear about the rich man who died? He wrote in his will to take all of his money and buy gold bars with it. Then he wanted to be buried with it. Some people told him this was foolish, because you can’t take it with you. He insisted, however, because he said he was a righteous man who earned his money honestly and he believed that God would let him take it. So one day the man died. His body was buried in a coffin with bars of gold. After he was buried mysteriously his soul was able to grab the gold, and when nobody was looking he took the gold up with him to heaven. St. Peter welcomed him at the pearly gates. Indeed the man’s name was written in the book of life, so the gates were opened and he was permitted to go in. As he got ready to walk into heaven St. Peter stopped him and said, “I’m curious. Why did you bring pavement with you?” The rich man was puzzled and then looked into heaven and saw that the streets were literally paved with gold!

You can’t take it with you. That’s one of the lessons we can get from this morning’s gospel reading from Mark  10 and a rich young ruler. He asks Jesus how to have eternal life and Jesus tells him to give away his wealth. This makes the young man sad. No doubt he has worked very hard for his wealth, and so giving it away doesn’t seem so appealing. Jesus takes the opportunity to turn this into a teachable moment. He tells us, the disciples, that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to get into heaven.

The disciples ask, “If this guy can’t do it, then who can?” They were perplexed and astounded. The disciples believed, as many still do today, that material wealth is a sign of God’s blessing. They believed that if you are a good person, and follow the rules, as the rich young ruler said he did, then God would shower you with…money! This is called the, “prosperity gospel.” Jesus flatly rejects this point of view. He turns it completely upside down. Rather than wealth being a sign of God’s blessing, Jesus says that it is a hindrance and roadblock from being able to go to heaven and be saved. But the question remains: why does Jesus have such a problem with wealth and success?

The answer is that the more successful a person is on earth the less they believe that they need God. The problem with having a lot of money is that the mind can be tricked into a false sense of security. The mind and the heart begin to put their trust not in God, but in…money. Money is not necessarily evil, but it can be a very tempting idol that people adore, worship, and dedicate their whole lives to. Even more sinister than the lure of money is the lure of “works righteousness.” This is our most deadly sin: the sin of believing that we are capable of saving ourselves, that we and not God, are the real person in charge of saving ourselves. 

500 years ago brother Martin in Germany saw a very sad situation. Salvation was basically for sale in the church. One could buy indulgences, and pay for religious services that were advertised to be efficacious to get one into heaven. So basically the rich could buy their way into heaven, but the poor who could not do so were left feeling as if they could never be saved. It was implied that they were more sinful, it was implied falsely that poverty was the consequence o