A very funny comedy routine is George Carlin\u2019s classic \u201cStuff.\u201d While Mr. Carlin was not everyone\u2019s cup of tea, he cuts like a well-skilled surgeon as he examines why we feel we need \u201cso much stuff.\u201d \u201cBe honest!\u201d he says: \u201cyour house is just a place to store your stuff; if you didn\u2019t have all that stuff, you wouldn\u2019t need a house! A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on top.\u201d Carlin\u2019s routine could be summarized as: sometimes we realize we\u2019ve got too much stuff, so we move to get more space\u2014but if we\u2019ve got too much space\u2026we know we need more stuff!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Carlin is talking about physical stuff\u2014the things that we buy, inherit, or otherwise acquire during life. From twenty-year-old restaurant menus to Grandpa\u2019s gold watch, from the priceless to the worthless, we see life as defined by our stuff. But it\u2019s not just physical stuff! Our degrees, our accomplishments, our awards, our honors are also a type of stuff that we acquire and insist on carrying around. The debates regarding when to call someone \u201cdoctor\u201d are one example of how we also pile on the intangible \u201cstuff\u201d that define who we are. To borrow from Carlin, be honest! Whether it is the acquisition of tangible stuff like cash, stocks, bonds, houses, furniture, clothing, cars, boats and more or of the more intangible stuff like educations, vacation experiences, foodie skills, friendships with the right people and such, we are experts at the process of acquiring.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And Jesus says stuff is useless, to the disciples\u2019 amazement and alarm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This statement was as shocking in Jesus\u2019 day as in ours. While the 1st<\/sup> century world in which Jesus lived nuanced wealth and possessions somewhat differently than ours, they would have understood that even as charity was important\u2014be ready to give when called on\u2014it was also important to put enough away so that you wouldn\u2019t be a charity case yourself. Rabbinic interpretation of the time would have expected that young men, such as the one we encountered last week, would work to grow his assets, not disperse them to the wind and be dependent on others. Moreover, for Jesus to suggest that it is his very wealth that is the problem and being rid of it as the answer to a heart-felt question, would have struck most as absurd\u2014as it did the young man and, clearly, the disciples.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But the point is no longer being put to those first disciples\u2014now Jesus is teaching us about the truth of God\u2019s Kingdom and our place in it. It is no mistake that, as Mark relates this story, these events are preceded by Jesus placing a child in their midst. (vv. 13-16). No child \u201chas\u201d anything of worth; what they do have in abundance is trust\u2014trust that their needs will be met by someone who loves rightly and well! This is what Jesus commends to his followers: God (who alone is good!) loves rightly and well, gives to his children what they need and more, and can accomplish what must be done when all we can do is exclaim \u201cimpossible!\u201d Perhaps the young man huffed it out as he walked away\u2014impossible. It is an ironic moment. The wealthy young man could not acquire the one thing that he needed, which was poverty. The disciples don\u2019t get the joke, if there is one here, because isn\u2019t the whole point of having a god is to make sure that you get the stuff that makes life worth living, that protects us from what we fear, that makes sure we get what we want. Again, it doesn\u2019t have to be the physical stuff George Carlin lampooned. It could easily be the \u201cstuff\u201d the world teaches us: about the right kind of wisdom or way of acting, the right opinions or right behaviors, the right friends, the right allies. We are so full of stuff that there is no room for God to give us anything. This is the issue that Martin Luther stressed again and again: that nothing can substitute for Christ, not even (as Peter wishes to claim) our heroic efforts to follow Christ!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of my favorite little tales is a Jewish story about a rich man. He steps into a bakery one day, and in the process of buying a morsel, turns to the baker and asks, „When others turn to me for help … what should I say?“ The baker did not look up from his flour bowl but after a moment said: „I think \u2018thank you\u2019 would be best.“ „What?“ said the man, „Why should I say thank you?“ His voice grew louder as if to boost his confidence. „What can the poor give me?“<\/p>\n „Have you ever met a man whose success is not also a burden?“ said the baker. „To give freely as others ask allows you to lessen your load and walk more freely. In this way having less can add to your life! The poor have done you a favor.“ Now his customer\u2019s voice took a new tone. „I feel like a fool,“ he said. „No,“ responded the baker, „a fool is someone who knows so much, he cannot learn anything.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pastor Dave Brooks<\/p>\n Raleigh, NC USA<\/p>\n Pr.Dave.Brooks@zoho.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost | October 17, 2021 | Sermon Text: Mark 10:23-31 | A very funny comedy routine is George Carlin\u2019s classic \u201cStuff.\u201d While Mr. Carlin was not everyone\u2019s cup of tea, he cuts like a well-skilled surgeon as he examines why we feel we need \u201cso much stuff.\u201d \u201cBe honest!\u201d he says: \u201cyour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,157,108,266,110,734,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-5914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-markus","category-beitragende","category-current","category-david-h-brooks","category-engl","category-kapitel-10-chapter-10-markus","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5914"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5916,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5914\/revisions\/5916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5914"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=5914"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=5914"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=5914"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=5914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}