|
|
"Jesus to Man, 'Follow Me'."
St.
Mark’s Episcopal Church
Sunday, October 15, 2006
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Hebrews 3:1-6
Mark 10:17-31
Let me read a sampling of today’s newspaper headlines:
From the Jericho Sun: “Rich man turns down invitation
to eternal life.” The Jordan Times: “Wealth stifles
seed sown by the Word.” The Jerusalem Tribune: “Camel
through needle eye easier than rich to heaven, says prophet.”
The reporting of today’s Gospel is predictable –
and although these newspapers are fictional, statements that
replicate these headlines are found in numerous commentaries
and sermons not to mention the minds of most Christians who
have heard this story countless times. It is likely that the
average man or woman on the street, whether Christian, Jew or
Theosophist, although not certain of the source, is aware of
the specific challenge of a camel passing through the eye of
a needle. And those who are well acquainted with this Gospel
passage are left with the impression that the man who runs to
Jesus slinks away, rejecting the call to discipleship and specific
action required of him. Unfortunately, these conclusions which
have been heaped upon this story have smothered but not extinguished
the fire the burns as the core of its message. You have heard
of riches to rags; death to life, heaven to hell, black to white,
darkness to light; like all of these, today’s Gospel is
about radical reversals – reversals of assumptions, lifestyles,
social systems and religious claims, which unsettle and prepare
us for the unexpected and shocking reality of the kingdom of
God. Having said this, it would be wrong to assume too quickly
that this man with many possessions has in fact rejected Jesus.
Let us take a close look at the story, perhaps gaining a fresh
perspective. First, who is this “man” who runs up
to Jesus? You will often hear that he is young or that he is
rich. However, the text describes him simply as a “man.”
He runs, therefore many assume he is young. The narrative states
that he has many possessions- and that makes him rich. This
is important, especially to us, because of all of the characters
we have encountered on the road with Jesus, it is this man with
many possessions with whom we can most closely identify. We
are not told what the man possesses – but we can imagine
perhaps fine woven rugs, Phoenician glass, rare spices from
the East, gold and silver, many acres of land, a camel and a
large herd of animals. However, I wonder how much “stuff”
he had – things like cell phones, shoes, books, lamps,
pens and pencils, CDs, lawn furniture, hair brushes, bottles
of shampoo, stacks of magazines and drawer full of miscellaneous
items – things like marbles, sticky notes, batteries and
hairpins. If “stuff” is the same as possessions,
then most of us, and I know I qualify, can and should see ourselves
represented by this person – this man who runs to Jesus.
What does the man want from Jesus? He asks, “What must
I do to inherit eternal life?” Is he asking how to “get
to heaven?” Does he want to have assurance of an afterlife?
It seems to me that something is not right about his life as
it is. Otherwise, why would he leave the comfort and satisfaction
of his home to go see an itinerant healer and preacher from
some forsaken backwater like Galilee? In the words of Barbara
Brown Taylor, author and Episcopal priest, “When life
is pretty good and church is pleasant enough, who needs resurrection?”
Why has he been waiting from a distance, for the right moment
to ask Jesus a question? He may have stuff, but something is
not right and he is desperate enough to run – an entirely
improper behavior for a person like himself of high status and
privilege. His quest for eternal life is urgent because it isn’t
about a theoretical future life. He has seen something in Jesus
that makes his own life seem wooden and deathly by comparison.
He has seen Jesus hold starvation and misery in his arms –
and in this repulsive, unexpected action, has seen a glimmer
of truth and the power of the living God. The man is powerfully
attracted to this truth and the former truth of his own life
seems false in comparison.
How does Jesus answers the man’s question? For me and
others who self-identify with the man, the answer is important.
“Have you kept the commandments?” asks Jesus. He
then itemizes what I consider the easiest of the commandments
– those involving murder, theft, adultery, fraud and honoring
your parents. Allowing for small technical breaches, I would
guess that not just a few of us could claim that we have kept
these commandments. This man does not have to be an obsessive
keeper of the law to have remained within these moral boundaries.
However, has he always honored the Sabbath? Has he never coveted
his neighbor’s family or property? Jesus does not ask
him about these more difficult and ambiguous commandments –
perhaps to draw both the man and us as observers closer to the
truth of the kingdom of God. We think we have what it takes
– and then are hit between the eyes with a paradox –
that what we lack something – and that what we lack is
what we have. The man’s lack is that he has many possessions.
