Who Can Be Saved?
Job 23: 1-9, 16-17
Mark 10: 17-31
A Sermon by the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart
Epworth United Methodist Church, Berkeley
 
Jesus was on the road again. A woman ran up to him, knelt before him and asked, “Good Teacher... what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus didn’t accept her compliment, or offer any reassurance about inheritance.  Rather, he reminded her of the commandments.  At this she smiled, for, basically, when it came to commandment keeping, she was in pretty good shape. She was, after all, pastor of a United Methodist Church in Berkeley.  And so she said, “I have loved and kept God’s commandments, and I have served steadfastly in the offices of the church at all of its connectional levels!”

And Jesus looking upon her loved her and said to her:  “You lack only one thing:  Go, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor.  Then come, follow me.” Hearing these words, this woman went away grieving, for she had many possessions.  She had an environmentally friendly car, nice robes, a home, a million books, a pension fund, and a laptop computer.  Now some of these she might be able to give up, but surely Jesus could not expect her to give up her pension.  So she turned and walked away in sorrow.

The cover of your worship guide this morning shows one artist’s rendering of the man in Mark’s Gospel who had come to Jesus seeking eternal life asking “What must I do...?” When asked to give up and give to others he walked away grieving.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell this story of Jesus.  But in Mark’s Gospel the man is not necessarily rich, not necessarily young, and not a ruler.  But... he does have many possessions.

It would be well for us to read this story quite literally, particularly in these hard economic times. The claim of the poor is not a plight to be pondered, but a call to action for every follower of Jesus.

Jesus’ instruction is not to produce guilt, nor to prompt acts of generosity.  It is to free us to radically re-think our values, to realign our commitments, to reset our worldview.   Jesus guides him, her, me, you, in the direction of a free and faith-filled life.

You may have heard this reality check on an ancient promise...“The truth will set you free ... but first it will make you miserable.”  Letting go of money, material comforts, means letting go of what makes us feel important, safe, and in control. Letting go is hard.

Princess Diana once said, “They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable.  But how about a compromise ... like moderately rich and just moody?”   We would love to be able to strike more reasonable compromises with God ... keeping our creature comforts intact.

The shaking of our economic foundation leaves us shaken, but the poorest of our brothers and sisters are and have always been crushed in the cracks of that foundation.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have to enter the realm of God.”  They were amazed at his words.  After all, success is a sign of blessing! If you have you can decide in which worthy causes you will invest what you have! Again, Jesus said, “Children, how difficult it is for those who have to enter God’s kindom.  It is easier to slip Trump Towers through the ATM between two crisp twenty dollar bills than it is for someone who has to enter the realm of God.”

The disciples were astonished, saying, “Then who can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “It is not possible... but for God the impossible is possible.”

If we hear Jesus’ words and we do not walk away in sorrow like the person in the story then perhaps we have not heard Jesus, or perhaps we are in denial about just how much we have.  If we are not amazed and astonished like the disciples, when we hear this reversal of the expectations of material growth, consumption, and wealth, which drive our world view, then perhaps we have heard this story too often.

A culture based on consumption promises well-being and love and healing and fulfillment through possession, but it does not deliver on this promise.

My favorite metaphors of this are the drug ads which show image after image of a promised abundant life while disembodied voices recite horrific and deadly potential and likely side effects.   Last week I actually saw one ad that was followed immediately by another ad for a law firm seeking clients who had taken that same drug and were experiencing potentially actionable side effects!

Commitment to consumption harms the body, the body politic, and the Body of Christ because it harms human community.  A culture of consumption manufactures wants, presents wants as needs, and projects illusions of well-being while diverting human and financial resources away from what truly gives life.  The church, a living community, becomes one among many competing non-profits in an age of scarcity.

Jesus did not scold.  He knew and named what was lacking, a willingness to risk control, success and security.

Jesus said in effect, “If everything you have gathered were gone... if you gave it all away... still you would have everything you need and more... still God would be with you... and then you would be of use in new and powerful ways.”

What do we have to lose? Everything.  Nothing.  I think this is what Jesus was getting at when he told the man in Mark’s Gospel to go and sell and give.  He was saying, “As long as you have, you will be more worried about what you have to lose than about what you have to be and do, to give and live.”

As a church, we have. We have a building and a parsonage.  We have human and financial resources.  Because we are a connectional church, part of the worldwide United Methodist Church of over 10 million people, we have institutions of education, of healing, urban and rural ministries on every continent, relief agencies and justice advocacy centers in emergency and emerging needs.  We give what we have to embody the Good News of Jesus Christ:  to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.  

Jesus’ reframes our questions from self-fulfillment to self-giving love.  Jesus looks at the very human, very finite, very fallible, fabulous, fearful and on-the-fence people of God that we are, and his loving gaze illumines ministries, communities and lives.

Let us pray:  Gracious God, we seek to be your people, but we cling to what we have.  It’s hard to hear your call to go, give, serve, lose, and follow. Give us the assurance of your love in community that will sustain us and light our way.  AMEN.