19th Sunday after Pentecost [Pr. 23] October 11, 2009 “Series B”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we come to worship in order that we might be near to you and learn from you how we might live our lives as disciples of your Son, Jesus the Christ. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to focus on your Word, especially as it is revealed to us through your Son. Teach us to love what you command, even when it is hard for us to understand, that we might grow in your favor and witness to your love to those around us. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
Our Gospel lesson for this morning is one of my favorite passages in all of the New Testament, but I doubt if you can guess why. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with my burning desire to preach to you that if you really want to inherit eternal life, you need to sell all that you have, give it to the church, so that I can be insured of a decent salary until I retire.
The truth is, thanks to the introductory lecture of Dr. Larry Toombs, my professor of Old Testament at seminary, this was the lesson that he chose to teach us future pastors how studying the Old Testament can inform our understanding of the New Testament. And I must admit, that after that first class with him, I was totally hooked on his class, and the insights that he provided. So I invite you this morning to step back in time with me, to this class that this scholar taught that began to open my mind to begin to see the depth of our Lutheran theology.
Well, we just heard the story. This really religious guy comes to Jesus, falls at his feet and asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Now, I say that he is a really religious guy, because as the scene unfolds, he reports to have obeyed all of the commandments, since he was a young boy.
Now, I know I’m a Lutheran pastor. I know that I dedicated my life to serving God, and proclaiming his Word to you. But, I can’t make the claim that I have kept all of the commandments, as they ought to be kept. In fact, I would guess that if you would like to line up behind Josie, most of you would have something to complain to me about.
But moreover, because of this man’s obedience to the will of God, he is blessed with success in the business world. In other words, he had a lot of bucks – several homes, in various parts of the world, the latest electronic gadgets, all that neat stuff that is supposed to make us happy. And yet, this guy seems to be lacking something, otherwise, why would he seek out Jesus, and ask what he must do to inherit eternal life?
And now we come to the crux of the issue. We are told that Jesus loved the man, and so Jesus invites the man to go and sell all that he has, give it to the poor, and come and follow him. But unlike Andrew, Peter, James and John, this man did not just drop everything he had to follow Jesus. Rather, we are told that he turned his back on Jesus and walked away, grieved because he had so much wealth.
Then we hear these chilling words from Jesus, words that even perplexed his own disciples. Jesus says, “How hard it will be 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." And the disciples respond, “Then who can be saved?”
For how many years, every time I heard this passage about a wealthy person seeking to inherit the kingdom of God, I pictured this great big camel, loaded down with commercial goods, trying to squeeze through this itsy-bitsy hole in the end of one of my mother’s sewing needles. In fact, as a child, I can remember the frustration I experienced just trying to get a piece of thread through one of those holes in a needle. So it didn’t take long for me to reach the conclusion that it was simply impossible for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, and therefore, I concluded, one must be poor to enter the kingdom of God.
But then, during Dr. Toombs’ opening class, I was given a different perspective on this text. From studying the Old Testament, we learn that most of the large cities, such as Jerusalem, had security walls built around them. These walls had several large gates, which would be opened during the daylight hours so that the trade caravans could easily enter and exit the city. But at sunset, these large gates would be closed for security, and not opened until sunrise.
However, at one point in the wall, there would be what was called “The needle’s eye.” This was a small gate, not much more than four feet high, which required a person to bow down to pass through it. Because the person had to duck their head to enter, the city guards, poised with swords in hand, felt secure enough to open the needle’s eye at night to allow entrance to someone who may have arrived after sunset.
Dr. Toombs’ also pointed out that it was also possible for a camel to pass through the needle’s eye, but that it required a lot of work and risk. First, all of the baggage had to be stripped from the camel, and then the camel would have to be coaxed through the small gate on its knees. The process would take several hours, often requiring the goods of trade to be left unattended, vulnerable to theft. As a result, this practice was almost never done. It was easier to camp outside the city wall, until the gates opened in the morning.
All of a sudden, Dr. Toombs had this first year class in the palm of his hands, saying, “So you see, it is not simply having money that makes it difficult to follow Jesus and enter into God’s kingdom. It could be any excess baggage that we value. What Jesus is saying is that we need to unburden ourselves of all these things we feel we need to have, these things we think are so valuable, get naked and on our knees, and trust that Jesus can bring us through the needle’s eye, into God’s kingdom. For it is only as we follow Jesus, come to trust in God’s grace, and God’s grace alone, that we are able to enter into the kingdom of God.
But by earthly standards, we might assume that this man in our text had everything going for him. He had done everything right. He never harmed anyone, let alone take another’s life. He never entertained the thought of cheating on his wife, let alone engaging in adultery. He never spoke evil of his neighbor, or lied to his friends. He was completely honest in his business dealings, and never stole a single penny from anyone. He held his parents in esteem, and worked hard to provide for their well being, as for his own family. He was successful, and saved for retirement. He was the kind of man a parent would dream up, to marry their daughter.
Is it any wonder that Jesus’ disciples were perplexed. Let’s be honest with ourselves! Do we not believe that if we make an attempt to follow the commandments, do what is right, and work hard, that God will reward us for our effort? It’s the American way. And before that, it was and still is, Israel’s way of life. It is what the Old Testament taught as the good life.
And so, what a shock it must have been, not only to this good man who came to Jesus that day, but to all who heard the shocking words from Jesus, telling him that he only lacked one thing – “Go, and sell all that you possess, and give the proceeds to the poor, come, follow me.”
Before I go any further, let me say that I do not believe that it is poverty that his man lacked. Although the disciples left everything to follow Jesus, they are never pictured as lacking for food or basic necessitates of life. I do not believe that we should romanticize being poor as a moral goodness. To me, that only reveals our own lack of compassion for those in need.
Rather, I believe that Jesus instructed this man to sell what he had come to acquire, because his trust in his financial security competed with his trust in Jesus the Christ, and his redeeming grace. Jesus is saying, that when it comes to inheriting eternal life, we can trust only in God. And even though I doubt that there is a person here this morning who has kept all of the commandments since your youth, who among us would be willing to sell all of our possessions, to strip ourselves of what little financial security we have in this unstable market, to stand before God, trusting only in his grace.
Perhaps Luther expressed it best in his “Large Catechism,” we he stated that it was not just “money” that lures us away from our faith and trust in God. Luther writes, “So, too, if anyone boasts of great learning, wisdom, power, prestige, family and honor, and trusts in them, he also has a god, but not the one true God… It requires that one’s whole heart and confidence be placed in God alone, and no one else… To cling to him with our whole heart is nothing else than to entrust ourselves to him completely.
In light of this command for absolute allegiance to God, I stand with the disciples in asking “Then who can be saved?” And yet I marvel at the answer that Jesus gives. “For Mortals it is impossible, but not for God: for God, all things are possible.”
I believe that this is where each of us need to stand this morning. We need to stand under the cross of Christ, which he bore, to forgive our sins, and to enable us to pass through the needle’s eye. For Jesus stripped himself of all baggage, gave his entire being to see us come to the gate of the kingdom of God. And when I think of the Needle’s eye, that gate that Jesus opened for each of us, God’s Spirit moves me to drop to my knees in thanksgiving.
Amen.
