I didn't get to post this last week because I was out of town. So here it is today, my sermon from 10/14/2018. Also today, I will post yesterday's sermon (10/21/18), and a reflection from my experience last week at the New Baptist Covenant Summit in Atlanta.
The disciples heard what Jesus said,
and they could not believe it! Then, he
said it again, more forcefully.
What did Jesus say and why did it
shock them so much?
Jesus was in the region of Judea,
beyond the Jordan River. This is a
period of history in which everyone traveled by foot. You walked everywhere. So you traveled at a walking pace. Today, if some teacher set up and began to teach
on the side of Interstate 40, the people whizzing by at 70 mph would not even
notice. In 30 AD it was common for
itinerant teachers to teach spontaneously along the roadside. When they did, they always drew a crowd.
Those passing by were not headed to a movie theater or a stadium to watch a
game or to the downtown shopping district.
The roadside preacher was a welcome amusement whether or not you liked
what he had to say.
Most people liked what Jesus had to
say, or were at least intrigued by it. His
teaching was both familiar and new. He
challenged his listeners even as he entertained them with humor. He gave wisdom and truth. And his teaching was powered by the Holy
Spirit of God. “Crowds gathered around
him,” Mark writes, “and as was his custom, he again taught them” (10:1).
This is what’s happening when Mark
writes, “a man ran up and knelt before him.”
Jesus has just again collided with Pharisees; he was intent on teaching
the Law in a way that gave people life and joy; the Pharisees wanted to use the
Law to trap him (10:2-12). Jesus won the
rhetorical duel and laid down strict prohibitions against divorce in the
process. Then he welcomed the messy,
chaotic joy of children leaping on and about him, and reprimanded his disciples
who tried to keep the children at arm’s reach.
So, we see him clashing with
authority, teaching strict adherence to the Law of Moses, and at the same time
upsetting the social order by elevating the voiceless – children. Now, a zealous man has made a show of kneeling
before Jesus to tout his own righteousness.
He heaps flattery upon him because he wants to hear Jesus say, “O wise,
righteous man, you are already bound for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus does not say that. Instead, he calls the man out for the flowery
words. “Why do you call me good? No one
is good but God alone” (v.18). The
disciples have already heard demons call him “the holy one of God” (1:24). Mark is not, at this point in the story,
asserting Jesus’ divinity. He’s hinting
at it. And this is another of those
hints. Jesus says this, “no one is good
but God alone,” for his disciples’ benefit.
And Mark situates Jesus’ statement for his readers’ benefit. The disciples knew Jesus was good. They had seen it over and over. We, Mark’s
readers know Jesus is good. We’ve seen
it and many of us have experienced it.
Get the hint? The man who ran up
kneeling and asking and boasting did not.
Jesus tells him the path to the
kingdom is one he already knows. He must
keep the Law of Moses. In a statement of
bald arrogance so glaring it’s hard to believe the man could blurt it out with
a straight face he says, “I have!” I
have obeyed the laws of God since I was a kid.
That’s not true of anyone. We all
have moments when we lie or we steal or we gossip or we covet something our
neighbor has or we fail to honor our parents or we ignore the Sabbath. The one who honestly thinks he has totally
kept the law lives in the worst kind of self-delusion.
Jesus doesn’t call this man on his
absurd claim. If that man wants to live
in a reality in which he observes the Law perfectly, Jesus will join him in
that fantasy. Jesus wants this man to
hear the truth so clearly that he cannot miss it even hiding behind the walls
of self-delusion he’s constructed. Jesus
looks at him and loves him. He doesn’t
want to hurt this man. He wants to free
him.
“You lack one thing.”
Now, we have to pay close attention
to the action. This man ran up to
Jesus. Knelt before him. Asked his question, a clearly self-aggrandizing
question. And for good measure, he
boasted of his own righteousness. That’s
the action so far.
Now Jesus gives him new actions to
take. “Go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven; then come, and follow me” (10:21). Go!
Sell! Give! Come!
Follow!
Suddenly the man of action isn’t
running any more. Suddenly the man of
obedience who has kept all of God’s laws since his youth, isn’t obeying any
more. Upon hearing what Jesus said, he
is shocked. He wanted to be promised
Heaven. But he didn’t want to change his
life. He wanted praise and promises from
the great teacher who had again and again outshined the Pharisees in rhetorical
flourish. The great teacher doesn’t give
what he wanted. And he is a rich
man. One of the things to know about
rich people is they usually get what they want.
“You lack one thing!” Jesus says to him. He says that to every one of us; to you; to
me. What is that one thing we lack?
Two things we must avoid are
diluting this story and diverting this story.
