Threading the Needle: The Rich Ruler

Ever since Junior could remember, when he would go and visit his father at his office, he would look at his father’s Wall of Pictures. A wooden wall in his father’s office that was filled with pictures of different sizes, some in fancy frames and others simple ones. Between the pictures were famous sayings by businessmen, diplomas, achievement awards and the company’s motto.  His dad said the Wall of Pictures was there to remind him of where he came from and where he wanted to go. 

There was a black-and-white picture of the first office building his grandfather owned. Junior always liked looking at the picture of his dad as a young man in a suit with a golden shovel breaking ground on a new building. He loved how the golden shovel and even a jar of dirt hung under the picture. One of the biggest pictures was of his whole family at the lakehouse. When his father was in a good mood, he would put Junior up on his shoulders so he could see the pictures at the top by the ceiling. Those were pictures of his father with different famous people—movie stars, basketball players, even a few presidents—and as Junior pointed to the pictures, his father would tell him little tidbits about the people in them, like “she had the biggest laugh” or “he had a terrible poker face.” 

But there was one photo he wouldn’t talk about. It was a small picture, about the size of a business card, that didn’t even have a frame. Instead it was tucked in the corner of a photo of his father and some college friends. The picture was a painting of Jesus talking to a rich man. Whenever Junior pointed to that picture and said, “Dad, tell me the story of this picture,” his dad would respond saying, “Oh, that’s nothing,” and then he would point out a picture with an exciting story to try and distract Junior from the painting. 

After his father died, it was Junior’s turn to take over the family bank business and move into his dad’s office. He knew he didn’t want a life like his father’s where business always came first, but he also wasn’t sure what he wanted his life to look like. Some days he would stare at the wall of pictures, searching for answers. One day he went up and pulled down the picture of Jesus and some other man and studied it at his desk, trying to figure out what it meant, when his grandmother walked in for their lunch date. He put the picture in his pocket and off they went. After they ordered, he pulled the picture out of his suit coat and asked, “Grandma, what do you know about this picture? I know it’s a picture of Jesus but father was never that religious and we’ve never really gone to church. It doesn’t make sense. If father would never talk about it, why would he keep the picture up there for all those years?”

“Well, you know that your dad went to a Catholic college to play lacrosse. But in the second game of the season, he injured his back and was unable to continue to be on the lacrosse team. He was devastated and felt pretty lost. Some classmates in his dorm invited him to their fraternity that was focused on service and had a weekly Bible study. Your father found comfort and camaraderie in that group. He found the focus on service refreshing and actually enjoyed the conversations that occurred during Bible study. But then they came to a passage, the one this picture is based on, that kind of challenged him. The story went like this— 

“One day, Jesus was taking a break from teaching, trying to have some quiet time, catch his breath, and get something to eat, when parents decided this was the perfect moment to bring their little ones to Jesus. The disciples scolded the parents, ordering them to give Jesus space; their children were not important enough to see Jesus. But Jesus called for the parents and their children to come near him, so he could touch and bless each little one. Then Jesus said something unexpected, that the kingdom of God belongs to them. 

“A young, wealthy man was also hoping to talk with Jesus that day during his break. He snuck past the disciples, blending in with the group of parents and kids. He was puzzled at hearing Jesus say that the kingdom of God belongs to children. He was no longer a child but wanted to be a part of this great kingdom, so he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied he needed to follow the commandments, and the man said, “Yes, I do those things.” Then Jesus said, “One more thing, sell all you have and give it to the poor. Then come, and follow me.” And the man became very sad. Then Jesus dug the point in more by adding that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God.

“Your father didn’t know what to make of this story. It was the opposite of what he had been told, that God had blessed his family with money that they needed to treasure. Others without much money were lazy or incompetent, he had been taught. This story haunted him. 

“He didn’t know his family’s exact net worth at the time, but he knew it was much more than they could ever need in their lifetime and that his dad was working hard to continue to grow their wealth. He was being trained to take over the company someday, but after hearing this story, he started dreaming about what his life and the world could look like if he took a different approach to the family’s wealth. He went on a few mission trips to see how other people lived. He even thought about trading his business major for social sciences or non-profit management.

“But when his father heard about it, he said he wouldn’t pay for school, he wouldn’t get any family money, he would cut off his son, if he didn’t work to support the family business. Your father wasn’t happy about this but he couldn’t imagine losing touch with the family he loved or having to figure out money on his own, so he moved out of the fraternity house and focused on following in his father’s footsteps, getting an MBA and slowly taking more and more responsibility in the family business. 

