If I Were a Rich Man

Jesus said to his disciples, "It's terribly hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven!'" Matthew 19:23

We often feel sorry for the rich young ruler who mournfully left Jesus' presence just before the Master spoke these words.

I can remember how I felt the first time I heard this passage. I understood the response of the rich man who was told to give it all up for Jesus, and I remember being mildly shocked at the the response of the disciples to the statement. It wasn't until I recently sang Tevye's song from the Fiddler on the Roof about how he would conduct himself should he be a rich man-
"If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack
To sit in the synagogue and pray,
And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall,
And I'd discuss the learned books with the holy men
Seven hours every day--
That would be the sweetest thing of all..."
(http://www.lyricsdepot.com/zero-mostel/if-i-were-a-rich-man.html)

From the perspective of the Disciples, a rich man had the time to focus on his spiritual habits and learning about God. For the rich young ruler, who was probably well off from birth, he was so good because he went to the best schools, had the time to sit under the best rabbis, and didn't have to be so distracted by immediate needs from the beauty of Godly thoughts.

The American protestant today may not quite identify with this feeling. We tend to see the religious rich as suspect, facing temptations that common people do not even have the chance to have, but in the world of New Testament Palestine it was more common for the religious rich to be seen as the ones who are the most godly because they can spend more time being spiritual because they didn't have so many worries about survival.

Now it makes more sense to me why Jesus told the rich young ruler to give all he had to the poor. If the religious rich young ruler gave up his physical riches, in his mind, he gave up most of his spiritualy identity.