Jesus
saves; Moses invests. So goes the old joke.
One
very popular image is Jesus the Effeminate Hippie. There's plenty of fodder for
this image in the New Testament: Jesus hanging out with little kids, Jesus announcing
that the foxes have their lairs and birds have nests but that he has no home to
rest his head, Jesus' exhortation to his followers to be like the lilies of the
field who neither sow nor reap but who rival Solomon's riches in their glory.
"It's harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle."
But
Jesus talks plenty about money, and he has rich friends, and he praises high-yield
investments. He establishes one of the most important principles of
Christianity, the separation of church and state, by using a coin: render unto
Cesar what is Cesar's, and unto God what is God's. He exalted the spirituality of
the poor by praising the Widow who donated only one small coin to the temple;
one small coin was all she had. Jesus cavorted with tax collectors, and never
told them to stop collecting taxes.
The
seven of coins tarot card depicts a farmer stopping work for a moment to assess
the return he is receiving on his investment of labor. This card immediately
calls to mind the Parable of the Ten Talents.
A
rich man is going away. He calls in three servants. He gives them part of his
wealth to invest while he is gone. The first two servants invest successfully
and receive a large return. The final servant is fearful because he knows the
rich man is a hard man who takes out what he did not put in and reaps what he
did not sow. This final servant buries the money the rich man gave him.
The
rich man returns and abundantly rewards his servants who profited from their
investments. He punishes the final servant who was too afraid to invest. The
man says, "To everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who
has nothing, even what they have will be taken away."
I
remember hearing that line in church as a kid and being horrified by it. It
didn't strike me as comparable to anything else Jesus said; it didn't strike me
as Christian. It struck me as exactly how the world works. The rich get richer
and the poor get screwed.
As
Ray Charles sang,
I've
gotten down to my last pair of shoes
Can't
even win a nickel bet
Because,
them that's got are them that gets
And I
ain't got nothin yet
I'm
sneakin in and out duckin' my landlord
All I
seem to do is stay in debt
Because,
them that's got are them that gets
And I
tell you all I ain't got nothin' yet
The Parable
of the Ten Talents inspired the Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog song, "God
Bless the Child that's Got His Own."
Them
that's got shall get
Them
that's not shall lose
So
the Bible said and it still is news…
Yes,
the strong gets more
While
the weak ones fade
Empty
pockets don't ever make the grade…
Money,
you've got lots of friends
Crowding
round the door
When
you're gone and spending ends
They
don't come no more
Rich
relations give
Crust
of bread and such
You
can help yourself
But
don't take too much
Mama
may have, Papa may have
But
God bless the child that's got his own
That's
got his own
When
I first heard this verse in church, I was a poor kid in a rich country. There
often wasn't money for food and I remember subsisting for days at a time on
government surplus white rice or government surplus pasta served with nothing
but government surplus margarine. This verse didn't just insult me, it damned
me.
So,
today, after drawing the seven of coins, I use that profound spiritual aid,
Google, to see what other Christians have said about this verse. And I really
like what I find.
The
first page to turn up identifies this verse as "typically
Jewish." My first thought, when I read this, was that I had stumbled upon
an anti-Semitic page that would talk about Jews being greedy capitalists. But
no. The page's author identifies himself as KJ Went, a scholar of Hebrew who
uses Jewish culture better to understand early Christianity.
Went
cites some really interesting passages from Jewish works that illuminate the
Ten Talents parable. For example:
"He
who does not increase his knowledge decreases it" (Mishnah, Pirqe Abôth
1.13)
"Observe
how the character of the Holy One, blessed be He, differs from that of flesh
and blood. A mortal can put something into an empty vessel but not into a full
one, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so, He puts more into a full
vessel but not into an empty one." (Babylonian Talmud, Berakôth, 40a;
Sukkah 46a)"
In
these Jewish sources, the substance is not money at all, but wisdom. Those who
study and gain wisdom are able to internalize yet more wisdom. Those who don't
study and have no wisdom can't receive wisdom.
Paradoxically,
Went adds,
"Jesus
did indeed talk about giving to those who cannot return and hence not expecting
it back (Luke 6:30; 14:12), and he also praised God that he had revealed wisdom
to babes and not to the apparently wise who actually turned out to be fools
(Luke 10:21)."
Finally,
I need to remember that this is a parable, not a literal statement, and the
rich man who punishes the servant who didn't invest is not Jesus himself.
Sam
Harris, atheist Christophobe, committed that folly in a speech. Harris quoted
the rich man as if he were Jesus. The
rich man of this parable, Jesus tells us, is a bad guy. In Luke 19:27, this
bad, rich guy says, "Anyone who doesn't want to be ruled by me, bring him
before me and slay him before me." This is not Jesus' statement. This is
Jesus telling a story about a bad man, and quoting that bad man saying a bad
thing.
Sam
Harris quoted that line that the bad, rich man in the parable spoke – "Anyone
who doesn't want to be ruled by me, bring him before me and slay him before me"
– as if it were Jesus speaking. Sam Harris, you are a big, fat liar. Watch Sam
Harris tell his big, fat, New Atheist lie right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENtlW-LEqu8
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