One way to think about Jesus and money is to consider the old joke about three types of people in the world.
1. Some people don't know what Jesus said about money and they have no interest in finding out.
2. People who care profoundly about what Jesus said about money and do their best to be obedient to those words.
3. The people who know what Jesus said about money-or at least they think they know-and wish they didn't.
Here is an example of the third type of person. I was at a seminar about creating a millionaire mindset. After a break, I was returning to my seat when I saw one of the students talking with the speaker. As I got closer, I heard the student ask: "How can you say it is good to be rich? Jesus said that a rich man can't get into Heaven."
My candidate for the Bible verse most likely to convince people that they have to choose between riches and salvation is the comment by Jesus about a rich man and the Kingdom of Heaven. Of all of the words of Jesus about money, this is the one that is most misinterpreted.
By identifying the "Kingdom of Heaven" with "Heaven," the questioner misquoted the story. He had missed the point that Jesus was making. All three biblical versions of the story agree that Jesus was speaking about a rich man and the Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God, not about Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven concerns the economic reality of people alive on planet Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is not the same as Heaven.
What is the remedy for someone like the man at the seminar, who was sure that Jesus taught that a rich man cannot get into Heaven? The solution is context. The words of Jesus must be put into the context of the story. And then the story must be put into the context of the economic situation in which Jesus lived. This is the way to liberate people who are sure they know what Jesus said about money but wish they didn't.
Otherwise, you will be like the man at the seminar. He had misunderstood the point of the story because he confused Heaven with the Kingdom of Heaven. He was stuck in an "Eye of the Needle" of his own making.
Jesus told the story as part of his condemnation of an unjust economic system. He was not glorifying poverty. He did not say that the rich cannot get into Heaven.
