Rant about my pastor talking about Money and Rich during his Sunday Sermon

Who said Church sermons are boring and uninspiring? Sometimes they have the desired effect - disturb us, keep us awake, make us think, and deliberate as we decipher the message. Sometime the outcome is a change for good, other times it could lead to a rant. This post is the latter.

 

<Rant>

Last Sunday the Pastor gave a sermon that I had the misfortune of giving close attention and it blew a fuse in me. The message was based on the Parable of Talents ( Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27). The problem for me was that the Pastor interpreted the Parable as talking about money and not the talents the people or the congregation possess.

 

Parables by their very nature are to be interpreted, it was Jesus' way of explaining complex things to people in a simple way. The holy books were not within the reach of the common man those days (it wasn't until Martin Luther and Gutenberg made Bible really public in the 1500s post the protestant reformation), and it made sense to speak in parables. But I doubt if Jesus would approve of it today considering the kind of misinterpretation his parables are subjected to by the Clergy and their naïve Congregations.

 

I will list down why the fuse went off in me and it was not a one-off comment or an interpretation. It was a series of claims the pastor did and the timing of it didn't help either.

 

First - the pastor said the talents was about money. He said Jesus spoke the parable and is advising us about the need to save, invest and grow wealth. JESUS WASN'T, the Pastor is wrong and worse misleading! This cannot be further from truth. The very first link in a cursory Google search will tell this was not just about money but all talents but the pastor had to make this all about money and not about other talents.

 

Second - the pastor said that God was the source of the money. This opens up a lot of questions, if God was the source of money why isn't God offering it to the poor? God is merciful, compassionate and full of Grace providing us with the holy spirit while we are undeserving and still sinners. If God was the source then nothing is stopping God from providing for the poor and the homeless and needy. Jesus said this when asked about money and taxes,

Mark 12:17 

New Century Version (NCV) 

Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and give to God the things that are God's.”

Going by this, money or the version of what we have as Fiat currencies and wealth is not from God but merely a construct of the greedy human.

 

Third - the pastor, trying to make it an interactive session, asked the congregation and told the 'rich' to raise hands. The funny albeit sad part was the gullible and ignorant congregation did! I had the shock of my life! I sincerely hoped that the pastor would at least say he meant rich in love, rich in peace and just metaphorically alluded to the rich part. But no he was really talking about the monetarily rich people. Let's see what Jesus said about the rich,

Matthew 19:24

New International Version

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Going by this, God really doesn't favor the rich and I am clueless and agitated that an ordained pastor would want us to be rich.

 

Fourth - the pastor 'advised' the congregation to keep track of their finances, maintain a ledger, meticulously record expenses. For a minute I thought I was in a personal finance session listening to a financial advisor. Apparently, the pastor was concerned for the financial well-being of the congregation. Yet what did Jesus tell about being concerned,

Matthew 6:31-34

New International Version

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

As a theologian shouldn't he be advising people to seek God rather than take care of their finances?

 

The timing of the message also multiplied my angst. While the global economy is making a K-shaped recovery post COVID and a right-majority SCOTUS appointed in the Trump era struck down Affirmative Action in Harvard , the pastor chose to deliver a message that would talk about getting rich, making investments but not about the inequality and unfairness that seems to be becoming the norm in the world. 

In a year when Thomas Piketty's seminal work on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, will celebrate its 10 year anniversary, who will talk about what God would want Christians to do to alleviate inequality? 

Oh wait, the pastor will talk about it one day. Oh the hypocrisy!! 

 

</Rant>

 

Who said Church sermons are boring and uninspiring? It made me write a long post on it after almost a week. It made me revive a hobby I almost neglected for a decade. If this isn't inspiration, I don't know what is. : )