19th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 23
Mark 10:17-31
"Your Choice"
17 ¶ And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
19 You know the commandments: ’Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’"
20 And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth."
21 And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
22 At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"
24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?"
27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
28 Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you."
29 Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,
30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
31 But many that are first will be last, and the last first."RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
For those of you who can remember Jack Benny, I would like to share with you one of his classic stories. For those of you who don’t know Jack, he was a comic of the old school. His main interest was money. He liked money and never wanted to spend any of it. Do you remember the old classic joke: A hold-up man approaches Benny and demands: "Your money or your life." After a pause that seem. like a lifetime, Jack Benny pleads, "I’m thinking .... I ’m thinking . "
Benny had a choice to make. What was it going to be. Choices in life are always difficult to make. Some choices have only a limited consequence for the moment, like what am going to eat, or what am I going to wear today. Other choices involve consequence that can alter life, what am I going to do with myself, how am I going to live, and then other choices involve not only life now, but life for eternity. Do I believe Jesus is my Lord and my savior who has given me the gift of eternal life?
Our gospel lesson this morning can be seen from many different levels, one that is usually used is stewardship. This text is usually used as a stewardship text, how do we use what God has given us? But I would like us to see this text in more than the light of stewardship, I would like to have us zero in on the choice this man had to make, the decision he had to make about his life, because on one level this text for me is a text that can help us to see where you and I place our values of life.
This man approaches Jesus. Notice Mark doesn’t call him the rich young ruler, but only a man. A man, a human being, someone like you and I. This man approaches Jesus with the age old question what must I do to inherit eternal life.? Or to put in another way: "Lord, there is something missing in my life, there is so much that I have been looking for, help me to find it? " This man sensed that something was lacking in his life. His life didn’t seem complete, there was a strange emptiness, there was no feeling of self sanctification, a feeling of self-worth in his life. So he goes to Jesus asking him to help him find the missing piece, to find fulfillment.
Jesus then asks him if he has been a respectable man. If he has lived the right kind of life. And the man answers that he has. He is your typical middle class man. He doesn’t ’t really do anything really wrong, but neither is he happy with the way things are going. Then Jesus hits the nail on the head, Jesus finds the missing link, he sees into this man’s heart and finds that yes, he hasn’t done anything wrong in the way he has lived life, but neither has he done anything. He has not dared to risk. He has lived the safe life. He hasn’t done anything for anyone.
So Jesus tells him to risk, to sell all that he has give it to the poor. Jesus asks him to risk himself for Jesus and others. Jesus asks him to make a choice, to give up comfort, to give up security, to give up respectability for Christianity.
Respectability consists of not doing things, but Christianity also consists in doing things. Jesus is telling this man that yes you have lived a respectable life, a good life, but you haven’t committed yourself to anything but yourself. You have taken all of this time to dwell on yourself, your own respectability, but what have you done for someone else. What have you done to improve the life of someone around you? What have you committed your life to? Jesus saw this man needed to make a decision concerning his life. Jesus asked him to commit himself to something other than himself, to give of himself, to risk himself, to put his being on the line for something, or someone else besides himself. Jesus is asking him to live for Jesus through his neighbor.
Notice, Jesus asks him to do this not because it is a new law, but because Jesus loved him, had compassion on him. Jesus wanted him to find the fullness of life. The text says: "And Jesus looking upon him loved him". Jesus comes to him with the good news of the gospel message, the good news that lets him live life outside of himself, to live life for Jesus and others. Jesus comes to him with a message of freedom, a message of liberation. Jesus gives him a way out of his frustrations with life, but the man has to decide whether he will take it or not. He has to decide whether he will heed this message of freedom or ignore it and go about living as usual playing it safe, living for himself instead of others.
I would like to suggest to you that the story in this text is but an example of how Jesus comes to each of us with the message of his gospel that demands that we make a choice about how we are going to life our lives. Our choice doesn’t necessarily involve our possession, but it may be how we will use our lives for Jesus. But the point being, I think Jesus asks each of us to make some hard choices in life concerning those things which are of value to us and to him.
Maybe it is not how we use of resources, but how we use our person hood in relationship to others. Or how we see ourselves in relationship to our families, or our loved ones. Or maybe it is how we make a choice about how we will use our life in this world for others.
I don’t know what your questions are in your life? I don’t know where each of your empty feelings are. I don’t know where each of your longings are. I don’t know where each of your searching questions lie, but I would like you to be aware that Jesus does come to those areas of your life with some answers. He asks you to decide what you will do with the answers he gives.
I would like to share with you a poem written by a teenage girl who has felt the pain of not knowing what life was all about, the pain of searching for answers. As I listen to her words, and feel her struggles, I can see these words and feel these struggles on countless of faces all through the decades of time.
Listen:
"When there is no place to go,
How do you get there?
When there’s nothing to say,
Who do you talk to?
When you’ve nothing to do,
When do you find the time?
When there’s nothing left,
With whom do you share?
When you don’t know where it hurts,
How do you find the cure?"
If this is your search, if this is your struggle, if this is your quest, may I suggest you come to the one who will help you find the answers. May I suggest you come to the one who will love you, who will look with compassion on you, who will show you the answers you are looking for. May I suggest you come to Jesus. May I suggest you come but come knowing he will give you a choice. He will give you an answer, then you will need to decide if you will follow him, or keep on searching. You will need to decide if you will heed, or keep on searching. For when we come to Him, when we fall on our knees before him with our search for fulfillment know and believe there will be no easy answers. But here will be the choice of commitment, commitment to him and his way, or commitment to keep on searching, to keep on struggling, to keep on looking.
Someone said:
Commitment is a relationship with Christ that enables you in the midst of life’s greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of life’s greatest trials, to be willing to live.
Commitment to Jesus does mean living with him in all aspects of life, the good and the bad.
As you search for the meaning of life, what will you do? Play it safe, or take a leap of faith and allow Jesus to give meaning and purpose to your life?
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale, October 9, 2006
