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Hillside Street, Bennington, Vermont (802) 442-2559
"resolutely inclusive, spiritually alive, and empowered for ministry in the world." |
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“With God All Is Possible” --October 11, 2009 Hebrews 4:12-16, Mark 10:17-31
Posted: October 13th, 2009 @ 8:26am
"The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
This story about the rich man coming to Jesus and asking what he must do to inherit eternal life has been working away at my joints and marrow, my soul and spirit since I was a teenager. I have a distinct memory of waiting for my family in the parking lot of the affluent suburban church I grew up in, wrestling with this story that I had apparently heard or read in Sunday School. Looking around me, and also keenly aware of classmates and parts of town that I knew were much less fortunate, I had the distinct feeling of being pierced deeply in my conscience, in that place where soul and spirit come together, like joints and marrow. “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God; 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.”
I think this story introduced me to a more respectful and less naive approach to the Bible. It was far more than a collection of nice stories, some of which I already knew were bizarre and even scary, but which I could chalk up as being the way things were “back then.” And it was clearly not just an answer book, in which you could simply look up the answers to the questions of life. There were too many different answers and too many answers I didn’t want to hear. “God said it, we believe it, that settles it” says the sign in front of a Baptist church I know. I want to ask–Have you read the whole thing? Do you really do all it says? How simple or settled is that? “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Matthew’s version of this story says that the man who came to Jesus was young, and Luke’s version says he was a ruler. Whatever. He had means and therefore he had power. So too, by the way, do we. I am no longer young nor am I a “ruler,” but by the world’s standards I am wealthy and have considerable power. More than 3 billion people live on less than $2 as day. That’s an annual income of $730.
So, this rich man runs up to Jesus and, kneeling before him, asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Making sure that his reverence is saved for God and not him, Jesus asks the man about his relationship to the commandments of Jewish life–those against murder and adultery and theft and lying and about honoring mother and father. “Teacher,” the man replies, “I have kept all these since my youth.”
Some people read that as arrogant or boastful–how can anyone honestly have obeyed all the commandments? But Jesus doesn’t hear it that way. He hears the man’s sincere effort to do the right thing, to do what is expected of his status in the community; he has genuinely tried to be good. Indeed, the commandments or laws of the great religions are gifts, as one commentator says (Kate Huey, Weekly Seeds, 10/11/09), “signposts [given] to guide [us] when we’re not sure of the way.” And, Mark tells us, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” He recognizes the man’s question–“what must I do to inherit eternal life?”–as sincere. He has lived an obedient life. He has stayed within the lines. Now he is asking a big question, and Jesus wants to take him to the next step on his journey. Fred Craddock says, “The man asked a big question and he got a big answer; small answers to ultimate questions are insulting.” (Ibid.)
“You lack one thing,” Jesus tells the man. “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
He was grieving, I think, because he knew that Jesus was right. His possessions and power were the one thing getting in the way of really being free to respond to God. “We are most afraid of what we need most,” one writer points out. The man knows that what Jesus said was true–his wealth, his possessions, represented all his best efforts. Indeed, in Jewish belief they were seen as rewards from God for living a righteous life. And, God knows, the man had tried very hard to live a righteous life.
And that’s just it, Jesus says to him. To experience eternal life–not just in some future life, but here and now–eternal life that is full of real joy, real love, real peace–eternal life is sheer gift, there is nothing you can do to get it. Nothing you can have that will guarantee it. Having any sort of wealth or power brings with it, as one writer says, the “constant temptation to put the workings of one’s own will in place of responsiveness to God’s will” (Paul Nancarrow, Process and Faith website, 10/11/09). There is nothing you can do, Jesus tells the man, so rather than seeing the giving away of all he has to the poor as one more commandment for his “to do” list, Jesus is really telling him to let go, let go into grace. And then, come, follow me. Join me in this new family, this new way of being. God desires nothing short of the total transformation of our lives into real life.
