Richest Man on Earth

Seeing true wealth as doing the will of God

02/26/2023

Mt 4:1-11 At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He said in reply, ‘It is written: one does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test." Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve."

Did you know that there are different ways to define wealth? That is, who is the richest person on earth? Now, most people probably think that wealth equals riches. That is, the richer you are in money and material assets, the wealthier you are. Do you remember the movie “Aladdin” and how evil Jafar defined wealth? He asked Aladdin: “You know what the golden rule is, don’t you? Whoever has the gold makes the rules.” And it might seem that international politics works according to this golden rule: whichever country has the gold, and is the materially richest, makes the rules the rest of the world has to live by. So, that is one way to define wealth: whoever is materially rich is wealthy.

But that is not the only way to think about wealth, nor is it necessarily the best way. My father often told us kids while growing up, “Your health is your greatest wealth.” And my parents are a perfect example. They are now in their 80’s and still able to live independently in their own home in Springdale. In other words, my parents are not rich with a lot of money, nonetheless, they are healthy and therefore wealthy in that sense.

Here’s another way to define wealth. In the movie “The Scarlet and the Black” (a great movie with Gregory Peck) there is a scene in which Pope Pius XII defines the wealth of the Catholic Church. The pope was giving Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty a tour of the Vatican archives filled with priceless art. The pope suddenly asked him, “Hugh, do you know what the real wealth of the Catholic Church is?” And he answered his own question saying: “The people of God are our true wealth. And all this priceless art is nothing compared to one immortal soul.” Some people say the Church is rich with money, but we believe our real wealth is our people in the pews, all of ya’ll.

Still other people would define their true wealth as their reputation. What others think of them is what matters most, keeping up with the Joneses, and they would sacrifice anything for the wealth of the world’s approval. Yet still others believe their attractive appearance and bodily beauty is their greatest wealth. Someday you should read the book by Oscar Wilde called “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. It is chilling example of how vanity can become someone’s prized possession.

So, different people define wealth in a variety of ways: as gold the makes the rules, as health and physical fitness, as people in the pews, as one’s reputation and social status, or simply as good looks. Wealth is what turns other people’s heads. Well, I believe there is some truth in all those definitions of wealth, and hopefully we might enjoy a little of all those forms of wealth. But Jesus shows us a better, more precious, kind of wealth, that is, in doing his Father’s will. This is how Jesus is able to rebuff the temptations of the Devil in the desert when the Evil One offers our Lord, “all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence" that is, all worldly wealth.

Jesus answers: “Get away Satan! It is written, The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” In other words, Jesus is saying you cannot offer me any more wealth because I am already wealthy beyond your wildest imagination by doing my Father’s will, and serving him alone. That is, when we are wealthy with the will of God, all other definitions of wealth seem like trinkets and trifles for little children, and do not interest us. The highest and holiest definition of wealth is obedience to God’s will. That is why Jesus was the wealthiest man who ever lived.

I mention all these ways of defining wealth to provide a proper context to make some comments about our church’s finances. In the bulletin today, you will find a one-page summary of last year’s financials, from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. I am very grateful to Cindy McNally and Linda Maestri for helping to manage our material resources. I am also very grateful to our church staff who are very frugal with our finances. Don’t worry, no one on our staff makes enough gold to make any rules!

The financial summary is provided in two different formats. One gives the total expenses and the total income, broken down into line items. The other format is two pie charts which also show the income and expenses but as percentages of the total income. Both formats are valuable, but I like the pie chart because I prefer pictures over numbers! In both formats, though, the bottom line is that, because we are so frugal, we ended the year in the black. And that is saying something since we just got out of a pandemic and are now in a recession.

But much more important than the actual numbers is that I hope you feel, like I certainly do, that we use these funds to do God’s will here in Fort Smith and to serve him alone, like Jesus did in the desert. In other words, doing God’s will is our true wealth as a Catholic parish, and every other kind of wealth is but trinkets and trifles for little children.

My friends, how do you define wealth? There are lots of ways to define it, and they are not all necessarily bad. But the best way to define wealth is to live by God’s will in your life. That is how Jesus would define true wealth, and it gave him great peace, joy, and strength in the face of temptations. How so? Because he could see that what the Devil was offering him instead was but trinkets and trifles for little children. Maybe redefining wealth like Jesus did is something we can learn this Lent.

Praised be Jesus Christ!