Reverend Philip Stringer
Mark 10:17-31
LET US PRAY: We ask, O Lord, that the words which we hear this morning, and the worship which we offer, may bear fruit in our hearts, and be acceptable in your sight, our strength and our redeemer; AMEN
A Hasidic teacher once told this parable: A man had been wandering about in a forest for several days, unable to find the way out. Finally, he saw a man approaching him in the distance. His heart was filled with joy. "Now I shall surely find out which is the right way out of this forest," he thought to himself.
When they neared each other, he asked the man, "Brother, will you please tell me the way out of the forest? I have been wandering about in here for several days and I am unable to find my way out."
The other said to him, "Brother, I do not know the way out either, for I, too, have been wandering about in here for many days. But this much I can tell you. Do not go the way that I have gone, for I know that it is not the way. Now come, let us search for the way out together."
Have you ever felt that way? Lost or stuck or tangled in a mess with no idea how to get out? Have there been times when it has felt to you that life as a whole — or the world we live in — is like a vast forest in which you are mired?
In truth this world IS a place filled with people trying to find meaning and purpose and peace. In a word, they seek redemption; they seek salvation — with no one having the answer for anyone else.
But long ago, one such lost traveler did come upon the one person able to lead him out. The man came to Jesus, asking him for the inside info on how to get into the Kingdom of God. In the process of the conversation Jesus discovers that he was a good and obedient man knowing and fulfilling all the commandments.
Then Jesus tells him what he lacks — he possesses — one thing. Go and sell all you possess and give it to the poor. When the man realizes that being a disciple and becoming part of the Kingdom of God means giving everything away, he is heartbroken and turns away -- because he had a lot of stuff, and he loved it.
Jesus is disappointed, but not surprised, and he uses the moment to teach his disciples about the grace of God. Jesus prepares the disciples by getting their attention. "How hard it will be,” he said, “for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
That must have blown them away. It flew in the face of everything that they had been taught. They believed that wealth was a blessing; that it was a sign of God’s favor; that it meant you were doing everything right. The disciples were astonished. "Then who can be saved?"
Jesus answered, "For people it is impossible, but not for God. FOR GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE."
And there is the good news, and the key to understanding what has just happened. Jesus does not present POVERTY as the prime virtue that marks the Christian. Rather, he shows the truth that membership in the Kingdom of God is not something achieved. It is not something earned or bought. It comes by the hand of God -- as a gift.
The rich young man had asked the wrong question. He asked, "What must I DO?" He should have asked, "What has GOD DONE that gives me an inheritance of eternal life?" Anyone knows that you don't receive an inheritance because of what you DO. You receive it because of WHO YOU ARE.
He asked the wrong question because he was looking in the wrong place. He was looking within himself for the key to his salvation when he should have been looking at God.
If you have been a Christian for any length of time -- and certainly I know that if you have been a LUTHERAN Christian for any length of time, then you have heard that we are saved by God’s grace and not by our works. Most of us know that up here (HEAD) -- but I wonder how deeply that message is rooted here (HEART).
It is as if someone has lost their car keys — so they turn on every light in the house to search for it.
They get down on their knees. They search every drawer; every coat pocket; every nook and cranny.
And a friend comes to help and together they recheck everything again and finally the friend asks, “When was the last time you remember having them?" The person replies, ”When I opened the trunk of the car.”
"Then why on earth are we looking for them here in the house?" the friend asks. To which the person replies,” Well, duh!!! It’s dark out there -- I can’t look for them where it’s dark!!!!"
It’s ridiculous. Yet many of us do the same thing when it comes to searching for the Kingdom of God. We look in the wrong place. We look to see if we are good enough, obedient enough, clean enough to be saved. When the truth of the matter is that the key to our salvation is not within ourselves; it is within our God.
Salvation is not achieved, earned, worked for or gained. It is given.
It is important to note that this encounter by Jesus and the rich man happens while Jesus is on his way to the cross. This is the key to our entrance into the Kingdom of God: It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus.
Your resumé doesn’t matter. Where you have come from, what you have done -- your accomplishments, your intelligence, how hard you have tried and how well you have done -- that’s not what it’s about.
Carl Hoeffler was a seminary professor of mine, and he told a wonderful story about a boy who wanted to buy some beautiful flowers for his mother, who was gravely ill. The boy could find nearly nothing of value in their peasant home, so he took a sack of meal to the village, hoping that the shopkeeper would trade it for flowers.
But when he asked for the trade, the florist turned him away.
As he made his way back toward his home, he passed the entryway to the King’s palace. There at the gate an elderly man was tending the most beautiful, perfect flower garden the boy had ever seen.
"Sir, may I buy some of these flowers with this bit of meal to take to my mother who is ill?"
The gardener laughed, "Why, these flowers are not for sale! They belong to the King!"
The boy burst into tears and raced away toward his home. But after a while he heard a voice calling to him from behind. He turned to look, and there was the elderly gardener chasing after him with his arms heaped with beautiful flowers.
"Little boy, you didn't wait to hear me," he said. "These flowers are NOT for sale. They belong to the King. But I am the King, and I GIVE them away freely."
If the man who had come to see Jesus had only waited, he would have discovered that God would do for him what he could not do for himself.
“You must take what you have and give it to the poor.” God the Father takes his most valuable, cherished possession -- his only son, and gives him to the cross for the sake of us all.
The young man who was looking so hard for salvation, didn't realize that it was standing right in front of him -- looking into his eyes.
Here is a detail that I think we mustn’t overlook: Mark tells us that Jesus looked into his eyes and said, "You lack one thing" -- a loving heart. A compassionate heart. All that this man had done had been centered on himself. But Jesus said, "follow me.” Be a disciple of Jesus -- and in Jesus we see compassion, love, giving of self for others. That is what this man lacked -- a heart like God's.
You are to have a heart like God’s heart. Jesus calls you and me to love the way he loves. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” That doesn’t mean to love them as much as you love yourself. It means to love them so much that you can’t tell where concern for their life ends and your life begins. Love them completely with your whole life.
You know as well as I do how impossible that commandment is.
But even so -- and here is that detail that we mustn’t overlook -- Mark tells us that “Jesus, looking at him, LOVED HIM.” That is good news! Before he was perfect, God loved him. Our salvation is NOT in us. It is in God's love for us -- which comes to us before we are worthy of it.
On another occasion, as Jesus was teaching his disciples, he said to them that many people would come saying, “the kingdom is over here,” or “the kingdom is over there.” But don’t you believe them, he told them. The kingdom is here. It is within you and among you.
Because the kingdom, you see, is in God’s love. And when we share that love, we experience the kingdom.
God’s love is poured out in the waters of baptism, in the bread and wine of communion -- and by the Holy Spirit at work among us -- the love of God is poured out in our midst, reshaping us in God’s image, creating new hearts within us.
Because with God, all things are possible.
AMEN
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