As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "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 a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
“No single element has tantalized and tormented the human imagination more than gold. For 1000’s of years the desire to possess gold has driven people to extremes, fueling wars and conquests, girding empires and currencies, leveling mountains and forests. Gold is not vital to human existence. It has few practical uses. Yet, gold is one of the world’s most coveted commodities, a transcendent symbol of wealth, beauty, and immortality. Historically, Pharaohs have called gold “flesh of the gods” and the Inca called it “sweat of the sun”. All this is from a recent article in National Geographic “The Price of Gold”. In India, people of all social classes work to hoard gold especially for wedding dowries. Large gold-mining companies are accused of strip-mining and wreaking havoc on fragile ecosystems in their relentless search for gold. The writer’s research of the global obsession with gold took him to a village at 17,000 feet in the Peruvian mountains. With the rising price of gold whole families cooperatively mine rocky terrain with primitive tools.
A man hunched over looking decades older than his forty years was quoted as saying, “I know the mines have taken years away. But, this is the only life I know”.
This is the only life I know. The old Peruvian prospector spent his life in pursuit of gold, was paying the ultimate price, and still appeared pretty much penniless. In contrast, the rich young man who comes to Jesus seems to have it all. He has gold. He is young. He is religious. Mark says while Jesus was on the way the rich young man rushed up to him and knelt down. In Jesus’ day this was considered unsuitable behavior for a man. A real man, especially a really rich man, did not run let alone kneel down in front of another. But, this rich young man is obviously searching for something, otherwise why would he go to Jesus. People who are satisfied and content do not seek Jesus. In asking, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” he admits that he needs something more than he already has in his life. Was he having a midlife crisis, depressed, or reassessing priorities? The rich young man seems to have an authentic desire and need to share completely in the life of God.
Prior to this in Mark, when someone approached Jesus they’re looking for physical healing. Here the guy seems to have it all. But, he is clearly looking for something.
Jesus recommends he keep the commandments. The young man pipes up that he has done all that. Then Jesus looks upon him with mercy and raises the bar again, “One thing you lack. God, sell everything you have and give to the poor.” This is the only place in the gospels where Jesus has a one-on-one, face-to-face, encounter with a would-be disciple and the candidate turns away. And the reason is money. Jesus calls all kinds of people in all kinds of conditions to all kinds of ministries. I don’t know if he earned his gold or inherited his gold, but the security of his wealth was the only life he might ever know. He didn’t walk away because he failed to believe that Jesus was Lord and Savior. He walked away because he had lots of stuff.
Bill McKibben reports that only 40% of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments. Only half of us can cite any of the authors of the Gospels. However, three quarters of us believe that the bible teaches “God helps those who help themselves”. No, that was Ben Franklin. In McKibben’s opinion there is irony that America is simultaneously, the most self-professed Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in behavior. He bases this not just on the survey results but also our lack of generosity. He claims the gospel of sacrifice and service has been replaced by seeing Jesus as a way of getting what we want from God. Being so immersed in our consumer culture we tend to be blind to our own need and unaware of our own spiritual poverty. For those of us in the affluent West, our greatest hindrance to following Jesus and sharing deeply is money. Jesus loves us as he did the rich young man. But, he has a problem with our commitment to money.
Jesus loves us so much that he won’t leave us in our search for meaning, our need for healing, and drowning in our self-absorption. Jesus goes all the way to the cross to get us back, descends all the way down to hell to round up the holdouts, and then raises us from the dead to finally and forever set us free. This is the good news that God is not content with our material contentment. We were created for more than accumulating creature comforts. Christ saves us because God has expectations for our lives that go way beyond living a good life or keeping the commandments.
The rich young man had apparently lived a good and upright life, but had not yet entered the kingdom of God where everlasting life is found. Jesus tells that he will move more deeply into life with God by letting go, by forever loosening his hold on what he owns. Despite the personal invite, the rich man walked away grieving.
Paul Wadell writes, “Sometimes we are most afraid of what we most need. It is one of the most perplexing mysteries of the human heart. The fullness of life is right in front of us and instead of embracing that life, we back away in fear. We exclude ourselves from the life we not only could have, but surely God wants us to have.”
Hebrews says, “For the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul & spirit, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing is hidden from God’s sight”.
The young man went away but not without hope. God often works in our discontent, adolescence or midlife or end of life. Midlife crisis is defined as a period of serious self-doubt as a result of sensing the passing of youth and imminence of old age. Such a crisis can be triggered by the death of parents, children leaving home, aging in general, or approaching fifty. I am the big 5-0 next April. Midlife is a time for reassessment and reflection for some. It may spur significant change. Characteristics include a search for an unknown dream, a sense of remorse for goals not accomplished, regret over work or marriage life, desire to feel youthful again, and withdrawing from social life.
Mid-life behaviors might be conspicuous consumption, depression, making a point of befriending younger people, or paying extra attention to physical appearance.
In the past month I have been alarmed at the responses friends and colleagues have had to midlife. One friend who married recently, he and his wife had their first baby days before his 50 birthday. Another friend has entered the candidacy process after raising a family. Midlife means it is time to be a pastor. A colleague was forced to resign after pastoral misconduct, I suspect there were midlife issues at work. Another friend who was very ready to marry, met a woman online and flew to the Ukraine to win her, woo her, and wed her. Unfortunately after he arrived it became apparent she would not be reciprocating his interest. Hard to compete with those creative responses. So this week I booked a trip to Africa and Rome in January.
Between Saint Paul and Martin Luther there was Saint Augustine. Before he had a conversion experience, he was anything but a saint. He was born in the 4th century to a very devout woman, Monica. Augustine’s mother alternated between praying and pressuring her son to convert. Perhaps to spite her, he was a big-time pagan and secular scholar. Augustine ran with a group of hooligans, in Latin “wreckers” who were notorious for sexual exploits. During these heathen years he denounced the Christian faith and excelled as a secular teacher. Then he had his own spiritual crisis. He quit teaching, abandoned plans to marry, and devoted himself to God. In his writings he recalls praying desperately when a childlike voice spoke, “Take up and read. Take up and read”. Who knows if it was his mother’s prayers or pressure or the Spirit or a midlife crisis. Probably all of the above. Augustine is one of our vital parents in the faith. After taking up to read Romans, “No further would I read- nor would I need to. For instantly at the end of Paul’s sentence, my life changed. As if serenity was infused into my heart. The darkness of doubt vanished away.”
When we come to worship we never walk away empty-handed. In this place with this people with this Word, God speaks to us. Whoever you are. Wherever you are in life; midlife, end of life, start of life. Whatever you have or don’t have or would like to have. Jesus comes to us and for us. Who knows what happened to that rich young man? Did he liquidate all his possessions, donate it to the local food bank, and decided to follow after all. Look at Augustine who was too pagan. Look at Luther who was too guilty. Look at Paul who was too righteous. Look at Jonette who too parental. Jonette’s entrance essay, “As my children moved into high school, I experienced spiritual malaise. I felt thankful that I had experienced a strong sense of purpose in my role as a mother, but worried that other work may not come along that carried as strong a sense of purpose. Even so, I believed that God had work for me yet to do.” Disciples ask, “Who can be saved?” Jesus declares, “For mortals it’s impossible, not for God; for God all things are possible. This is WHO we worship.
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