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Sermon for October 13, 2024
Pentecost 21 B
Mark 10:17-31; Hebrews 4:12-16
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
When Beth Ann and I were first starting out as pastors and we moved into the parsonage where we were going to live, a nice feature of the house was that less than 20 feet from our backdoor, a creek ran through the backyard. Despite living so close to this creek, even in the heaviest of storms or wettest of years, not once did water ever come near the back door or seep into the basement.
When we moved to another town, this time our house was about half a mile from the nearest creek. We went away one weekend to visit my parents, and when we returned we learned that a heavy rainstorm had blown through while we were away. I didn’t think much about the storm, but after a while I went down to the basement to get something from one of the many boxes of stuff we had stacked down there after our move, and I learned something: Even though we were nowhere close to the creek, the town had a high water table. In times with lots of rain the water would seep up through the cracks in the basement floor. Our boxes got soaked. Lots of our stuff got ruined and had to be thrown in the garbage. I was upset at the time, and after that, every now and then I thought of something that would have been nice to have from those boxes of stuff that we’d thrown away. But when we moved again, I was actually glad about it—because none of that stuff was essential to our well-being, and now I had less stuff to sort and pack!
Of course, this is an entirely different situation than what the folks down in Florida or North Carolina have been through, with the recent devastation wrought by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. For people who need to rebuild their home or business, or have been displaced, or lost all of their worldly possessions—they are really suffering and traumatized, and they need prayers and material support for their recovery. But it’s the kind of thing that makes you ask yourself, “What is truly important in life? What do I truly need?”
And of course we all need to have certain things in order to have a sense of well-being—many of these are things they never even dreamed of back in Jesus’ day. But even accounting for that, there is a point for everyone where you cease to have possessions, and your possessions begin to possess you. And that can distort the way God intends for us to relate to the world, to other people, to ourselves, and even to God.
We hear in Mark 10 about the time when Jesus was on a journey and a man ran up to Jesus, knelt before him, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” There’s a lot going on in that short passage. That the man ran up to Jesus indicates his faith and his trust that Jesus could speak a living Word from God to him. That the man knelt before Jesus indicates his humble attitude as well as his desire to be healed in some way (and when we look at the gospel of Mark as a whole, everyone who kneels to Jesus does so because they are requesting healing of some kind). And the man’s question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”—this indicates that he feels something is missing in his life.
As the passage goes on we learn more about this man and what he is not missing. He has a relationship with God and is committed to practicing his faith—he’s even followed God’s commandments since his youth. We also learn that he has many possessions, which also means that he has a fair amount of wealth. And in those days (which, when it comes to human nature, is not so different from today) if you were wealthy, you also had honor and status given to you by society, and you were considered to be blessed by God. So this man certainly has a lot going for him; the kind of things that most of us would hope for ourselves, as well. But Jesus senses in this man a feeling, that despite all he has and all he has going for him, he is still missing something. How does Jesus respond? “He looks at him and loves him.”
I’ve heard it said that each person has a “God-shaped hole” in their heart. Jesus, sensing the “hole” that this man feels, doesn’t turn away. And he doesn’t tell him “go get your act together first and come back later.” As it turns out, this man is the only person in the whole gospel of Mark who is specifically mentioned as being loved by Jesus. So Jesus offers to fill the hole in the man’s heart with the unconditional love of God. And Jesus makes the same offer to each of us.
In the case of this man, Jesus realized that the man had put something else in that God-shaped hole; something that didn’t really fit. So, because he loves the man and wants his well-being, Jesus tells him “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.” Jesus is calling the man to a deeper relationship with God by asking him to cultivate a deeper relationship with his neighbors—and especially with neighbors who are poor. That’s because God has created us for relationships, and for building up the health of our whole community including all of our neighbors in all of their diversity—not only the ones who live next door or around the corner.
God calls us to care for each other, and to keep expanding the circle of care; to look for the good in people, and to respond when people make gestures of good-will, and above all to love them. God calls us to use our resources in ways that improve the well-being of our community. And—good news—the more we do these things, the more it improves our own well-being, too.
Sadly, the man in today’s gospel, when he heard Jesus’ invitation, was “shocked, and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” The disciples are shocked, too, when Jesus tells them, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Jesus then ups the ante: “Children,” he continues, “how hard it is—for anybody—to enter the kingdom of God!” And then an example of just how hard it is: “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.” Oof! Whatever it may be, however, we each have something that we simply cannot squeeze through that tiny eye of a needle. Maybe it is wealth or possessions. Maybe it’s habits or mindsets. Maybe it’s pride or prejudice. Maybe it’s pain or loss. Whatever the case may be, we each possess something that stands in the way. Or more the point—we each have something that possesses us. We each have something that we try to shove into that God-shaped hole in our hearts, but it just won’t fit.
“Then who can be saved?” the disciples ask, and we ask right along with them. Jesus looks at us, and loves us, and says: “For people it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
No one can earn their way to salvation. But by the mercy of Jesus who sympathizes with our weaknesses, salvation can be given to us as an inheritance. How do I inherit eternal life? Jesus possesses an inheritance of grace that is available in abundance! And remember how inheritances work: in order for an inheritance to be given or received, someone has to die first. Thanks be to God for Christ’s gift of himself on the cross, where he gave his life for the sake of the world. From the cross he invites us to surrender to him those things that turn us away from building healthy relationships with God, our neighbors, and ourselves. And he invites us to follow him with faith and obedience, in ways that are often surprising, maybe even shocking, but that are always, always life-giving. Amen.