14 October 2012
Mark 10:17-31
Who is
wealthy? There is so much talk today-- all seams aimed at dividing us-- the
99%, the 1%, the 47%. My friend, Bryan Sirchio, a UCC minister & musician
goes to Haiti regularly, to do what he can to help the poor, and gain some
perspective. He tells a story of how “the poor” helped him. He was working with
the Sisters of Charity in Port-au-Prince, doing whatever needed to be done,
which was on this particular day, cutting hair. Bryan was no barber but he had
been to one and knew that part of the job is the chatter. He got to talking
with this man from Port-au-Prince, about the rich and the poor, and Bryan asked
the man, “Do you think I’m rich?”
The man said, “I don’t know. How
many times a week do you eat?”
Bryan was sure he had heard wrong. Sensing his confusion the
man continued, “I mean, to you eat food every day? If you eat food every day,
you are rich.”
So I invite
you to approach this text not as one of the 99%, but as one who eats food every
day and therefore, is rich. Because it is too easy to approach this text in a
judgmental way, if we think it is not about us. It is about us.
Having
placed ourselves firmly in the story as the rich young person, I want us all to
consider this important detail: Jesus loved that rich young man. Not because he
was rich, not because he was “good” (No one is good but God alone). Jesus just
loved that rich young man. And Jesus loves you. All.
The rich
young man came and knelt at Jesus feet to ask “What must I do?” And Jesus
responded by reminding him of the commandments:
You shall
not murder;
You shall not commit adultery;
You shall not steal;
You shall not bear false witness;
You shall not defraud;
Honor your father and mother.
These are six of the Ten
Commandments. These make up the second tablet of the law, which Jesus,
elsewhere, summed up in one: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Perhaps Jesus was about to list the
four remaining commandments, when the man interrupted him and said, “I have
kept all these since my youth!”
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved
him and said: “You lack one thing: sell what you own, and give the money to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
You lack one thing. Even if we have
managed to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, keeping the whole second
tablet of the law, there is also the first tablet, the first four of Ten
Commandments:
You shall have no other gods.
You shall make no graven image
You shall not take God’s name in
vain.
Honor the Sabbath.
Elsewhere in the gospel, Jesus
summarized this tablet also: Love God, with all your heart and soul and mind
and strength.
Our relationship with wealth is one
of the greatest threats to our relationship with God, because it is the idol
most likely to replace God as the object of our love, the desire of our hearts,
the preoccupation of our mind, for which we spend our strength. The pursuit of
wealth threatens our souls.
So it is with love that Jesus challenged
the man to let go of his idol, and trust in God alone.
This is the season of the year when
the stewardship committee invites us all to make a commitment to give to the
church. We often think that we need to give because we owe the church our support.
As if it is an exchange for services rendered. That is one way to look at it, I
appreciate that, I sincerely do. But it doesn’t work for me. I give for a
different reason. I give because giving away the idol that most tempts me is a
way to profane that idol. I give away money to renounce the money’s claim on my
life.
The truth is, we all need to give,
because giving away that which threatens to displace God is itself and act of
faith, a spiritual discipline. We need to give just as much as we need to pray,
and study the scriptures, and worship and sing together. The act of giving is
itself a prayer and a song, an act of devotion.
Jesus calls to us all: come to me,
you weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for
my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Wealth might be one of those burdens.
The journey
is long, and the way is hard. It is best to leave the baggage behind. Our
relationship with wealth is hefty baggage. The rich young man knew that much--
or at least, he knew something wasn’t right. That’s why he knelt at Jesus feet,
taking the posture of one who begs for healing. Wealth was burden, Jesus said he
needed to lay it down.
May we to have the wisdom to kneel
down and allow Jesus to lift every burden, that we might take up the cross and
follow him on the journey.
