You’ve probably heard that Anna Nicole Smith passed away. It’s hard not to miss since the news shows and tabloid programs are having a field day reporting on the events surrounding her death, her son’s recent death, the question of her daughter’s real father, her roller coaster weight problem, and her apparent addiction to drugs. It seems that our society was and is fascinated with this pop icon – comparing her even to Marilyn Monroe. She was both an object of sexual desire as well as a trashy B-list actress. People loved to hate her and love her at the same time. But amidst all of these stories about her life – there’s an underlying tragedy about her short life.
Part of this tragedy has to do with the futility of her never-ending court battles with the son of her late husband J. Howard Marshall. Marshall’s son, E. Pierce Marshall, and Ms. Smith had been fighting for years over the large estate that her late husband left her. Initially, he protested the millions of dollars that was left to her by the elder Marshall and won a decision to reverse the award. She decided to fight back and won back the amount – and then some. He appealed and soon they went back and forth until their dispute reached the United States Supreme Court. The Court turned it back to a lower court which sided in favor of Ms. Smith. On and on the threats and allegations continued for more than 10 years until sometime last year when E. Pierce Marshall passed away from an “aggressive infection”. Since then, nothing has been resolved and Ms. Smith passed away before she ever saw a penny from the case.
The pursuit of mammon ends with sad stories such as this and the feud between Ms. Smith and E. Pierce Marshall ought to make us think about the real “cost” of serving mammon. Is it worth the seemingly endless days spent in court? Traveling to court and paying attorney’s fees? Waiting for verdicts and the accompanying emotions of worry, anxiety, stress, bitterness, anger and a spirit of revenge? I suspect that these emotional repercussions led directly to the downfall of Marshall’s health and influenced Ms. Smith’s addiction to pain killers and other drugs. And the end result? – No one lived to see or enjoy a penny of the senior Marshall’s inheritance. The fight for mammon ended up with the attorneys profiting the most
But the tragedy of Anna Nicole Smith isn’t isolated to her. You and I probably know of friends and relatives who’ve suffered through similar kinds of disputes over mammon – leading to broken relationships, years of bitterness, un-forgiveness and unresolved anger. Money seems to have this effect on people and in the end we must ask ourselves whether it’s worth it. Jesus says it isn’t worth it and calls us to a better way. The call to serve God (Matt. 6:24), then, is simultaneously a call away from the devastating fallout of trying to serve mammon.
Pastor Jan