Are There Any Rich People in Heaven ?

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother."
He replied and said to him,
"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." 
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."  
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
"How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God."

Our Lord says some very sobering words to us today. He says, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."  Think of some of the people that have been blessed with an excess of money and the things of this world.  I can name a few actors and actresses that think that they have done it all on their own.  I can think of men and women of industry whose focus in life is to climb the ladder and stuff their pockets with cash and have all the accouterments of wealth on or about them.  They have all of the comforts life can bring.  Yet, with all that, they too will someday die. Even in death some of them try to keep the illusion of wealth alive. For example, Michael Jackson, and I am not picking on him, spent a ton of money on his going away party. One newspaper reports: 

The funeral bill alone from Forest Lawn Cemetery totaled $855,730, which included entombing Jackson inside the Grand Mausoleum, costing $590,000. His casket cost$25,000, his burial garments came to $35,000, while $175,089 was spent on security.

Mr. Jackson, who was a talented entertainer, knew how to spend his money.  His mansion which included carnival rides is now abandoned and falling into disrepair.  If you were to open his casket today, he would be nothing much to look at.  Everything that was important to him is rotting away being eaten by moths and gathering rust.  

Like I said, I am not picking on Michael, he is just a convenient example because the facts are easy to harvest on the internet. I do not make any judgments on the state of his soul upon death, nor do I judge his life.  I just point out that as a rich man, he learned to depend on himself and could always have things his way.  This is true for most of the wealthy people in the world.  

Wealthy people live under the delusion that they own things. This house is theirs, the silverware, the closets full of clothing, dozens of pairs of shoes, that automobile collection, those coins and stamp collections, that vault filled with golden Kugerands.  

The fact is, we own absolutely nothing on this planet.  We came into it with nothing and nothing except that which is carried in our hearts will leave with us.  God gives and withholds from us because He is doing what He knows will benefit us in eternity. He has given us His Church to help us align our moral compass with His will and he has given us His word in the Bible to use as a map. It is what is in our heart that God will judge.  The wealthy people that will be doomed will be the ones that kept everything in their own pockets and used it for their own pleasure and cared not at all for their fellow creatures. 

Sadly, it is the poorest people that seem to be the most generous with their fellows.  True, even some of the poor in spite of their circumstances adopt the mannerisms of a rich man when dealing with others and that is sad because their malaise is just as bad as the rich man's and will have the same result when we are judged. 

God gives to us freely and joyfully. He expects us to do the same to those of "lower station" as well.  As far as the camel goes, the "eye of the needle" was an entrance to a town that would admit one person on a camel.  Not one person and five hundred pounds of good, no, they would have to be removed from the camel and passed through after camel and rider got through.  If we arrive at the gates of heaven on our camel and pass through without dismounting and discarding the baggage we carry, we will enter without a problem and be welcomed to our new home.  On the other hand, if we have to stop and unload our camel, get rid of the baggage, well, it may take quite a while before we can enter heaven.  But, do not despair for Jesus does say that "All things are possible with God." 

May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.