Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Who here would consider
themselves to be rich?
I don’t tend to think of
myself as rich, at least not a grandiose idea of rich, like compared to NHL
players, or Elon Musk. I mostly live paycheck to paycheck, I worry about
budgeting and finances, I don’t take luxurious trips, I don’t own a cabin on
the lake. All of these things that might come to mind when you hear the word “rich”,
people who don’t have to worry about money, who travel around the world, who
own multiple properties and cars.
But, in the grand scheme
of things, I am rich. I have a roof over my head, food on my table, a car to be
able to drive to places. You see, wealth is relative. There can be many reasons
why a person feels they need to earn every dollar and keep it to themselves or
gather as much stuff around them as possible. But what we see in the news and
on social media are the select few who seem to have all of the world’s wealth
and the rest of us who maybe wished we had more riches. And the advertising
industry has been built on making us think we need more in order to gain true
happiness.
But money and possessions
aren’t inherently sinful. It’s what a person does with that money or those possessions
that matters. Have they become idols? Do they help in your faith life or your
ministry? Can possessions be labeled as good or bad? Blessings or hindrances?
Deficits or potential assets? As I said, it’s all relative so the answer is…it
depends.
In today’s Gospel, a man
with many possessions encountered Jesus. This man of means who presents himself
to Jesus wears the robes of the upper echelon, a far cry from most of the other
characters who we’ve seen interacting with Jesus. Most everyone in the bible,
Jesus and the twelve included, are part of the peasantry. Jesus was the son of
a carpenter, after all. No “middle class” exists in the New Testament. A select
few enjoy the high life. Everyone else scrapes by at the subsistence level,
working day and night and having very little to show for it.
And this man, robes and all,
kneeling before Jesus, starts off with a question: “What must I do to inherit
eternal life?” Did this man with many possessions see himself as a child of God
who was due a birthright like one might expect from a parent? He wanted Jesus
to tell him how to secure the benefits of God’s kingdom and to find the key to
a meaningful, contented, and fulfilling life.
This man rattles off
that he has been the perfect human being, following all of the commandments,
100% of the time. He figures that of all people, he must have earned his way
into heaven, but he wants to make sure. So, he asks, “What must I do to inherit
eternal life?” And what was Jesus’ answer? “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.”
Not the answer the man
was expecting. (Does Jesus ever answer in the way we expect?) What Mark tells
us is the man leaves, grieving, because he knew how much stuff he had. It’s a
vague ending and leaves us to our imagination on what the man ended up doing.
Perhaps he walked away because he knew he’d never be able to do as Jesus asked.
Or perhaps he did sell his possessions and became as good an evangelist as the
women who ran from the tomb to tell everyone they knew what had happened. We
just don’t know.
So, is Jesus really
asking us to sell all our possessions, give the money away, and live in poverty?
Some would say yes and have vowed to live out vows of poverty, living with very
little and having no real amounts of money to speak of.
But I would say that,
for the most part, God is not expecting us to live with nothing, although many
of us probably have more than we need. Jesus’ comment here does make a person think,
though. What kind of power do our possessions have on us? Perhaps Jesus is asking
us to reevaluate the idolatry we have made of money and “stuff”?
Returning to the man in
the story, Jesus tells him he “lacks one thing.” But what does this fellow
lack, exactly? By material standards, by society’s standards, by the measures
of the world that have determined the criteria for abundance and blessing, he
lacks nothing at all.
Does he lack an ability
to care for the poor? Does he lack a consciousness of another’s scarcity? Does
he lack the ability to appreciate his abundance?
It is so easy for us to
view the concept of lack in only material things, material categories, as if
lack is only determined by an absence of wealth. Wealth does something to us
and that something is usually not viewed as having a positive effect. Riches
seem to steer our glance inward, to stoke our individuality, to set our sights
on our own abundance with no thought about securing someone else’s.
What is the “one thing
missing” Jesus would see in you? Where do you locate your abundance? If we do
find ourselves with an abundance of earthly treasures, what is it you think we
should do with that abundance? What is the one thing that is at the core of who
you are that keeps you from being the follower, the disciple, the believer, the
witness God wants and needs you to be?
In this story, the man seems
to be looking out for himself, asking what he can do for his own salvation. The
man’s mind-set, often typical of those with privilege, is contradictory to
Jesus’ teaching. Throughout scripture, Jesus has been pretty clear that we don’t
have to do anything to earn the Kingdom of God. Our inheritance of eternal life
is a gift of grace and mercy from God. However, what we do with our lives
should bring us into right relationship with God and with God’s creation, our
neighbour. The man asks, “What can I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus turns the
question to a new behaviour that is required – give what you have for the sake
of others.
Jesus tells us
repeatedly that the Kingdom of God is here, and to join him, to follow him, will
take changes in activity and behaviour that might be hard and painful. Jesus’
challenge to the man in the story today, a challenge to those who are wealthy, is
a critical lesson for 21st century society, particularly those who
live in privilege. Jesus loves this man he encounters and wants him to be free
from the power of his possessions and wealth so that he can fully experience
life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus wants the same for us.
Life in the kingdom is about
caring for others and sharing from our abundance. Life in the kingdom is about experiencing
transformation in ourselves and in those around us. Does it feel impossible?
Maybe. Letting go of all that we are holding on to, all of the earthly treasures
that are holding us captive, can be excruciatingly difficult and painful. It is
hard to let go of what we depend upon, to let go of what we think we need to
trust in God's grace and providence, to recognize that we have already gracefully
and mercifully inherited eternal life. But as Jesus tells his disciples, and
us, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for in God all things are
possible.”
Amen.