The widely held belief, both two thousand years ago and now,
at least in the western world, is that material abundance is
a sign of God’s blessing. In a patronage society, those
with money and privilege support the religious system, thereby
conferring upon themselves the perception of God’s favor.
This is why Peters asks, “Then who can be saved...(if
not the rich?)” Jesus has already shown us that those
who enter life – those who are embraced in the loving
arms of God are the destitute - those who have no material wealth,
security or status. This is a difficult truth for the world
to learn, including the church which continues to place great
emphasis on accoutrements of architecture, vestments and precious
metal chalices – and thousands of other items available
for purchase in a three hundred page religious supply catalog
that I received this week. Those who deviate are far and few
between...it was at least eight hundred years between St. Francis
and Mother Teresa – can you name others who so faithfully
eschewed materialism and were heralded by the institutional
church?
Remember the man’s question: What must I do to inherit
eternal life? The answer Jesus gives is not to sell what he
owns. The answer is “to follow me.” And that is
the answer to all of us, whether or not we are burdened with
possessions. During the past months, this is what we have been
doing through our Gospel readings as we have followed Jesus
from place to place, seeing the love and truth of God encountering
the powerful, the powerless, the religious, the non-religious,
the old and the young. For today, and for this man with possessions,
we must consider what prevents him and us from following Jesus.
We have heard that if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck
it out. Likewise, if your stuff bogs you down, sell it. For
this man to literally follow Jesus, he must shed his local responsibilities
of land, tenants, animals and upkeep, because he will never
be coming back to his home or town again. He must rid himself
of distractions and connections to a life he has always known.
This is a radical reversal. And it is a glimpse of the truth
of the kingdom of God.
So much time and tongue has been spent talking about the camel
going through the eye of the needle. You may have heard explanations
to make it work. One that I know of and especially dislike is
when the eye of the needle is said to be a metaphor for a certain
entrance through the wall around the city of Jerusalem, and
that in order for a camel with provisions to be able to pass
through, the provision must be removed. But once the camel gets
through, the possessions go back on. In other words, you really
can take it with you. Jesus doesn’t expect us to figure
out how a camel goes through the eye of a needle. Instead, we
need to see the two objects as two opposites – the bulky,
breathing, moving camel on the one hand and the tiny, precise,
almost imperceptible gap forged in a sliver of metal on the
other. Side by side, they are objects that speak of radical
reversal.
The story of the man with many possessions is unfinished.
Yes, the headlines say that the man has rejected Jesus, and
with them go the assumption that he has turned down eternal
life for his materialism. But the text itself doesn’t
say this. What we do know is that the man is shocked and grieving.
And to quote, “he went away.” He is facing the truth
of a radical reversal, and it is a shock. But the story itself
can be radical reversal – a reversal of our certain conclusions
for this man. This is another reason to identify ourselves with
him, because our stories are unfinished, whether or not we are
responding to Jesus with acceptance, denial, inaction and action.
Perhaps the party line has this man damned because the timing
of its appearance in the lectionary coincides with many church
stewardship campaigns. “You don’t want to be like
this man, do you? Now is the time to avoid his fate –
give generously to St. Mark’s and you may still walk with
Jesus.” The Gospel is about radical reversal – and
such over-used guilt techniques only dull this truth and alienate
those who seek it. Let us imagine a different scenario - that
this man departs from the scene to do the work he has been given
to do. It will be difficult and take time – there are
many things to sell and a life to change. We can even imagine
seeing him again, in the garden of Gethsemane. To quote from
Mark, chapter 14 “A certain young man was following him,
wearing nothing but a linen cloth.”
If the message of radical reversal isn’t clear enough,
today’s Gospel offers two more famous illustrations. When
Peter asks, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus says,
“For mortals it is impossible...but for God all things
are possible.” Like the camel next to the needle, Jesus
presents the relationship and contrast between humanity and
divinity. When the transcendence and mystery of the divine is
tamed, and the limits and finitude of humanity are mocked, the
kingdom of God is nowhere to be found. But in the fullness of
time, it will be found, and we will be left with the greatest
reversal of all, when the first will be last and the last will
be first.
Amen.
|
