Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Mark 10:21
The rich man went home to consider for a bit, and decided to throw the big sale Jesus had told him to do. He inventoried, cataloged, priced, and hauled his goods to the auctioneer's warehouse, but then he saw that he would need part of the proceeds to repair a part of his house. He also found out that pricing goods for an auction was a waste of time, since that ain't how it works. But, there was no problem until he titled the sale, The Treasure in Heaven Sale in the advertising. Of course, people knew the story from the Bible and assumed that all proceeds would go to the poor. When the auctioneer warned the man that keeping back part of the proceeds for another purpose might cause some hard feelings, he was able to internalize and rationalize and come up with a way to justify it to himself. And the sale proceeded under that not so truthful advertising.
You will recognize a variation of the sin part of the story of Ananias and Sapphira from the Book of Acts. If you have some church in your past, you will also know how that story ends for the less than forthright couple. If not, then I'll spoil it for you, Ananias and Sapphira get buried at the end. Of course we have learned that if we are going to sell to lay up treasure in heaven, then we do it, give it, and keep quiet about it; God will know that we did it, and that is all we need.
Thank you for enduring my little story today!
Bucky