"going Through The Eye Of A Needle"

“Going Through the Eye of a Needle”

Mark 10:17-31

Our Gospel lesson for this morning starts out with a bit of irony.

What do I mean by that?

The story begins with these words: “As Jesus started on his way…”

“On his way,” is a code phrase for Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem.

It’s Jesus’ final journey which ends with a Cross.

Jesus is knowingly going to Jerusalem to die, but this man who comes to Him is asking Jesus how to find life.

Isn’t it ironic?

Hold on to that thought.

We will come back to it.

(pause)

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

I wonder what drove this man to Jesus.

I wonder what was going on in his life that caused him to run to Jesus, kneel down, and ask his question.

What’s the desperation behind the question?

What’s his desire?

We could speculate about him but chances are there have been times in all of our lives when we have asked the same kind of question.

I think it’s a question we ask when we bump up against our finitude and our powerlessness.

I wonder when you have asked this question?

What was going on in your life?

Or perhaps, you are asking this question this morning.

“Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What must I do to find myself again?”

“What must I do to be more fully alive?”

“How do I step through the impossibility of what is and into the possibility of what might be?”

When I was a Senior in high school some friends of mine and I were hanging out in a park drinking beer, smoking pot, and discussing what we wanted to do with our lives.

One of my friends answered, “I am going to keep doing the same thing I am doing right now for the rest of my life.”

And I thought to myself, “Not me.”

“I’ve seen something different; something better.

And I feel called.

I am going to be a United Methodist Minister like my Uncle.

I don’t know how I am going to do it.

I will need to clean up my act somehow, but that is what I am going to do.”

“How am I going to do it?”

“What must I do?”

I had no clue, but I knew that was what I was supposed to do and deep down inside I knew it was what I WAS going to do.

So, here we have in Mark Chapter 10, this rich young ruler.

Luke’s Gospel informs us that he is a ruler and Matthew’s Gospel tells us that he is young.

From the perspective of most, this guy has got the world by the tail.

He’s got what many people can only dream about:

He’s got youth, power and money.

He’s got everything this world can offer.

What else could he possibly need?

It’s interesting that he kneels before Jesus when he asks his question because everywhere else in Mark when a person kneels down to ask Jesus for something it is for a healing, for him or her, or for someone else.

Does this rich young ruler feel as though he’s sick and needs to be healed?

Maybe he’s heartsick and somewhere deep down he knows this and so he’s seeking Jesus out with his question.

Maybe, deep down inside, he knows there is more to life than money and power.

Maybe he has found that it’s ultimately not satisfying.

Maybe he is aware that youth is fleeting.

Maybe, in a sense, he has it all, but in another sense, he realizes he’s missing the most important thing.

And, of course, he suffers from the same disease we all suffer from, I mean, someday his body will wear out and he is going to die.

What happens after that?

Surely, he knows he can’t take his riches with him.

Also, even though he has “kept all [the commandments]” since he was a boy, he knows that underneath it all he is a sinner.

And he really hasn’t kept them.

He’s tried and tried.

But, ultimately, he has failed.

So, what must he do?

What must he do?

I love verse 21.

It says that “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

And that is how Jesus looks at all of us—with love, a great love, the greatest love the world has ever known.

Has this ever entered your mind?

Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus is always looking at you and always loving you?

Oftentimes Owen gets up on his own in the morning, but sometimes I have to go into his room and wake him.

And it doesn’t take much.

I usually go in and turn off his nightlights and then ruffle his hair or give him a hug and he’ll be up and out in the living room almost immediately.