We dilute the story when we find ways to lessen the blow. In verse 23 Jesus says, “How hard it will be
for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Then in verse 25 he drives the point
home. “It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of the needle than for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of
God.” The disciples and most people in
their day believed material wealth was a sign of God’s blessing. Wealthy people had to be closer to God; it’s
why they were rewarded with wealth. So,
if what Jesus says is right, that it is impossible for the wealthy to enter the
Kingdom, then certainly poor fishermen and villagers will be left out. “Greatly astound they said to one another,
‘who can be saved’” (v.26)?
Unable to tolerate such a
conclusion, we find ways to convince ourselves that Jesus didn’t really mean
that. I even had a college professor who
researched and discovered that there was indeed a gate called the “Eye of the
Needle” gate, which was quite narrow.
Getting camels that gate was quite hard, but not impossible. My professor, a history teacher, could not
accept that salvation is impossible.
Jesus wasn’t talking about a narrow gate. He meant apart from following him, not
believing, but following him, salvation is impossible and especially so for
rich people. We must not dilute his
teaching and rob the message of its force.
We must also not divert it. Yes, Jesus did say it was impossible for the
rich to be saved, but I am not among the rich.
You might know a lot of people who are wealthier than you. But, if Jesus said to you, go and sell your
possession; give all the money you make to the poor; and then, come and follow
me. Would you do it? Would you do it joyfully? Sell your car and your house and your
computer and, gasp, your phone? Mark did
not include this episode from Jesus’ life for other people. This is here for me and for you.
One other thing to note. In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 8, we meet several
wealthy women. They use their means to
support Jesus and the disciples financially.
He didn’t just turn stones into bread and multiply loaves and fish all
the time. Most of the time Jesus ate
food the same way you and I do. Someone
bought it and then he ate it. He did not
tell those women who were supporting him to go, sell, give, and then come and
follow. He did not say that to
Zacchaeus, the short, wealthy tax collector.
In the case of Zacchaeus, Jesus invited himself to the rich man’s house
and ate a fine meal at the rich man’s table.
What gives? Why in one case does Jesus tell the rich man,
you have to give it all away? In other
case, he meets the rich man on the rich man’s terms and promises the rich man
salvation without ever threatening the man’s rich’s? What gives?
Which word does Jesus give to you or me when we meet him?
“You lack one thing.” This is true for every single person. Before we enter the Kingdom of God, there is
something we lack, something we must give up.
And we don’t get to choose what it is.
I know, Jesus, I’ll give up eating Shrimp! (Don’t tell Jesus, but I’m already allergic
to shellfish). That man had to give up
his riches because his riches are what came between him and God.
Most rich people like being
rich. At least, they think they do. Whatever new things enter their lives have to
fit in with their riches. So if this guy
is going to listen to Jesus, Jesus’ message cannot threaten his wealth. Thus he has a problem because “to enter the
kingdom of God one must submit to God’s rule so that God reigns over every
aspect of life.”[i]
For most rich people, it is the riches they don’t want to give up, not even for
the promise of Heaven.
Middle class and poor people are
just as troubled because everyone has something they don’t want to give
up. “God, this is how I am and I am not
changing and I am not sacrificing. I
think you made me this way, so your laws and life as a disciples has to accommodate
me.”
No! That isn’t how life in Christ works. When we run up and kneel before Jesus and
say, “Jesus, tell us what to do so we can go to heaven when we die.” Jesus says, “Do? There’s nothing you can do. Turn every aspect of your life – all your
stuff, your most cherished relationships, your career, your appetites and
attractions, all of it – turn it all over to me.” That’s what Jesus says. He demands to be Lord of all of it, all of
life. We lack the will to
surrender. We want to be assured of
heaven even as we continue to live on our own terms. Jesus wants to let God the Father take care
of the Heaven part. Jesus wants us to
live this life totally committed to Him, surrendered to His Lordship, dependent
upon his Holy Spirit.
Remember,
he looked at the man and loved him. The
life of following Jesus would lead to hardship and sacrifice and it was better
than anything that man’s riches could buy. The life of following Jesus is a
happier, fuller, more adventurous, and more rewarding life than any other. But that man could not bear to let go and
surrender to God. So he who came running
up to Jesus full of himself walked away sad because all he had was
himself.
The
disciples saw this exchange, and they were shocked. Are we?
What
do you have? What are you holding that is
dearer to you, closer to your heart than anything else? Is the life Jesus has for you better than
that thing you’re holding so tightly?
Would you risk following him to find out? That’s what Jesus is asking you to do this
morning, right now.
·
Take
an inventory of your life.
·
Identify
that which is more precious to you.
·
In
faith hand that thing over– possession, relationship, dream – whatever it is;
hand it over to Jesus. Maybe he’ll let
you keep it. Maybe he’ll transform it. Maybe he’ll tell you to get rid of it. The point is to trust him. He is Lord and matters more than even that
thing you love most. So hand it over to
Jesus. You will have treasure in Heaven.
·
Then
come and follow Him.
AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment