Needles and Camels

For a long time now

the rich have liked the church.

Across the centuries

they have accommodated themselves

to its structures, institution and power;

(it’s been mutual),

permitting the church its sphere of authority

while determinedly maintaining their own.

Striving after respectability and influence,

not to mention their reserved seats in heaven,

the wealthy have been generous

with their patronage, constructing

buttress, edifice and spire.

(To be fair, the poor

have paid for their share of gold-leaf,

stained-glass oaken beams and dressed stone, too;

more often than not, subsidising the rich.)

The affluent have joined the church’s boards,

sat in on its councils,

propounded their advice,

shared their expertise,

sought and given favours

and requested ecclesiastical blessings

upon their many enterprises.

Some suggest that the wealthy and powerful

are seen too much in the company

of presbyter and priest.

The rich, it must be said,

find Jesus bewildering.

They hear stories:

about the teacher quietly suggesting

to a virtuous man of means,

that his life would be greatly enhanced

if he sold all his stuff and gave it to the poor.

On another occasion the carpenter

outrageously asserted  that God and mammon

were incompatible masters;

and when he spoke of the unlikelihood

of camels squeezing themselves

through the eyes of needles,

the rich began to get the idea

that Jesus might not have been on their side.

Still, there’s always the church.

© Ken Rookes 2012