Rags-to-riches stories have been popular in every time and place. The story of Abraham Lincoln whose life led from the log cabin to the White House is a staple of Americana. So are the stories of Horatio Alger. He started writing just after the civil war. He wrote exclusively about underprivileged young people who through honesty, preseverance, and diligence went on to win fame and wealth. Ragged Dick and Tattered Tom were just two of the heroes he wrote about in over a hundred dime novels. Nearer to our own time are the rags-to-riches stories of two real life people. Lorreta Lynne, born a coal miner's daughter, became a star of country music. Elvis, the poor boy from Mississippi, became the king of rock and roll.
Just think about the enduring appeal of these rags-to-riches stories. Who among us has not fantasized about making it big? The people who run the big money sweepstakes know that we do. So do those who invest in gambling casinos and promote state lotteries. A television promo for the Megabucks lottery in Massachusetts showed a washerwoman in a large bank who, after winning big, walked into the boardroom of the bank, set aside her mop and bucket, and announced to the assembled officers of the bank, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure you will enjoy working for me as much as I have enjoyed working for you." Here is the universal fantasy. Why do stories like Treasure Island and Cinderella retain an enduring appeal to children? Here is the odd quirk. We cherish the memory of log cabin beginnings but we are not content with simplicity. It's the life styles of the rich and famous that evoke popular curiosity and adulation. A modern realtor wouldn't even classify a log cabin as a starter home. Upward mobility is the name of the game. But which way is up? And what about those in our land whose ongoing poverty traps them in a time warp in which there is neither past nor future, only the daily struggle to survive?
Even back in the iron age rags-to-riches stories were popular. Today's first reading is a shining example. David, the obscure shepherd boy, became the king of Israel. The child's hand that held a shepherd's crook became the adult hand that held the royal scepter. David became a popular folk hero invested with a larger-than-life image in later years after the nation went to pieces and became a land occupied by a succession of conquerors. How they dreamed that another David might rise and make them a nation once again. In the popular imagination David became enshrined as Israel's warrior celebrity par excellence.
"And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him." This comment which concludes today's reading tells us something about the way the teachers of Israel thought about people who attained position and means. The old orthodoxy of the book of Deuteronomy shines forth here. God rewards piety. Position and the trappings of success were equated with blessing. Human proficiency reflected God power. That's the way ancient folk thought about the attainment of celebrity status. If someone became famous, people looked for the Spirit of God at work in him. Today we look for his press agent and image consultant.
Jesus consigned the old orthodoxy of Deuteronomy to the wastebasket in his parable of the rich fool. Speaking of a rich fool was a contradiction in terms according to the old piety. Yet that old piety lingers on among us in our cultural definitions that define the good life as having the goods. Jesus took a traditional type of success story and put a different twist to it in one of his twin parables of the buried treasure and the pearl of great price. Listen to them.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. -- Matthew 13:44-45
The peasant shared the universal fantasy of making it big. The rich man who had made it bigger still sought more. Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller how much money it took to make someone happy. He replied, "Just a little more." Note the way the parables veer from the traditional plot of the success story. The listener would expect the peasant to make a big splash with a palatial house, designer clothes, a fancy stable, and a retinue of servants. The rich man would go on to amass more wealth and power. But that's not the way the versions of Jesus go. These are kingdom stories and the burden of these stories is another kind of wealth and another kind of success -- making it big as a human being in whatever circle we walk, large or small.