While being the Gospel that’s hardest on the rich, Luke’s Gospel is also the Gospel that makes most clear that riches aren’t bad in themselves. Notice that the first two servants doubled their wealth precisely in the measure that they risked it. This means that the one who truly has the divine life knows how to make it a gift, and that, in turn, will make the original gift increase. And the opposite holds: “From the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” This means that if you try to cling to the divine life, you will, in short order, lose it. God is rich. But God is prodigiously generous with that richness. God’s generosity, as we learn from the parables of Jesus, is so excessive that it’s scandalous. It upsets our measured sense of fairness. Fr. Ron Rolheiser points out that riches, be that money, talent, intelligence, health, good looks, leadership skills, or flat-out strength, are gifts from God. They’re good. It’s not riches that block us from entering the kingdom. Instead, it’s the danger that, having them, we will more easily also have the illusion that we’re self-sufficient. We aren’t. As Thomas Aquinas points out by the way he defines God as Esse Subsistens, a Self-sufficient Being, only God does not need anyone or anything else – but the rest of us do. Riches are good, but only if they’re shared. The moral danger in being rich is taking on the illusion of self-sufficiency that seems to forever accompany riches. Riches and their comfort can close our eyes to the plight and hunger of people experiencing poverty. In our comfort, we tend not to see the poor. That’s the danger of being wealthy, money-wise or otherwise.