“A PRESCRIPTION FOR WHAT AILS US”

Mark 10:17-22

(11-02-08) Evening Grace 

 

 

 

I have to confess,

I really don’t know what to make of the man in our text this evening. 

I don’t know if he’s really a seeker

who truly wants to discover what he must do to inherit eternal life,

or just a phony, trying to justify himself in front of others. 

But I can give him the benefit of the doubt. 

What does seem clear though

is that this man is successful by much of the world’s standards. 

 

The gospels according to Luke and Matthew

have corresponding stories of this man’s encounter with Jesus

and in those accounts we learn that the man is not only rich

but that he is also a ruler and that he is young. 

So there you have it. 

A rich, young, ruler. 

Young, connected, wealthy. 

Sounds like an ad for GQ or Esquire. 

 

But something’s not quite right with this picture. 

Why would a man like this come before Jesus and ask him what he asks? 

Something’s amiss here. 

Being wealthy, being connected,

being a person of power and influence, being youthful,

you might think that with all these things going for him,

this man wouldn’t have a care in the world,

but its obvious that his cares concern much more than just this world. 

Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 

You’ve got to hand it to him. 

Even with all that he’s got going for him,

he’s also wise enough,

maybe desperate enough for some reason,

to see that this isn’t all there is. 

Jesus initially tries to almost waive him off. 

He gives a bit of a stock answer

to the man’s question about what he must to do inherit eternal life. 

You know the commandments, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery,

don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honour your parents. 

Be a good person. 

And maybe for most people that would have been it. 

Had a chance to ask Jesus a question,

got an answer that made me feel good, now I can move on. 

 

But the man is persistent. 

Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth. 

And you know what, he probably believed every word he said! 

You don’t get to be as successful as this young ruler was

without having some discipline in life. 

I get the sense that his answer may have surprised Jesus somewhat. 

Jesus, looking at him, loved him. 

Its like Jesus took a second look at him and kind of stopped

and seriously considered the man in front of him. 

And that’s when he gets to the core of the issue. 

Go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me. 

When the man heard this,

he was shocked and went away grieving,

for he had many possessions. 

 

Go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor…then come, follow me. 

Things we wish Jesus hadn’t said. 

We wish Jesus hadn’t said these words

because for many of us we have wrestled, and still wrestle,

with the concept of material wealth

and its implications for Christian faith. 

We know that Jesus goes on to say in this section of the gospel

that its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. 

We hear these words and they scare us

because we know that there’s a whole lot of truth to what Jesus says. 

And like the rich, young, ruler,

we don’t know whether we could, or would,

walk away from our material wealth,

not only walk away from it,

but give to the poor, then go and follow Jesus. 

 

Well, let me give you some comfort. 

I don’t think that Jesus’ directives for this man

are necessarily his directives for all people. 

There’s no indication that his prescription for this rich, young, ruler

would be Jesus’ prescription for all of us. 

There’s no sense that Jesus wants us all to be dirt poor monks. 

But before we get too comfortable,

before we think that we have been somehow let off the hook,

we need to know that the words of Jesus

are about to make things a whole lot harder for all of us. 

The command to sell what we own

and give the money to the poor, then follow Jesus,

may be case specific,

but I believe that it speaks of the fact

that for everyone who is serious about asking

the larger, broader, harder questions of life and eternal life,

Jesus will pinpoint that something,

whatever it may be,

that something we treasure above all things,

which is our greatest barrier or stumbling block to full discipleship

and its that treasured possession

that Jesus invites us to give up, give away,

and then follow him.

 

Why? 

Why does Jesus have to target those things that are most precious to us? 

Why is he seemingly intent on taking away those things

that bring us happiness and comfort? 

Let’s return to the rich, young ruler. 

As reasonable and respectable as he seems,

there are a couple of things that, upon closer inspection, need addressing. 

 

His initial question assumes a contradiction. 

What must I do to inherit eternal life? 

Doing and inheriting are two different things

and one does not lead to the other. 

We can’t inherit something by doing,

inheritance by definition, is something that is given,

its something we receive, not something we can work for. 

We inherit because of someone else’s doing, not our own. 

