15 October 2006

Mark 10:17-31

Another difficult passage. Two weeks in a row. And actually together in Mark’s gospel. First we have the passage about divorce and now this about wealth. It’s surprising that we want to call ourselves a Christian nation with these passages as part of the package. I had a seminary professor who said our country was based on denial and greed. And these passages hit right at the heart of each of these.

We spent some time last week on what to do with these difficult verses. Today I hope to delve a little more deeply into this particular passage. It is also difficult to me. One on which I’d rather not preach, I must confess, but one that we ignore at our own peril.

The passage is of course about wealth and getting into the kingdom of God. And it’s not good news. In fact, it turns good news on its ear. At the time that Jesus spoke these words (and to many in our culture) wealth was a sign of God’s favor. If God is pleased with you, you will have possessions. The more God is pleased with you, the more you will have.

This must certainly have been a surprise to the young man who came to see Jesus. As one who had many possessions, he thought he was pretty close to being right there where he needed to be. But then reality sets in. He hears Jesus’ words; he hears those verbs that mean to change his life: go, sell, give, come, follow. Quoting the passage: “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.’” Go, sell, give, come, follow.

The story of the rich young ruler is in all three gospels. Each is a little different though—Matthew tells us he’s young. Luke tells us that he’s a ruler. Mark leaves out those details and sticks to the one fact that’s important: he’s rich.

And he’s a good man; he follows the law and has since his youth. He’s a model citizen. If anyone is bound for heaven, he is. But there’s one thing wrong. Go, sell, give, come, follow.

It saddens him, we’re told. He’s sad because he has many possessions. And no doubt he’s attached to his possessions and the lifestyle that goes with them. He’s comfortable. He lives a life of ease, no doubt. But then there’s suddenly go, sell, give, come, follow.

We don’t know what happened to the young man. Did he do as Jesus said? Did he go, sell, give, come, follow? Or did he return to his life of ease, continuing to follow the commandments except for this one from Jesus? We’ll never know, as nothing more is recorded of him in scripture. We don’t know what became of him.

This scripture strikes home to me. Though I am far from considering myself wealthy, I do seem to have my own bit of possessions. Now if I were to sell them all, I doubt I could do much to help the poor, since most of my possessions aren’t worth that much. But still, I know where my next meal is coming from. I have things that have value to me. I have a regular roof over my head and live fairly easily. Compared to much of the world, I’m wealthy, even though by US standards, I’m not high on the charts of wealth. But compared to God’s children throughout the world, I am doing extremely well.

And I daresay so are most of us in this room this morning. If you’re not worried about how your next meal will find you, if you have more than cardboard or a tarp to keep the elements from yourself, if you have a bank account, with any amount in it, this scripture applies to you.

Go, sell, give, come, follow. Each of those verbs is a commandment to us. They aren’t contextually based in the 1st century solely and don’t apply only to rich, young rulers of the 1st century. They are our verbs; our uncomfortable commandments to figure out what we are to do with them.

This isn’t a stewardship sermon, but it’s sure going to sound like one before I’m through. Because this scripture is all about deciding how we deal with our wealth. Do we use it to help others? Do we invest it in places that need our income rather than those places that will just increase our wealth?

Our giving is of consequence. How and where we use our wealth is important to God. There’s no doubt about it. This scripture makes that clear. Go, sell, give, come, follow. Those verbs just hang there and accuse us.

And of course, it’s not just giving that matters. It’s the come, follow part too that gets us. Not only do we have to deal with our wealth, we must then follow Jesus’ precepts and teachings, which is not the easiest thing to do always. We have to be poor and good? What are you thinking, Jesus?! Isn’t one enough?

Can’t we simply follow you without a concern to our giving? Or how about if we are giving and generous with our wealth but don’t necessarily follow you? Does it have to be both? All those verbs are beginning to get to us. They get in the way of our lives and really distract us from important matters.

But that’s what we’re asked to do. Go, sell, give, come, follow. All parts are important. Jesus not only invites us to do these things but commands it.

The good news of this scripture is that it’s all God’s decision when it comes down to it. Even though we have the image of a camel going through a needle’s eye, an impossible task to all of us here, Jesus tells us and the disciples that anything is possible with God.

But in the meantime go, sell, give, come, follow. These are the words to guide our lives.