Mark 10.17-31

Pentecost Twenty (Revised Common Lectionary) | 10.10.21 | Mark 10.17-31 | by Carl A. Voges |

The Passage

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?”  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’  And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.”  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.”  And the disciples were amazed at his words.  But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God.”

Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”   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 the gospel, 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.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”                                                              [English Standard Version]

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.“                                                                                [Hebrews 4.12]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord

Today’s Gospel warns us of concentrating too much on ourselves and it re-sets our lives in the one given us at Baptism by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Really, though, we would prefer to talk today about other matters like the mysteries of contemporary economic thinking and practice or the agony of a person’s death being observed apart from the Church’s Liturgy or the future of a small parish’s ministry or the turmoil of parents struggling with addictive issues in their child.  All such matters, however, get shoved to the side as this Gospel pushes into our hearing and we think over our responses to it.

Let’s see how this passage both warns and re-sets us.  Jesus has just shocked a man who has come up to him.  He reverses the man’s way of understanding and doing; he sends the man away grieving because the man could not let go of his life.

Jesus looks around and says to his disciples, How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  It is not the possessions of riches that trouble us, it is our attitudes toward them and the ways in which those riches dominate us!

The disciples are perplexed at these words.  If our Lord expects dramatic change in our lives, shouldn’t he make those changes easier and simpler?  But Jesus says to them again,

Children, (our relationship with the LORD God is always as Father and child; our relationship with one another is always as maturing adults), how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God (this entrance is difficult and complex)!  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!

The eye of a needle may be a reference to the night entrance of a walled city – low and narrow so a person has to stoop and squeeze through it!  Rich is another reference to the attitude we have concerning our possessions; we focus on them so intently we are able to expand them!

The disciples (and we) are greatly astonished and say to one another, Then who can be saved?  Again, this implies that salvation is up to us, an opinion shared by many Christians, including Lutherans!  Jesus looks (the Greek word suggests it is not a glance, but it is penetrating) at them and says, For mortals (that is, people like us) such salvation is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.

Peter begins to say to Jesus, Look, we have left everything and followed you.  Such following today would include: we are consistently exposed to the Lord’s Scriptures and Sacraments, we are aware of the world’s affliction and the vital conversations among the Lord’s people, we are committed to the faithful carrying and reflecting of the Lord’s Life to the world’s people.

Jesus says, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the Good News (this is what occurs when we are baptized into the Holy Trinity!), who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions and, in the age to come, eternal life.

The “fields with persecutions” is a shadowy reference to the difficulties that the Lord’s people have as they live in this world.  When we are baptized into the Son’s crucifixion and resurrection, we are fully involved in the breaking down and restoring of the lives around us.  This unpacks the full impact of baptismal Life in the Holy Trinity – each blessing is magnified one hundred times now and spills over into eternity!  But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first (the Lord’s Life is always the reverse of the world’s life).

This passage is something, isn’t it, as it warns us of concentrating too much on ourselves and then re-sets us in the Life given us at Baptism?  It certainly is!  As confusing and as painful as it is, our Lord is forcing us to confront this natural drive to indulge ourselves.  There are times when we do such indulging well and it does not appear to be harmful (look how impressive the man was in the front of this passage!).  However, there are also times when we do not indulge well, disgusting not only others, but also ourselves.  As confusing and painful as it is, our Lord would have us understand that this indulging (a drive given to us because of our births into this world) is not only attractive and makes sense, it also lies and destroys.  That’s why our Lord is wading into our lives today with this warning.  He is seeking to save us from such an attitude.

Jesus reminds us that when he, the Father and the Spirit re-birthed us in Baptism, he was giving us a Life that has no parallel.  While we naturally get caught up with the world’s life, the Lord frees us from its attitudes and actions, and sets us in the transforming and sustaining ways of his Baptism.  While the world dangles its rewards in front of us (there is so much profit to be made, there is so much pleasure to experience, there is so much power to exercise, there is so much person to expand, but our Lord blows those rewards away with the promise and the reality of his rewards (there is absolutely no comparison!).

While we would prefer this morning to talk about the anger among our political leaders and followers or the casual attitudes among the baptized about their presence in the Sunday Liturgy or the person determined to battle serious illness on their own or Lutheran church leaders anxious about their denominational futures.

Instead, it is much better and healthier for the Lord’s people to let today’s Gospel warn us of concentrating too much on ourselves and to let that same Gospel re-set our lives in the one given us at Baptism by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Thus, while the world keeps urging us to fuss over its life, the one dominated by the unholy trio of sin, Satan and death, we now see that the real fuss is to be made over the Lord’s Life, the Life that has crushed and will continue to crush the unholy trio from the Son’s crucifixion and resurrection!

Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our

hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord

—

Pr. Carl A. Voges, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com