Who Gets Maple?
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Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Fidelity
Who Gets Maple?
by Mike Benson
Somehow I can't quite imagine it coming down to
this level, but it did. Harold and Frances
Mountain stood, well...actually "sat", on the
floor of a Las Vegas courtroom and delved up what
was left of their belongings - a $5,000 Beanie
Baby collection. The couple had finalized their
divorce some four months previously, but hadn't
been able to reach an agreement over the stuffed
toys. When Harold files a motion to get his share
of the BB stockpile, family court Judge Gerald
Hardcastle said "enough!" Hardcastle ordered the
two to solve their disagreement by piling their
possessions on the floor and dividing them up one
by one. "Because you folks can't solve it, it
takes the services of a...judge, a bailiff and a
court reporter." According to the news, Maple the
Bear went first. A few spectators in the gallery
quietly snickered when the selection was made.
Somehow I missed the humor though. A marriage had
been severed (Matthew 19:6b; Malachi 2:16) and all
that was left were some brightly-colored cloth and
dried beans.
Evidence would suggest materialism was at least
one factor in the dissolution of the Mountain's
marital relationship. "Materialism" - according to
Webster's it is, "the tendency to be more
concerned with material than with spiritual
values." On one occasion Jesus said, "Take heed
and beware of covetousness..." (Luke 12:15; cf.
Romans 3:9; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Thessalonians
2:5; James 4:2; 2 Peter 2:14). To engage in
covetousness, Greek - pleonexia, is to engage in
the greedy desire for more things./1 Paul said,
"Covetousness...is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5;
Ephesians 5:5). An idolatrous person worships or
bows to the inferior (1 Corinthians 8:4; Jeremiah
10:14); he renders ultimate devotion to an object
of limited value. Therefore, materialism is a
"bowing" to the greedy desire for and pursuit of
things - and exalts such above God. "There is a
sort of religious purpose, a devotion of the soul"
to tangible, temporal concerns./2 One brother
appropriately calls materialism "the gospel of the
flesh."/3
"...Man is bowing down figuratively to an idol
when he keeps for himself much. It is remarkable
[that] covetousness is listed with fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire; all such
passions so detestable within the heart of a
Christian. Yet, it is listed there evidently
because it is what turns the heart of a Christian
away from God! It dethrones God from His rightful
place. When a man seeks happiness in things,
possessions, money, etc., he has dethroned God
from his heart."/4
While our modern-day idols may share little
physical similarity to their crude counterparts of
wood and stone (today ours could be made of
brightly colored cloth and beans), we - like
Harold and Frances Mountain - pay them a certain
reverence, don't we? And although the position of
our bodies may be somewhat difference (in that we
do not physically bow), the position of our hearts
is essentially the same.
Friends, materialism is a threat to the stability
of our marriages, and the Word is clear,
"Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry" (1
Corinthians 10:14). "Keep yourself from idols" (1
John 5:21).
Are there any idols in your house? What do they
look like? Perhaps Maple the Bear?
/1 Fritz Rienecker, Linguistic Key to the Greek
New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, '76), p. 177.
/2 J. Noel Merideth, "The Beauty of Holiness and
the Spirit of Praise," The Book of Colossians,
(Lebanon, TN: Sain Publications, Getwell church of
Christ, '86), p. 217.
/3 James Meadows, "The Menace of Materialism to
World Evangelism," Spiritual Sword, Vol. 5, No. 4
(Memphis, TN: Getwell church of Christ, July,
'74), p. 30.
/4 Roy Lanier, Jr., A Little Contribution
(Montrose, CO: Lee and Mark Hanstein, '92), p. 28
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