Of Camels and Rich Men

Note: The following post has been edited from its original form.

Verily I say to you it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:24. One scholarly interpretation of the passage follows:

The Aramaic word gamla means camel, a large rope and a beam. The meaning of the word is determined by its context. If the word riding or burden occurs then gamla means a camel, but when the eye of a needle is mentioned gamla more correctly means a rope. There is no connection anywhere in Aramaic speech or literature between camel and needle, but there is a definite connection between rope and needle."

So, it is easier to thread a needle with a rope then for a rich man to enter heaven. I’ve been mulling over this passage from Matthew since I got back from Buffalo the other day. I was having a discussion with a relative about the priest’s homily in Church last Sunday. The Gospel reading was Mark 12:38-44, where Jesus notes that the poor woman who contributed two pennies to the poor-her entire net worth-was closer to God then the rich who gave only of their surplus wealth. The homily, as I understand it, focused on the fact that the rich will have a harder time with God than the poor. My relative was upset at what he perceived as an anti-wealth bias in the homily.

America being an alleged meritocracy, its hard for most poeple to get their minds around the idea that the super-rich aren’t *entitled* to their vast wealth, and that the fact that they have it necessarily means in a capitalist society that someone else doesn’t. Does a corporate executive work objectively harder than the ditch-digger or an auto mechanic? Does one profession have intrinsic value because it requires an advanced education and the other lesser value because it is grounded in manual labor? The executive would claim superiority because what he does ostentiably provides employment for hundreds of others, but his or her responsibility is ultimately to the shareholder and if firing a large number of people increases the stock price then the action is justified in their view. This doesn't strike me as very fair. It certainly isn’t in line with Catholic teachings on the equitable distribution of wealth.

It is also interesting to note who the most vocal opponents of anti-poverty measures like universal healthcare and an increase in the minimum wage are usually those same corporate executives. I suppose its too much to ask that society bend at the knee before the poor; even Jesus realized that the poor would always be with us. But one wonders what Jesus would have made of wealthy parishes full of expensively groomed women wearing fur coats and parking lots full of $50,000 cars.