+ It is so easy in our contemporary society to think that the "smart ones" are the ones with the big bank accounts; the ones with multiple educational degrees; the ones who own the extravagant houses, boats, cars, jewels; the ones with the loudest voices (when money talks). How else would they be "rich" if they were not "smart?" But if I were to tell you the truth of the matter that "you cannot take it with you" – then, who are the "smart ones?" Can there be any smart ones? What, if anything, can you take with you? Again, I tell you the truth, you can take something with you, you can take love with you: and you can take anything that truly qualified you to love: the primary and most fundamental reality here being: wisdom! The smart one is really the wise one; not wise in the view of the world, but wise in the eyes of God!
And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of real wisdom! Some don't like the sound of that already. The "fear" involved here is a real and healthy "awe" that we must have for the almighty, the all powerful, but o so loving Father God, who existed long before anything or anyone at all! We are truly here on account of his love and his generosity and his good will towards us. If we do not have a healthy respect for this God, then we are foolish!
Now the wisdom of God (the very ability to see things as God himself sees them) comes from seeking her and asking for her – and then being willing to recognize her wherever she may be found: which could be anywhere at all. But it also comes from reflecting on the word of God-speaking: quite literally speaking in the Scriptures. Jesus is the Scriptures, and no one is wiser than he. The word of God is therefore sharper than any two edged sword: it cuts right to the heart and lays bare what is truly going on there, for where there is Jesus, there is not only wisdom, but there is also Truth! How very fortunate we are that we do not have to stumble around in the darkness of ignorance any longer; that our hearts can be pure and holy; that our lives can be filled with the joy of self-sacrificial giving and loving! This is what it means to be rich! Dollars and status and power do not make us rich at all; humility, obedience, compassion, mercy, tenderness, and self-giving do make us not only very rich spiritually, but also very wise supernaturally – and these things you can definitely "take with you" into everlasting life.
The young man is the gospel passage went away sad because in his riches he lacked wisdom: he lacked the insight to see that what really mattered was detachment from "what owned him," and attachment to Jesus and his seemingly contrary but eternally rewarding way of life!
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; not the rich and the famous – unless they get their priorities very, very, straight!
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