Sirach 31:8-11. Sirach is another wisdom book and is not included in many versions of the Bible, or is sometimes lumped in with Ecclesiastes. I do not know the reasoning for this - another thing for me to learn! Here Sirach tells us a rich man who is blameless and does not go after gold is blessed. He has been tested and passed the test, he does wonderful things for the people. He has the power to transgress and has not, the ability to do evil, and has not. It is a ground for boasting. His prosperity will be established, and his acts of charity will be spoken of in the assembly.

When I teach the Beatitudes in PREP, the children are often confused by Jesus' teaching about the blessing of being poor. It is countercultural to teach that being poor is a blessing. It is very hard for children of the kind of prosperity we have in this country to understand how anyone could feel happy when being poor (a lot of adults don't get this either)! I always tell them that being poor is definitely difficult, but in many ways it forces us to rely on God. It is easier to turn only to God when one does not have a lot of "stuff" to cling to and worry about. Making money can become an idol in and of itself, it has become an idol for many of us, and we can forget God's love of and care for us when we start prioritizing making money. Wanting to have enough to care for ourselves and our families and keep us comfortable is a good thing, it is something we do have to do, but we can't make the money and the comfort our primary goal. The more money we get, the more this becomes a temptation, and we often start to think we need or entitled to at least as much money as we have, and possibly more. We get sucked into the self-reliant, comfort seeking, materialistic culture.

So that is one reason why Jesus said the poor are blessed. They don't have that temptation. But what about someone who has the temptation, but resists it? That is the man Sirach is talking about here - a rich man who is blessed! When I have the "blessed are the poor" discussion in PREP, I follow up my comments on the poor by saying that there is nothing wrong with being rich, as long as we don't let the money corrupt us. God gives each of us certain gifts and blessings to use for his purposes and to help build the Kingdom of God. If we accept that our wealth is a gift from God, and use it to help others, we are just as blessed as the poor man who learns to rely on God, maybe even more so. This kind of man - the man who is rich but does not pursue riches - has been blessed with wealth and knows it is a blessing. He has wealth in its proper perspective and does great things with it! He has been tested by riches and has survived the temptation. This is a holy way to be.

We are all loved and blessed by God, but he gives us all different gifts and challenges. Some have been given earthly riches (others have looks, talent, intelligence, or any other of the multitude of blessings God pours on us). We should not judge a person for being rich or poor, just accept that God has blessed people in different ways. We are to love and help the poor, without patting ourselves on the back, without self congratulations. The lesson here is if we do that, with whatever level of wealth we have, we will be blessed. We will be helping to build the Kingdom of God.