{"id":22957,"date":"2017-09-21T15:38:46","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T20:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?p=22957"},"modified":"2017-09-25T11:05:26","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T16:05:26","slug":"st-matthew-worldly-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2017\/09\/st-matthew-worldly-wealth.html","title":{"rendered":"St. Matthew and Worldly Wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"St
St Matthew by Rembrandt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

So nobody really\u00a0likes\u00a0<\/em>tax collectors, but did you know why they were so despised in Jesus\u2019 time?<\/p>\n

Its because of the way the Romans administered the tax collection system. They hired a local person (who knew who was really wealthy and who was not) and gave the guy a couple of soldiers and told him the amount of tax he had to collect. Whatever he collected above that amount was his to keep as his remuneration\u2026and he could use the soldiers to encourage all those who were somewhat reluctant to contribute to the Emperors\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n

So Matthew was not popular. The fact that he collected from his fellow Jews for the hated Romans made him even more of.a scab.<\/p>\n

But Jesus reached out to this sinner.<\/p>\n

It brings to mind, therefore the question of wealth. Matthew was rich, but he was poor spiritually. So who is rich and who is poor?<\/p>\n

Are you poor because you don\u2019t have a high income? Maybe a person with a low income but no debt is richer than a person with a high income who is over their head in debt. Are you rich because you have a lot of\u00a0money? What\u2019s a lot? I\u2019ve met a good number of people who seem very rich, but they complain of not having much money. Others seem to be poor but claim that they are richly blessed and have all they need. It\u2019s impossible to judge.<\/p>\n

The question is not really how much money you have, but what you do with it. Here are some fictional examples. You decide who\u2019s rich.<\/p>\n

1. Mr Jones has worked hard all his life to build a successful business. Now, in his fifties, the business was put on the stock market and he discovers that he is rich. He has millions of dollars. So he sets up a family foundation, and together with his wife he builds churches, funds projects in the developing world, quietly helps widows and orphans and after ten years of philanthropy he and his wife downsize and live in a modest three bedroom rancher so they can do more. His company continues to prosper. He drives a five year old Mercedes. They live a quiet, but comfortable life and devote all their time to their charitable work. Is Mr Jones rich?<\/p>\n

2. Mr Smith has worked all his life as a packer in a warehouse. His wife works full time to make ends meet. They scrape by just managing to meet their payments every week. He doesn\u2019t give a dime to anyone and worries constantly about money. Mr Smith plays the lottery every week hoping that he\u2019ll win a million dollars. He complains about the poor people who hang around outside church and when his brother fell on hard times Mr Smith told him to get a second job. Mr Smith sees Mr Jones at church and comments bitterly about Mr Jones\u2019 car\u2026\u201dIt\u2019s alright for some. All I can afford is my old Chevy pick up.\u201d Is Mr Smith rich?<\/p>\n

3. Mr White is a billionaire\u2026Continue Reading<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Image Creative Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody really likes tax collectors, but did you know why they were so despised in Jesus’ time?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":22961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Matthew and Worldly Wealth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nobody really likes tax collectors, but did you know why they were so despised in Jesus' time?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2017\/09\/st-matthew-worldly-wealth.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Matthew and Worldly Wealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nobody really likes tax collectors, but did you know why they were so despised in Jesus' time?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2017\/09\/st-matthew-worldly-wealth.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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