Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
This passage is a terrible one for me. I am so rich compared to so many in the world. I have so much. I have used the money I have for selfish things – not things that are “bad” in and of themselves, but things that are not always as caring for others as they should be. Little things, like ordering pizza rather than cooking myself, and using the money saved to make a difference. Things like buying new books when others don’t have food.
I am not alone. So many in the Western church use their money for their own selfish ends. Not bad, just selfish.
We have hoarded in the last days.
Our money is not our own. Nothing we “have” is. It all belongs to Christ. Yet we lay it up for ourselves, spending it on petty pleasures or just in keeping it in the bank “for a rainy day”. All the while, the food, the clothing, the products, we buy is made by people who are desperate for a small portion of the riches we have.
Jesus became poor that we might become rich. We need to aim to do the same, to use our money in ways that will make a difference in the lives of those around us, both in this life and in eternity.
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