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+In the Name…
“And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God’” (St. Mark 10:23).
We have a very beautiful story before us today in the passage from the Gospel according to Mark, a story that is told also by St. Matthew and St. Luke in their Gospels.
It is a story in which the heart of Jesus is touched, and where the heart of the young man he spoke to you was broken. The heart of Jesus was touched by the young man’s question, which was indicative of a spiritual quest. His heart was touched by the young man’s obedience to the Law of Moses, which Jesus came to uphold. His heart was touched by the young man’s genuineness. Jesus was and is always pleased when He beholds spiritual hunger which always and rightly includes spiritual questions; when He beholds lives that are striving to be obedient as He was to the Father; and when He beholds genuineness of heart, transparency, and openness. May we with the help of God never forget this.
Before our Lord answered the young ruler’s question, “…what must I do to inherit eternal life,” He took issue with how the young man addresses Him as “Good teacher,” which more accurately should be translated as “Holy” or “Divine” teacher.
Jesus constantly deflected anything that would take anything away from God (even though He was the Incarnate Son of God), and so He questioned why the young ruler addressed Him as He did. Was this young man elevating Jesus too highly, or did the young man sense the truth of what Jesus would say to Phillip at another time, “When you see me, you see the Father”? It seems more that Jesus sensed what the fourth century biblical exegete and hymn writer Ephrem of Syria states: “The rich man called Jesus ‘good,’ as if he were offering him a favor, just as some favor others with honorary titles. The Lord fled from that by which people favored him; so that he might show that he had received this goodness from the Father through nature and generation, and not merely in name.”
After this question to the young ruler, Jesus puts before the young man a generous sampling of the Ten Commandments, by which He is asking the young man if he is rooted in knowing and keeping such Commandments.
The young man responds, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus knows that truth has been spoken, but sees that the young man needs to do more for God and for himself; that even with such religious conviction and observance, our Lord knows that the young man is not free, that he is spiritually restricted, that he needs to take a very big step to gain what he desires, and that the big step for the young man to gain required a complete inner detachment from worldly things and a willingness at any moment (and at this particular moment for the young man) to sacrifice his wealth, or anything else that may be required.
We’re told that “Jesus looking upon loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’”
Only one thing did the young man lack to be where he could and should be, and Jesus named it. His riches possessed him, and Jesus knew that only in giving them up and away could the young man be free to claim what he said he desired. He couldn’t worship both God and mammon. He couldn’t live with divided loyalties. As Our Lord states in Matthew 6:24: “No can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Jesus hoped that His divine calling and loving invitation extended to the young man to “Follow me” would enable him to do what he needed to do, as costly as it was. He hoped that he could detach and deprive himself (to dispossess himself) of the resources on which he had come to rely on for status, security, and enjoyment in life. But we see that he couldn’t.
Please listen again. “And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.”
Seeing the young man’s countenance and watching him go away “sorrowful,” Jesus said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
In his sermon on this Gospel story and teaching, St. Augustine preached, “Such, O my soul, are the miseries that attend on riches. They are gained with toil and kept with fear. They are enjoyed in danger and lost with grief. It is hard to be saved if we have them; and impossible if we love them; and scarcely can we have them, but we shall love them inordinately. Teach us, O Lord, this difficult lesson: to manage conscientiously the goods we possess, and not covetously desire more than you give to us” (Sermon 133).
St. Paul writes in his first letter to Timothy, “For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs” (6:10). But then he goes on to write, “As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed” (6:17-19).
Jesus calls some to completely and entirely give up and give away all material possessions for the sake of the Kingdom. For most people, it is the call to have one’s life properly understood and ordered in light of Jesus as Lord, which means that the essence of Christian faith and discipleship is to put all one’s trust in God, and to rely on Him as the source of security and well-being.
We take hold of life which is life indeed, which is Jesus and encumbered discipleship for Him when we, by grace, are good stewards of the those things of which God “richly furnishes us” – the time, talent, and treasure that He gave and gives us, and when, by grace, we dispossess ourselves of anything that possess us - be it material riches or sinful, hurtful, and unproductive attitudes and behaviors such as those named and categorized by St. Paul as the works of the flesh: “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like” (Galatians 6:19-21a) because as He states in the Name of Jesus, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (6:21b).
Our task is to engage in humble and honest reflection and self-examination – not for thirty seconds, but for a time adequate to shut out the world and to think of where we stand and how we’re doing in the presence of Jesus who invites us with the words, “Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden (which we all are!), and I will refresh you” (Matthew 11:28).
Jesus never minces His words – Praise God! Words of clear teaching, serious warning, and words of gracious and O so merciful comfort are ours for the partaking – for our good, for the good of others, and for the glory of God!
What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry Ev’rything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry Ev’rything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged: Take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our ev’ry weakness – Take it to the Lord in prayer!
Are we weak and heavy laden, Cumbered with a load of cares?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge – Take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do they friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.
+In the Name…
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