Wheel of Fortune

Before it was this:

It was this:

Before this wheel belonged to Pat Sajak, it belonged to the goddess Fortuna, hence "Wheel of Fortune/Fortuna". She is the blindfolded one who keeps the wheel turning. As the Old Romanian saying goes:

"Fortune is blind and makes blind"

Fortuna as depicted above in mediaeval times, has roots back in the Roman Pantheon of Gods, and even before that with the Greeks. It is the personification of fortune/fate/luck which is so unpredictable. This personification has had many names throughout different cultures and languages. People sought to appease this fickle god/goddess in hopes of gaining his/her favour. Fortuna gives to some ease and abundance and to others toil and lack. People gave up trying to explain or predict her reasoning and just put a blindfold on her to show that there seems to be no rhyme of reason to her distribution of gifts... but that did stop people from trying to win her over to their side... rabbits feet, lucky hats and all kinds of other lucky charms or rituals that people do to increase their luck. Fortuna is prosperity and to seek prosperity is to seek Fortuna... If you study really hard, you will be prosperous. If you work really hard, you will be prosperous. If you just get into the right group of people, you will be prosperous. All these efforts are efforts to appease Fortuna, to get her to smile upon you. Jesus told a story of a man seeking to find favour with Fortuna:

  “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ Luke 12:16-20

True, there is no mention of the name Fortuna here, nor is there even mention of some false god, but the principle is there. The rich man intended to create a life of ease for himself by "tearing down his barns and building larger ones". In an agricultural society such as the one Jesus lived in, such "barns" are equivalent to bank accounts, and the whole story essentially depicts our societies idea of a "retirement plan" quite well. As you can see above, Jesus didn't recommend this type of self-preservation technique. The man was trusting in his "good fortune" up to this point and made the assumption that the future would continue as the past had proved to be. This previous good fortune became an idol, a false god that guided the man's thought patterns and decision making processes. Jesus also throws in a sense of urgency with God giving the man's head a shake without offering time to correct the miss-steps. "This night your soul is required of you" . The realization comes without any opportunity to correct the foolish self-preserving choices of the past.

In the time and place in which Jesus lived there was a melding of cultures, "Hellenism" is the term for people trying to be like the Greeks and "being like the Greeks" was a trendy thing to do in the time of Jesus; Dressing like Greeks, eating like Greeks, studying like Greeks, etc. The Romans were into it big time, and the Jews were also hip to it. People looked for ways to adapt "Greek stuff" into their own cultures. Gods were a big part of this. Personifications/deifications of virtues and vices were a part of this.

"Mammon" was a term used by the Jews as a personification/deification of wealth/prosperity/worldly abundance. It is the Jewish equivalent of the goddess Fortuna. Because the seeking of prosperity tended to blind a person to the service of God, Mammon/Fortuna was seen as an evil God/Demon/Spirit Being, etc. Thus: 'You cannot serve God and Mammon". Though this Mammon is often translated as "money", this definition is missing something of the deeper meaning of the term. It is not the money itself that a person is a slave to, it is the driving force/spirit that pushes a person to make this the prime factor in their decision making. Moreover, money is only one type of prosperity, and really, in it's broadest sense, the term Mammon means "personal advantage". Thus: "You cannot serve God and personal advantage." When we hear it in this way we come close to the core of the teaching of Jesus. The seeking of personal advantage is the abandonment of God. You cannot serve two masters, two "Gods". Only one can be God of your life in practical terms. If your life is focused on gaining personal advantage, personal advantage(Mammon/Fortuna) is the name of your God. You worship it with the way you spend your time, with the things you think about or worry about, with the conversations you have with others.

Jesus came to reveal God as a loving Father, a God who takes care of the needs of all. We do not need to seek personal advantage because God freely provides for the needs of all. People who do not know this God are caught in the grip of Mammon/Fortuna and they know no way of life other than to "roll with the punches" of the unpredictable highs and lows that Fortune throws at them. This state of affairs is what Jesus spoke about when he said:

“To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ Luke 7:31-32 

The "people of this generation" expect all others to weep with them about their personal misfortunes, and to celebrate with them in their good fortune.

The above mediaeval picture of Fortuna with her wheel is part of a larger stream of thought dealing with the concept of fortune/fate in those days. There is a famous collection of poems from those days called the Carmina Burana, and an even more famous musical piece composed by Carl Orff in 1935-36 based on these poems. Everyone has heard this music because it is so often used in TV commercials and in sports highlights. The lyrics though, are mostly unknown as they are written in Latin. English translations are available, but I do not think they are as accurate as they could be considering the wider context of the poems. I will post the Latin/English lyrics below so that you can read along. The song is about the inescapable slavery to the Goddess of Fortune that all of mankind must endure. This is the fate of all who have not come to know the loving Father that Jesus preached:

It is funny, is it not that the person of this generation(this world) who wrote this song of complaint against fortune, in his last line, calls out, "everyone weep with me!"? This is just as Jesus depicted such "children in the marketplace". The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Jesus came to save the world, and the world needed to be saved from the unpredictably whirling "wheel of fortune", from spiritual bankruptcy. Jesus proclaimed that trusting in the provision of the Father is the foundation rock which true salvation is based upon. He encouraged people to "dig and deepen" and build their house upon this rock instead of building upon the shifting sands of worldly advantage and disadvantage. Looking to God as a truly loving and providing Father is to put the highs and lows of life into proper perspective. To know Jesus and his God is to gain salvation. This is the salvation of dwelling in the mysterious city of "New Jerusalem" in the book of Revelation, which speaks in this way:

"And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there." Revelation 21:23-25

Entering the New Jerusalem mentioned above comes about when we see him whose "face shines like the sun in it's power" Revelation 1:16. "Seeing the face" of Jesus, is seeing the face of God. It means to see his true nature and character. Every great saint of the bible longed to see the face of God, and for us Jesus himself is that face to look upon if only we will stop seeking our own personal advantage long enough to do so.

If God is as loving as Jesus claims he is, then all things that we pass through in life are for our good. We do not get swallowed up in the celebrations and disasters of this world because we know these things to be passing events that are provided to us for the purpose of enriching our lives and helping us to grow closer to him.

Nothing grows without sunshine and rain.