Sermon: What’s In Your Heart? Part 4
March 1st, 2020 Rev. Betsy Perkins
First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
Scripture passage: Mark 10:17-31
There is an old riddle about the rich and the poor that goes, “What does a rich person lack, that a poor person has in abundance?” Any guesses? The answer is “Nothing.”
Yet for this rich young man in our story today, he does feel a lack. He feels this lack so acutely that he’s running to find Jesus. In fact that’s all we know about this man initially, simply this picture of his desperation – running, kneeling at Jesus’ feet. It’s only later Mark tells us he is rich. And it’s only from Matthew and Luke that we learn he is young, and that he is a ruler, with a position of leadership or power.
And what is it that he desperately wants? It is eternal life – a life with God in the age to come, when God will at last be ruling over the whole world, a life with God on the other side of death. It’s something all his riches cannot purchase and his power cannot demand, for it must be given. He asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The rich young leader recognizes that eternal life is inherited – which means he must become an heir, a child of the One who possesses eternal life.
Jesus has already spoken about what it takes to be a child of God, and therefore included in the inheritance. In Mark 3, when Jesus’ family comes looking to take charge of him, Jesus tells all those around him, listening to his teaching and following him. He says this: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” He gestures to those around him and adds, “Here are my mother and my brothers!” Those followers, those learning to be obedient to God’s will and ways, they are the ones who will stand to inherit that which Jesus will inherit.
Over these many centuries, you can be sure that’s going to be one big family! A devotional reading emailed to me this week was titled, “Wings”. It was based on Psalm 91:4, which reads, “God will cover you with his feathers, and under her wings you will find refuge.” Quinn Caldwell, a preacher and homesteader in upstate New York, asks: How much room is there under a God-wing? Enough for me, says the psalmist. That’s nice. Enough for you, too, presumably. I guess that’s also nice, but then I’m like, wait, does that mean everybody gets to come in? There are definitely some people I think don’t deserve to be in here with us. And again, just how much room is there under these feathers? Because there’s this one kid from high school I do NOT want to find myself smashed up against in some smelly wingpit, no matter how divine it is. Also, I hope we’re gonna get to choose which wing. I don’t want to spend my salvation with a bunch of right-wingers, and maybe not those left-wingers either. And does everybody get, like, a locker or something? I have a ton of stuff, and you know how people are and I’m afraid they’ll mess with it if I can’t lock it up.
Being a part of God’s family is not just about our relationship with God, with Jesus. It’s also about our relationship with one another, our brothers and sisters in Christ. I think that is why when the young man asks for eternal life, Jesus questions him, not on the first part of the 10 commandments that guide his behavior toward God, but rather Jesus asks about the rest of the commands which guide his behavior toward people around him. Jesus lists them: “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.” Jesus actually changed one of them up – the commandment that says, “You must not covet.” Instead he says, “You must not cheat anyone.” Maybe because being jealous of other people’s stuff is what leads a person to cheat, to get what is not rightfully theirs.
In any case, the young man is clearly a good community member. He has kept all these commandments and Jesus doesn’t push back on his claim. Instead, Jesus tells him that he ‘lacks one thing’ and then directs him to give everything he has to the poor. Notice he not told to just get rid of all his stuff, but sell it in order to give to the poor (not to the church, mind you, to the poor!). “Implied in that is the importance of sharing in the hardships and needs of one’s fellow human beings that is a requirement of life in the kingdom.”(David Lose, workingpreacher.org)
It is this requirement of life in God’s kingdom that undergirds our participation in various offerings, like the America For Christ offering that we are collecting this month. The theme of it, and the point behind it, is to love our neighbors as ourselves. The America For Christ offering allows us to be a part of providing for the poor, supporting programs that assist the needy. We’ve set our church goal for this offering at $500. That’s a very reasonable, achievable goal compared to what Jesus sets as the goal for the rich young man – all your possessions, everything you have. That seems pretty extreme! (The Back Pew cartoon)
Jesus’ request is drastic! But look for a moment at how Mark introduces this story: “As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem…” As Jesus is starting out on his way to the cross! So while Jesus’ demand of the man may seem extreme, it is certainly no less that the demand he places on himself, not just giving his wealth, his stuff, but his very life for the world, including this rich man.