“I think at one point he had hoped to come back to those dreams and he did expand the business’s charitable giving, but it was not like he dreamed of in college. He got busy with the day-to-day operations of the company and never found time to do more. But he also didn’t want to forget those years of service, that challenge to give, and so he kept that picture of his fraternity brothers on “the wall of pictures” and the tiny painting of Jesus and the rich young ruler to be a reminder. I think he always avoided talking about it because he was disappointed in himself and felt ashamed for not always doing as much as he could.”

Junior tried to imagine his father in college, dreaming about serving others and shaking up the world by giving lavishly, and he knew what he wanted to do. His father hadn’t been able to realize his college dreams but Junior realized he believed in them and that he did have the power to do what his father didn’t. Junior knew the life he wanted to build. He wanted to give extravagantly and see if little corners of the world could be different with extra money and resources. 

He went back to his office and took down every single thing on the wall of pictures—the celebrities and presidents, the groundbreakings and achievement awards. He contacted the family art dealer and bought the original copy of the painting of Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler and hung it in the center of the wall. He didn’t want to forget family history, so he put up the pictures of his grandfather and father. He kept his favorite picture of the groundbreaking but put the golden shovel in storage and set the jar of dirt on his desk to try and remember to keep himself grounded. He got rid of the quotes by famous businessmen and put up the words “love one another” and “come, follow me.” In a few years he hoped to have kids that would come and look at the wall of pictures and see the family history and the new vision for the future. 

As I was looking for this week’s bulletin picture, I was struck by this painting and the differences between this young rich man, Jesus, and the impoverished people in the shadows. Then, I noticed a note at the bottom saying it was purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. I couldn’t find information about why he chose to buy this painting or if it had an influence on him, but I did learn that he did his best to leave the family business and focus on philanthropy. He influenced his father to give generously to charity and he gave more money to different charitable causes than he left his children. John D. Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated over 1 billion dollars to different charities between 1860–1960. Now, there are a lot of problems with how the Rockefellers made their money, so I am not lifting them up as the greatest examples of noble business or stewardship. But I do wonder how this Bible story and this painting influenced John Jr. Was it a story that became central to how he viewed and spent his money? Did the painting hang in his home as a reminder to be charitable? I don’t know but it feels like too big of a coincidence to me that one of the richest people in the world owned this painting and gave away over half of his fortune to help others.

It made me reflect on my own stories and beliefs about money. If I made a gallery, a wall of pictures, with the stories, words, and people that have most influenced my views about money, what would that look like? I will admit that my wall of pictures about money is under construction right now. I’m realizing there are some beliefs and habits about money that I have picked up that I want to let go of or not be at the center of my money wall anymore.

All of us have stories about money that frame how we see the world. We all have a first memory about money. We have implicit or explicit family sayings and beliefs about the place money has in the world. We have stories we have gotten from others. We may think “I want my life to look like that” or “I do not want my life to look like that.” And hopefully as Christ followers, we have Bible stories that are also shaping our views.

The hope of the series was to get our church talking about money, to help it feel less taboo, less  intimidating and more accessible. Most of us have some rearranging we need to do on our money wall of pictures. Maybe there are some old family sayings that aren’t helpful. Perhaps there are some habits that need to be changed. Maybe some pictures, some ideas or stories need to be enlarged and put in the center of the wall and some ideas, while helpful, need to be a little smaller and put to the side. 

We’re going to take a few minutes, right here during the service, to work on this. By now all of you will have gotten a piece of paper that should fit nicely on top of your hymnal or Bible. For those of you at home, on the screen is an abbreviated version of what people are seeing on their papers. I encourage you to get your own piece of paper and pencil and do this along with us. [For those reading this on the website, you can click the button below to download a printable copy.] On one side there is a gallery with different sized frames and on the other side there is a box for storage and a trash can. For the next 3–4 minutes, think about what you want your picture wall about money to look like. What do you want to be at its center? What needs to get moved into storage, an idea that was helpful in the past but doesn’t fit any more, or what needs to be moved to the trash? What ideas to get bigger or smaller? You can take this time to reflect on this by yourself, or for the extraverts in the room, you can talk with someone around you. There is not one right way to do this, it’s just a chance to think about your money story and values.