The Whip and Sparrow: Jesus' Surprising Teaching on Money
By Jacob Buurma
The Whip and Sparrow
Secular books about personal finances tend to focus on techniques to acquire wealth. Many Christian authors also focus on the same. Or perhaps they tout ‘timeless principles’ that feel like heavy burdens. The principles themselves may be worthy but come off sounding like a long list of obligations.
I find it more helpful to start in a more basic place: What did Jesus know about money, and what kept him worry free?
Two images stand out to me as opposite poles for Jesus’ teaching on money. The first is the whip he made in the temple: Jesus’ surprisingly violent reaction to greed. The second is the sparrow of the sermon on the mount: Jesus’ worry-free attitude towards money – something he both taught and lived.
The Whip
The only place where Jesus gets violent is the moment when he clears the temple. Every gospel records it, which means it’s essential to the Jesus story.
Three of the four gospels also record Jesus being whipped during the crucifixion. So the man who received the whip - and in divine forbearance said “Father, forgive them” – is also the one who takes up a whip when he sees temple dishonoured. What a contrast! But it’s crucial to note that the blows he delivers are not at people but at a situation.
Why does Jesus take out the whip? On one level, Jesus wants to remove commercial distraction from worship. And he gets violent against business practices that take advantage of others. Many of the business virtues we hold sacred, that grease the wheels of capitalism and grow the economy – can be the very things Jesus rails against. There is a fine line between making a sustainable profit and predatory one.
But Jesus is not merely clearing a physical temple. There is an invisible battle as well. As Origen wrote, “Jesus overturns the tables in the souls of those fond of money”. He raises his whip against the spiritual power of greed. He snaps against the prosperity gospel, which teaches that success with money is at the center of God’s word. Jesus does hand-to-hand combat with Mammon.
Mammon is simply the Aramaic word for “property”. It does not mean wealth or affluence. It simply means our worldly possessions, whether they are many or few. More broadly, Mammon is “any personal or spiritual force that rules us.”
It’s helpful to do regular Mammon detection. Watch for these hallmarks of Mammon in and around you:
Insatiable. Os Guiness notes that the Hebrew word for money (kesef) comes from a verb meaning ‘to desire’ or ‘languish after something’. This insatiability applies to getting what we do not have and to holding onto what we do have. The “hardest financial skill is getting the goal post to stop moving” observes Morgan Housel. You reach a goal, but then it’s suddenly crept past you to a new spot. That’s the slight of hand that Mammon pulls on us over and over again.
Wealthy people are often intensely focused on work and less frequently have other big interests. George Herbert wrote that “soul is dyed the colour of its leisure thought.” The pursuit of wealth makes you single minded: always watching investments, jittery about market fluctuations. With dark irony, Mammon ironically creates the anxiety it promises to relieve.
Money problems are one of the top things that break up marriages. We have seen this happen in the lives of dear friends and it is tragic! If you let Mammon in, it eventually begins to devour you.
Generosity is an antidote to Mammon. Tithing is a tradition as old as the Bible, going far back to Abraham. But it’s not just another rule. Many pastors like to quote Malachi 3:10 to “bring in the whole tithe”, but miss the rationale for it in the following verse: “and I will keep the devourer at bay, so it will not destroy”. Generosity blocks spiritual power of greed in our life. Tithing is a practical way to inhibit Mammon and acknowledge that 100% of what we have is gift.
The Sparrow
Jesus had a thing for birds. In his teaching, birds are associated with being worry-free and fear-free. They are symbols of profound simplicity:
“Look at the birds of the air…they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Matthew 6:23
This does not mean birds are passive – they are some of the busiest creatures in nature! They painstakingly build nests. They work hard after a rainstorm. They know how to read the seasons and migrate vast distances. They are active, but they are not anxious. Darrell Johnson writes: “Birds know they are held in the hands of someone bigger than themselves.”
We see the same stunning lack of worry in Jesus. He’s in the wilderness without food and isn’t bothered; but I worry if I forget snacks for the kids at the playground. When he needs transportation in town, he knows someone will lend him a donkey. When he needs accommodations, they are there. Even when he and Peter needed to pay taxes, there was a fish with just the right amount of money in its mouth.
“Every worry is a vote of no-confidence in God,” writes Helmut Thielicke. Lord, increase our confidence!
Many of us have seen times when unexpected provision arrived. But our memories are so short. So where do we need to remember to be more sparrow-like? Where do we need to soar above the worry of bills, purchase decisions, and bank balances? Credit cards promise to remove our worry with convenience – but only create heightened worry when the larger-than-expected bill arrives. Jesus assures that we have a Father who knows our every feather and need.
Prayer
Lord – help us to be free like a sparrow, as free as you are, in relation to money. And help us to recognize where you are raising a whip against our own financial choices and the economic habits of our culture. We know you want to save us from spiritual schizophrenia! Help us to lead less distracted lives so that we recognize you in the everyday and join you in making all things new.