Pentecost 20 B
Text: Mark 10:17-31
sermon by Rev. Robert Klonowski
Faith Lutheran Church, Homewood, IL
October 10, 2021
Many Possessions
The man went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Do you have many possessions?
The first thing we do when we hear this story of the rich young man is think: if Jesus is addressing this to the rich, then he’s not talking to me. You’ve probably seen the same surveys that I have; less than ½ of 1 percent of Americans will describe themselves as wealthy. I looked that up this week and then dove right down the click hole – how wealthy can you be in America and still consider yourself middle class? So my sermon research was conducted this week not in Bible commentaries but on the web site of the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Where I learned that the ½ of 1 percent figure translates to mean that most Americans who make more than $280,000 a year and who own more than 1.2 million dollars in investable assets believe that they are solidly … middle class.
But wait. We can laugh smugly about that, but before all you 99 percenters out there go beating up on the 1 percent, let’s move to think about income and wealth in global, world-wide terms. In what percent would you rank, were you to compare your income and wealth to that of the world population? Don’t know how to tell you this, so I just will: You have many possessions. The person who is rich, but doesn’t think so, is you. And also, the person whom Jesus is addressing with his teaching this morning; that would be you, too.
So Jesus is talking to you – and certainly to me! All the more reason that I want to be careful, precise, about what it is he’s saying here to this man with many possessions. You lack one thing, Jesus tells him. Go, sell what you have, give it all to the poor, and come, follow me. He doesn’t tell him to be marginally more generous in his charitable giving, which is one way we weasel away from this teaching. Nope; he says all of it. He doesn’t say it’s okay to be wealthy, as long as you’re not too attached or take too much of your value from the fact of your wealth. We weasel that way, too, but Jesus doesn’t tell this young man, “Oh, just hold your wealth lightly.” What he tells him is, to let it all go.
So how are we to understand this, we who have many possessions, and who have not given them all away to the poor?
The key, I think, is to remember that the ethic Jesus demands of this man is not universal. The Bible tells of quite a few wealthy followers of Jesus, who remained wealthy. Luke chapter 8 describes women, “Joanna the wife of Chuza, [who was] the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support [Jesus’ ministry] out of their own means.” Well, then, good thing they didn’t give all those means away.
Acts chapter 2 describes the early Christian community as a place where wealthy and poor were together, sharing their possessions. Good thing they had some possessions to share, I guess.
And do you remember the story of the very first Christian convert on European soil? Most of the action in the early Church takes place on the continent of Asia, of course, and Acts chapter 8 describes the first Christians in Africa, but it’s not until Acts chapter 16 that St. Paul and his crew make it to Europe, and there in the region of Macedonia they baptize Lydia and her whole household. We are told that Lydia was “a dealer in purple cloth;” purple was so expensive it was the color of nobility and imperial majesty, so that line is included in the Scripture to let us know she was a dealer in luxury goods, a businesswoman successful enough to be the head of that “whole household” we heard about. After the baptism she invites Paul and his wingman Silas and his Boswell St. Luke and all the other missionary preachers to come stay at her house. Must have been quite a big and beautiful and hospitable place. “And,” St. Luke writes helplessly in the book of Acts, “she prevailed upon us.” That’s the last line in the story, and I’ve always loved that. She invited us to her fabulous place; how could we possibly tell her no?
So we know the ethic is not universal; what Jesus tells this man is not for all the followers of Jesus. But it is Jesus’ demand of this guy. Why?
Well, the guy begins by trying to make it all about goodness, and Jesus has to remind him that only God is good. Then he tells Jesus he’s kept all the commandments all his life, and you can see Jesus rolling his eyes at that one. Yeah, sure, let’s step up and meet him: the very first human being who’s never, ever done a single thing wrong. The guy is still thinking it’s all about goodness, and now he’s thinking it’s all about his own goodness.
You and I would be ready to slap this arrogant, self-absorbed rich boy, but fortunately for him Jesus is God, and God alone is good, and so Jesus, looking on him, loved him. And it’s out of love that he tells him: you’ve got to get over yourself, and I’ll tell you how you can do it. Disconnect with all that self-justifying garbage of yours, how good you are, and how charitable you are, and how all that stuff you own shows how blessed you are. Disconnect there, and then get connected with the poor, with the people who know how blessed they are only because God, looking upon them, loves them. And come follow me, and get connected with the community of God. Jesus does not tell him to dump the stuff because wealth is bad. Jesus tells him to dump the stuff, because this guy thinks his wealth means he’s good enough on his own, he has no need for others, and he certainly has no need for the grace of God. It’s out of love that Jesus tells him, Let’s just make you into a more needy person, shall we?
The man goes away grieving. Well, of course he does: what’s the point of keeping all those commandments, what’s the point of working hard and earning all that stuff, if in the end you wind up depending only on the love and grace of God, just like everybody else? Who wants to live in a world like that one?
Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but you do. You do. You want to live in a world where you don’t have to justify yourself by how good you are, how charitable you are, how politically aligned with Jesus that you are, how blessed by God you have been. You want to live in a world in which you depend only on the love and grace of God.
This is the only person in the Gospels who is directly called by Jesus to come follow, who doesn’t. Take the lesson from the story of the rich young man, but be sure you take the right lesson. Did you ever hear what were the last words of Martin Luther, his deathbed witness? In the end, before God, “we’re all beggars.”
Yeah, it’s just true that you have many possessions. But never forget that in the end, before God, we’re all beggars.