Can’t Buy Me Life

In the interesting account of the rich man with a son near death, recorded for our instruction in John 4:43-54, we discover a valuable lesson that might easily be overlooked. J.C. Ryle, commenting on this passage, noted the way in which the rich are not exempted from troubles. He wrote:

There is no more common, or no more mischievous error, than to suppose that the rich have no cares. The rich are as liable to sickness as the poor; and have a hundred anxieties beside that the poor know nothing at all. Silks and satins often cover very heavy hearts. The dwellers in palaces often sleep more uneasily than the dwellers in cottages. Gold and silver can reach no man beyond the reach of trouble. They may shut out debt and rags, but they cannot shut out care, disease and death. The higher the tree, the more it is shaken by storms. The broader its branches the greater is the mark which it exposes to the tempest. David was a happier man when he kept his father’s sheep at Bethlehem, than when he dwelt as a king at Jerusalem, and governed the Twelve Tribes of Israel.1

1. J.C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. John (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1874) vol. 1 p. 252