Love or Money

A couple of weekends ago I preached at a local church in our town. The scripture was the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and I paired it with another lectionary reading for the week -- 1 Timothy 6:6-19.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

In the sermon I wrote:

Money isn’t evil. The passage says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The LOVE of money. This isn’t really a parable about money -- it’s a parable about love. Do we love God? Or do we love money more? Do we love the people around us? Or do we love ourselves and our security more? Who or what do I love?

It seemed like a strange thing to say at the time. Is it right? Is it a passage about love?