Dostoevsky tells a parable about the Grand Inquisitor. Jesus had come back to earth and is once again imprisoned and condemned. The Inquisitor says that Jesus has misjudged human nature. He does not believe that the vast majority of humanity can tolerate the freedom that Jesus has given to them. Jesus, in giving humans freedom to choose, has excluded the majority of humanity from redemption and doomed it to suffer. Just give humanity bread, tell them what to think and keep good order and people will be happy. Was the Inquisitor correct? Does Jesus ask too much for us in exprecting us to live in spiritual freedom? Jesus challenges his followers: “Who will trust you with true wealth?” Our true wealth is not what we have or what position we hold or what people think of us. Our true wealth is the identity that we possess as Children of God, made in God’s image and likeness. Our true wealth is the presence of God woven into creation. Our true wealth are the people who reflect that God-with-us in their kinship to Jesus. Our true wealth is who God made us to be.