The rich, young, ruler, like so many others before and after him,

is about controlling our his destiny

and forgetting that God is the only one who gives eternal life. 

There’s nothing we can do to inherit that gift,

we just have to receive it with gratitude and thanksgiving. 

The rich, young ruler is someone who is used to control

and so it makes perfect sense

that when Jesus tells him to keep the commandments,

he says that he has kept all of them from his youth. 

But its obvious that he has not. 

When Jesus invites him to give away his riches to the poor and follow him,

he is shocked and went away grieving. 

Though he claimed to follow all the laws,

he clearly did not follow the first and foremost of the Ten Commandments. 

You shall not have any gods before me. 

And yet for this rich, young ruler,

his wealth, his riches, were his god

and they clearly took precedent over his fidelity to God.  

 

Jesus loved the rich, young ruler,

but he also knew that he was suffering from a sickness. 

It was a sickness which had brought the man before Jesus,

whether he was aware of it or not,

something was amiss which brought him to Jesus,

and Jesus offered him a prescription for his sickness. 

But sadly, he wouldn’t, he couldn’t, take it. 

 

How many of us are the same way? 

Most of us don’t deliberately decide to serve an idol over God,

we don’t necessarily consciously choose to serve mammon before God,

but one day we wake up and we find

that’s exactly what we did,

that’s what we still do. 

The words of Jesus are hard,

maybe we wish he hadn’t said them,

maybe we think that Jesus is a killjoy,

demanding from us everything that we value,

everything that we have built up,

everything that we find so hard to give up. 

But like the rich, young ruler,

Jesus knows that when we can’t let go of our need to be in control,

when we substitute the reception of God’s gifts

with the belief that our deeds can accomplish the same ends,

when we consciously or unconsciously

place other gods before the one true Living God,

God knows that we are sick and that we are in need of healing. 

And healing only comes when the source of the illness is addressed. 

 

Someone once wrote that everyone has a gospel they live by,

for some its wealth, for others its health,

for some its family and for others its vocation, the list goes on. 

Whatever that gospel is, it becomes the most important thing to us

and it supplants the role and reign of God in our lives. 

Jesus intends to confront that error

and as hard as it is for us to hear,

his prescription for us,

to give up and give away

whatever hinders us from God’s role and reign in our lives,

is the only way that we will know true healing and true wholeness

as God has intended for us. 

 

Healing happens when we are able to let go

of our need to control and make our own destiny. 

Healing happens when we realize that we are so loved by Jesus,

by the one who sees us even as we so desperately cling

to the false god of earning our own salvation

and still loves us enough to want us to change. 

Healing happens when we accept that love

and find the courage to love God more than we love anything else,

when Jesus’ gospel becomes our gospel,

when God’s role and God’s reign become supreme in our lives. 

There is really no greater freedom and joy

than knowing that it doesn’t all depend on us,

but that God is the one in control

and the blessings of life that we have received

can be shared generously and freely with those around us. 

 

And maybe that’s the best news of all. 

You see, Jesus didn’t say to the rich, young ruler,

give up your riches,

he said, give your riches away to the poor, then come, follow me. 

The way Jesus writes the prescription,

its not only us who get healed,

there’s a spin off benefit to those around us. 

Our healing leads to the potential healing of others. 

When we give up idolizing wealth or our abilities,

our time and our talents,

when we are freed to give up control and worship of these things,

not only are we freed to heal,

others will be healed because we can share the blessings of our lives. 

We heal because we realize that the gifts of life

never truly belong to us,

but that we are stewards of God’s gifts in us, through us. 

How many people will benefit and come to know healing

because we are able to be stewards of our wealth as God intends? 

How many people might know healing

because we can be more generous with our time, with our affection,

with our expertise, with our compassion, with our imagination? 

When it comes to the things of God’s kingdom,

when it comes to the stewardship of God’s resources,

I, for one, agree with Obama and not Joe the Plumber. 

yes, let’s spread the wealth around! 

 

Where’s our treasure?

Where’s your treasure?

May our treasure be in the promise of God,

which brings healing to us and to all God’s people.