“When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving.” “And his disciples were perplexed, greatly astounded, in fact, and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’” We might ask the same thing. It all sounds quite impossible.
So it is that some find comfort in the possibility that, in saying that “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,” Jesus was referring to the small doorway next to one of the gates into Jerusalem which was referred to as the “Eye of the Needle.” For a camel to go through it, one would have to unload it so that the camel could crawl through on its knees and the bags and bundles would have to be carried or dragged the 50 feet or so to get through. Hard work for sure, even a little humiliating, but not impossible. Surely that’s what Jesus meant. As long as we’re not overly attached to our possessions and have a prayerful and humble attitude, our wealth can even be an instrument for good. The Millenium Development Goals tell us that if we each give .07% of our income to intelligently targeted international aid organizations we can eliminate extreme poverty in the world by 2015. So, if we want to take Jesus’ words to heart, we could do that–figure out what .07 of our income is, bite the bullet, and get on with our lives. (Dylan’s Blog, 10/11/09)
Then there’s Eddie Izzard’s comedy routine in the movie “Dress to Kill” which says of this tough saying of Jesus–you just need a very, very powerful blender and a lot of patience to get a camel through the eye of a needle.” Sick, I know, but we can go to some pretty creative lengths to avoid the truth of this saying.
“When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” “When the disciples heard this, they were perplexed and astounded. ‘Then who can be saved?’” “For mortals,” Jesus said, “it is impossible. But not for God; for God all things are possible.”
The needs of the world, the complexity and magnitude of the world’s problems, and our ability to do anything about them can indeed be overwhelming. “Who then can be saved?” we might well ask, saved from the disasters all around us and before us. If we only look for one more thing to do, or many more things to do, it may well be impossible. But as mystic Andrew Harvey suggests, maybe the sheer enormity of the challenges around us will at last force us to let go of our frantic striving and to dive deeply into the Divine, for whom all things are possible. Then, and only then, from that source of Power and Love, might our work and efforts–indeed, our lives-- be so transformed that the new creation might be born.
That “letting go,” that “diving deep,” is not a small answer, because it’s certainly not a small question. It demands nothing short of our whole lives. But maybe that is in fact, what we deeply long for. Maybe we do sense that there is something more, maybe we too hunger for grace.
William Willimon, a bishop in the United Methodist Church, was at one time Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He tells this story --
“One night, in a college dormitory Bible study I presented this same story of Jesus and the rich man.... I then asked the gathered students, "What do you make of this story?"
"Had Jesus ever met this man before?" asked one of the students?
"Why do you ask?" I asked.
"Because Jesus seems to have lots of faith in him. He demands something risky, radical of him. I wonder if Jesus knew this man had a gift for risky, radical response. In my experience, a professor only demands the best from students that the professor thinks are the smartest, best students. I wonder what there was about this man that made Jesus have so much faith he could really be a disciple."
Wow. Didn't think about that.
Another student said thoughtfully, "I wish Jesus would ask something like this of me. My parents totally control my life just because they are paying all my bills. And I complain about them calling the shots, but I am so tied to all this stuff I don't think I could ever break free. But maybe Jesus thinks otherwise."
Well, I was astounded. What I had heard as severe, demanding BAD news, these students heard as gracious, GOOD news.” (Day 1.org, Oct. 11, 2009 )
Something not so different happened here in the Middle- and High-school class during the month of Ramadan. Our two Muslim exchange students were present and talked a bit about what it was like to fast for a month. Our Christian students were impressed and amazed. “Wow, I wish there were something like that in Christianity.” Bruce told them that indeed there was a tradition of fasting in Christianity. But, sadly, we rarely suggest a discipline like that as being helpful. We hear it as severe, demanding bad news, not as the gracious, good news it’s intended to be as part of a discipline that will give us the strength and courage to let go and follow Jesus.
“Who then can be saved?” “With God,” Jesus said, “all things are possible.” Now that is really really good news. Amen, & amen
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