THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL?
GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS, WITH ZACK AND EVA
Money has a complicated reputation in Scripture. We asked our newest clergy members
to tackle the two places in the New Testament where it is said that “the love of money
is the root of all evil.” Read the passages for yourself, and consider their takes:
We are confused about what to love.
HEBREWS 13:5
The Rev. Zack Thompson
Associate Rector
It has been said before that
we become like that which we
worship (read that line again a
time or two!). This makes sense
to me. Worship has to do with
what we love and consider to be
of ultimate importance. What we
love shapes and molds us to the
core of our being. So we become
more and more like that which
we worship.
All people worship — whether
militant atheists or devout
theists, we all hold something to
be of ultimate importance. So it
is not whether we worship, the
proper question is, “what do we
worship?”
As the writer of the letter to
the Hebrews puts it, “In times
past, God spoke in partial and
various ways to our ancestors
through the prophets; in these
last days, he spoke to spoke to
us through a son…” Jesus is
sent into the world to draw us
back to what we were created
to be: worshippers in loving
communion with God.
You may recall from our
reading of The Path that the
Bible is constantly pointing out
the idolatry of God’s chosen
people. Instead of worshipping
the God who brought them out
of slavery in Egypt, the people
settle for the idols of the nations:
golden calves and all the rest.
The prophets sternly remind the
people that their vocation is to
worship the one true God, and
through this true worship Israel
STJAMES.ORG · 15