The gospel lesson for this morning is from the Gospel of Mark, the story of the rich, young ruler who came to Jesus, asking, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" This is usually interpreted as a text about money. But it is not really a story about money. It is a story about salvation, and a devastating critique of the popular notion of how you get it.

Money is a tool, an instrument, the means to an end. You can do all kinds of things with money. It is often said, "Money is the root of all evil." That comes from the Bible, from I Timothy, only that's not what it says in I Timothy. What it says is, "The love of money is the root of all evil." In other words, making money an end in itself is the source of evil.

Money can be the means of doing a lot of good, which is why Christians have…