What then stands in the way of this man becoming a disciple and following Jesus? It’s his sadness. Mark tells us he went away grieving. His grief reveals the heart of the problem, that he is emotionally invested in his stuff, in his wealth and privilege. His grief may also reveal his fear of being without, of being dependant. Wealth is deceptive, making us believe we can be self-sufficient, with no need for others or for God.
It’s not just wealth and belongings that can deceive us into thinking we don’t really need God. There are a whole host of things that can compete for that place of highest importance in our hearts. For this young man it was his many belongings, but can you think of other things that might push God out as the top priority in a person’s life?
I don’t want to simplify church life to being equal with God, but I did have a surprising realization about priorities when our Congregational Meeting in December happened to fall on a Sunday with a noon Packer’s game. Some faced what was clearly a very difficult decision of whether to stay and take part in the work of the congregation, or go settle in front of a television before the kick-off. As it turned out, we just squeaked by with enough people for the required quorum, but the pressure to rush, to give approvals and get out of here, was palpable. Sports and other forms of entertainment can compete for our attention with the call to follow Jesus. For you, it might be America’s Got Talent. It doesn’t matter if the neighbor’s house burns down, you are not going to miss your show!
All sorts of things can get in the way of our relationship with God and our relationship others. How about politics? Do you hold a particular political position and opinion that is dear to you? You know you are right and all those who hold to another opinion are wrong. In fact, not just wrong, but stupid and foolish and dangerous. Does your pride keep you from loving that neighbor with the wrong political poster on her lawn?
Maybe what consumes your thoughts and energy is rehearsing all the ways that people have wronged you throughout your life, starting with your parents, the bully in 2nd grade, your sister, your kids, your ex. You nurse those grudges, collect them like rocks in a basket, and say to God “I will not give this one up; I will not forgive this wrong.” Or maybe what fills your basket is concern over what others may think about you. Every action, every word measured by whether it will make someone else unhappy, or not like you anymore, or think less of you.
Perhaps it’s certain fears and worries that you collect and cherish. You know the Bible says again and again “Do not be afraid”, but the angels must not have known how scary life was going to be in the 21st century. You hear Jesus inviting you to lay down your fears, but you walk away sad because you just can’t let them go. Your fears wrap around you and insulate you in some odd way.
So how does the story of the rich young leader end? What happens after he walks away? What does he decide to do? Mark seems to deliberately leave that unanswered, just as Jesus often leaves us hanging at the end of a parable story. It is left for us to wonder. It is left as an invitation for us to enter into the story ourselves and create the ending.
I want to invite you now to pick up that rock you got when you came into worship. Allow the rock to represent whatever it might be that you are holding onto that is taking your time and attention away from God and away from a discipleship journey with Jesus – whether it’s belongings or distractions, grudges or fears, the need for approval, or a relationship, or life demands. What is it that pushes God out of the place of priority in your life? What is it preventing you from joining Jesus on his way to the cross? If you can’t think of a particular thing, let the rock represent your life as a whole.
In a few moments I will invite you to let go of that rock, to lay it down on the sanctuary floor in an act of worship, of letting go of whatever stuff is getting in the way of your relationship with God and with others. Jesus assured his disciples that what God offers in exchange is more valuable than all the riches, all the relationships, all the cares of this world. By giving these things over to God, there will be great rewards as wells as great hardships.
It may be that know what your rock is, that stands between you and God, but are not ready to lay it down. In that case, I will invite you to slip it in your pocket and keep praying that God will work in your heart, to allow you to trust God and surrender that part of your life to him. Perhaps on another Sunday here or in some other church or out in the big, wide world of God’s sanctuary of creation, you will feel ready to lay that rock down or place that rock into the offering plate. Just know this: Jesus looks on you and genuinely loves you. God loves you regardless!
Quinn Caldwell ends his devotion about life under God’s wings by saying this: Actually, you know what? Could I maybe just have my own nest next door? A ways away, but within shouting distance if I need help? That would work better for me. Because now that I think about it, God seems to love a lot of people I don’t, and doesn’t love a lot of the stuff I do. I feel like God’s going to insist on having the former and not the latter there with me under that wing, and I’m not really into that. So, what do you say, God? My own salvation-adjacent nest?…Hello?…God?
Would you join me in the prayer Pastor Quinn then offers: God, I’d really like to bring my prejudices and my items with me into your shelter, please. If that’s just not going to work, then help me let them go. Amen.
Communion Song: “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” # 472 OR “I Surrender All” # 579, vs. 1, 4
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