Currency exchange

In the 2004 Tom Hanks film, The Terminal (trailer), Viktor Navorski arrives in New York, only to find out that the government of the country he has left behind has been overthrown, and the United States refuses to recognize the new regime. Because Krakozhia no longer exists, Victor's passport is invalidated, as is the money in his pockets. As a man without a country, and without money, Viktor is not allowed to set foot on American soil, thus he is forced to live in the airport terminal for the next nine months.

This film was no epic accomplishment for anyone involved with it, but the premise was fascinating to me. Imagine arriving at the end of a journey, only to find out that everything "back home" had been wiped away. Even the money in your pockets, though at one time it allowed you to purchase goods and services, comfort and leisure, would be worth less than the paper it was printed on.

This is the reality that we will all face someday. All of the things that seem so valuable to us now (that is, our material wealth that brings us the comfort, leisure, and status we hold so dear) will be rendered worthless. We see this in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19-31.

19"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.[f] The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house– 28for I have five brothers[g] –so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

In this life, the rich man selfishly enjoyed his wealth, feasting "sumptuously" while Lazarus laid just outside the man's gate. His greatest concern was his own personal comfort and satisfaction, though he easily could have spared even the crumbs that fell from his table, as Lazarus desired.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus gives us another parable, this time about the final judgement. In this parable, he separates people to one side or the other. On one side, he will place those who ministered to the needs of others during their lives. "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." These will "inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world."

On the other side he will place those who ignored the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner. Though they had opportunities to bless others out of their wealth, they ignored those in need. "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Those in the first group were wise, giving away what they knew they could not keep. Those in the second group were foolish, forfeiting eternal life in order to increase their temporal comfort or status. Though they experienced a lifetime of feasting, they will one day long for even a drip of water from a poor man's fingertip. Their glory is bound up in their temporal wealth, which will soon be as useless as Krakozhian currency, forfeiting an eternal kingdom in the process.

As Americans living in the 21st century, we have much more in common with the rich man than we do with Lazarus. Even if money is tight around your house (as it is in ours), you still enjoy a standard of living that would make kings and queens from centuries past burn with envy. Cars. Microwaves. Televisions. Cell phones. The breadth and depth of our own personal luxury is nothing short of scandalous. Passages like this should make us very nervous because the lives we live as fat, pampered Americans look very little like the life of service and sacrifice for others that Jesus described during his ministry.

Don't be confused; I'm not putting the cart in front of the horse here. There is only one path to the Father, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. No amount of charity or generosity can forgive a man's sins. However, those that have been saved by the Father's grace should be careful to avoid the siren song of this world's wealth. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "You cannot serve God and money," and the default mode in our culture is to chase after material wealth at the expense of everything else. A time will come when all of our stuff will be gone. What we have left at that point will be the true determinant of who is rich and who is poor.