As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Mark 10:17ff)
October 11, 2015
Proper 23 Year B
I heard a Hindu saying this week: The people who are closest to the gods are the youngest among us and the oldest among us. The people farthest from the gods are the ones in the middle with mortgages.
This story – often referred to as Jesus and the Rich Man – is a familiar one. And it can be hard to take in anything from it except a feeling of guilt. One more biblical mandate that I’m not – that we’re not as a church even – living into who God wants us to be. Who among us is going to sell everything we have to follow Jesus? Don’t be ridiculous – that’s for the saints – and crazy people – often times one and the same – until they die of course and then we laud them. Anyway – it’s too much, too much to ask – sorry Jesus – we let you down – again.
And so we set up the two characters of this story over and against each other – the rich man who says no to Jesus and is bad. And Peter the disciple who said yes to Jesus and is good.
But the central question of both the man and Peter isn’t about wealth or how we solve the problem of poverty. The question each asks is – what must I do to inherit eternal life? And I think what each of them is really asking is – Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal security, certainty.
I wonder if any of you here know what anxiety feels like? Yes. I thought so. Anxiety can run our body through a ringer of physical responses. At the extreme end – we can suffer panic attacks – which can be so terrifyingly severe that we could think we’re having a heart attack. Thankfully – I’ve never had one – but I have had moments of intense anxiety. And there are three that come instantly to mind in my adult life and every single one was around money and financial security.
First, there was the day – at my first job after college – when I quit. I quit my job before the job I was interviewing for was secured. I remember walking in downtown Boston seeing almost for the first time – all the homeless people – and thinking – I don’t have a job, soon that will be me. My mom actually came to Boston to be with me that weekend – I was so unhinged.
Second there was the day – the last day – of my job corporate America before I started seminary. That day was not filled with joy and excitement as I left a lucrative career to answer my call. That day I remember the a pit in my stomach as I thought about my 8 month old daughter and the fact that a paycheck would no longer be directly deposited into my checking account every two weeks.
And finally the day, as a priest, when I signed my first mortgage. And indeed I can attest to that Hindu saying – I was one of those people in the middle with a mortgage – and the anxiety that filled my head and my heart (my whole body really) meant the voice of God was the furthest possible thing from my mind.
For many of us, our identity, how we see ourselves, and how we believe others see us, is directly tied to what we do – and what we earn. That’s what Jesus is asking this man to let go of.
There is nothing “bad” about this man who comes to Jesus. In fact he models some really important behaviors for us. First of all – he runs to Jesus. He is eager to talk to God. Don’t we hear – ask and ye shall receive? And when he stops Jesus – he is respectful. He kneels before him and says – Good teacher. No reason for us to think he is trying to trick Jesus – or that he has any other motive but to listen for instruction.
We don’t know why or how he is wealthy. Perhaps he inherited his family’s wealth. Perhaps he worked very hard, did all the right things – as he did in following the commandments – and from the outside appears to have it all. And he just wants that divine stamp of approval – that guarantee that his status and wealth are signs of God’s blessing and favor – in this life and the next.
Why does Jesus answer this good man’s eagerness with such a hard request? On one hand, there is no getting around the challenge of following Jesus with this one. When the man leaves Jesus turns and uses him as mandate for all Christians – our wealth and the kingdom of God are inherently in conflict. The kingdom of God is a place of economic justice, where the first are last and the last are first. A place where inheritance is shared, inheritance is equal. For those of us who pray – thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – we have to wrestle individually and as a community with what part we play in the economy of God’s kingdom.
At the same time, Jesus’s directive is to one particular person and while he may put forward a challenging request he does so in love. It doesn’t say – Jesus looked at the man, and judged him to be unworthy and then spoke. Jesus, looking at the man, loved him. And why we would think the journey for this man ended here? Jesus plants seeds and Jesus believes in a journey. Who knows how this seed grew in this man’s heart? He may have gone away sad that day – but who knows how that moment changed him? Maybe eventually he did – give it all away. Maybe he gave more to those in need after that day – than ever before. We don’t know what transpired over the course of the rest of his life – but we know, I know from my own experiences, that sometimes in sorrow and anxiety – seeds are planted – and – under the loving gaze of God – we change and grow.
I officiated at a wedding last night. A young couple from our church got married at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It was a beautiful wedding – out in the sculpture garden – just before sunset – everyone looking gorgeous – everyone knowing exactly what to do – a picture perfect wedding. And in my remarks I reminded them – as I do at most – that we don’t say – I DO when we give our consent to be married – we say I WILL. Because I will signifies that today is only the beginning. And while there may be perfect weddings – there are no perfect marriages. And what a couple is doing is giving their consent to a future promise. The promise that they will practice growing in love allowing their identity to be shaped by one another and God as they try to live into those promises.
Ultimately, the root of this passage is about our inability TO DO anything to earn eternal life now – or in the age to come. God is the one who does everything. And Jesus invites us to say I WILL to the promises we make to God and God makes with us. How do we hear these words this morning and let a seed be planted. How are we allowing Jesus to gaze upon us in love? In order to receive an inheritance something, someone must die. What does Christ invite us to let go of this morning so that we might nurture and grow the grace of God in our hearts – allowing ourselves to be transformed? Amen.
The Rev. Arianne R. Weeks
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