As Tevia said to God in Fiddler on the Roof, 'I know God being poor is no curse, but it's no great honor either'. Then Tevia asks to be a wealthy man. Have you ever wondered about the apparent fact that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer? It seems to mirror this passage. Perhaps it the devil's perversion of what God is trying to convey to us. We think we have less, they have more and all my problems would be solved if I had money. The only truth about money as I see it is what Dolly Madison Levi (Hello Dolly) says when quoting her late husband Ephraim: 'mney is like manure, it doesn't do any good unless you spread it around'.
If the perversion of this passage is that to those who have more (money) more will be given, what is the truth of this passage?
I have encountered too many souls to which money is more of a curse. While even I have joked , ( almost like Tevia ) , 'God, if money is a curse, may you strike me down with it!', I know that money is not the answer. When you are stripped of everything or when you offer up everything to God in a meaningful and real way, you realize what brings true happiness. I divested myself of so many 'things' because I know that collections of things, gizmo's and gadgets do not make you happy. I am happy acknowledging who I am, knowing God loves me with reckless abandon and trying my best to love myself and theirs. I am happy. Leave the trappings for Madison avenue types who try to convince us the next new thing is a must have that will finally make us complete and happy. As faithful people we know it just ain't so!
Here it is: True happiness is loving yourself, knowing your self worth, knowing God loves you and finally, spreading that love around. You know these people when you see them. They exude confidence. They seem able to do more than everyone else. They accomplish great things and great love. This is the pruning and bearing of fruit. It's not about money. Money is more of the illusion, what the devil offers on the mountaintop to Jesus.
Money is our tool, our manure, our means to accomplish what we can accomplish with money but nothing more. Real happiness is always found in love, pure love.
John 15:1-11
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
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