Created to Follow Jesus—Psa.90: 12-17; Mark 10: 17-31
During law school, a professor said to us, “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” My good friend, who was not rich, but also didn’t have to eat ramen with frozen vegetables to get by, replied, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it’s a lot better to cry in a new Mercedes Benz than in a broken-down Geo Metro.” Today’s Gospel lesson shows us a man given a choice between what he has and what Jesus can offer, if he’s willing to give up with earthly goods to follow Jesus. There are three lessons for us from this scripture: first, following Jesus can be difficult; second, we must be willing to give up what we have and not hold back; and finally, there is a great return on the investment of following Jesus.
So, first we see in the Gospel that following Jesus can be difficult. A man came to Jesus asking how to inherit eternal life—the same as Jesus was describing in his teachings. Jesus advises him to follow the Ten Commandments, living justly and ethically throughout his life. The man tells Jesus that he has done this since he was very young. He has kept the commandments and lived well. He wanted to be a part of Jesus’s work, but there was one thing holding him back. He couldn’t give up his power and wealth in this world to invest in God’s kingdom.
He leaves sad when he is told that he has to give up his earthly treasure and influence to follow Jesus. Then Jesus says another one of his challenging, difficult teachings: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” He follows this up by saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. A little context is needed to know why this is so shocking. In Jesus’s day, it was believed that wealth and power meant you were closer to God. The more you had, the higher your status would be…minus the tax collectors and cheats. If you were born with money or rightfully earned it, this gave you power and prestige in social and religious circles. It gave a person influence in the community.
To ask the man to give up his goods and influence would have robbed him of everything he had built and worked for on this earth. It was a sacrifice he was not ready for and did not expect to have to make. He assumed his wealth and power would be of great use to Jesus. But Jesus was looking for followers not wealthy investors. Jesus called on him to give up his point of pride and follow Jesus instead. It’s much like our current climate. We live in a world that is saturated with demand for pleasure and instant gratification. Jesus’s call is to sacrifice this sense of comfort and pleasure to seek the Kingdom of God. Following Jesus is difficult because Jesus often asks us to sacrifice, to assume some inconvenience, or to give of ourselves in some way. In our society, that can be hard.
But secondly, what Jesus is asking is for his willingness to give up and not hold back. Too often the focus on this parable is the single fact that the man was rich. Many attribute the wrongdoing here to the man having wealth. That’s not the case. It is not a sin to have money. The Bible says that the LOVE of money is the root of evil. When it came time for the man to choose whether Jesus or his wealth and power were more important, he chose the latter.
The problem for him was more about the divided mind he lived with. As much as he wanted to follow Jesus, to be a disciple, he was never going to choose Jesus over his wealth and influence. This kind of status brings obligations, social necessities, expectations which can often conflict with the Kingdom of God. And it was apparent that this man, who loved Jesus, and who was loved by Jesus, would not be able to choose the right thing. That’s why in the preceding scripture, Jesus tells them to have the faith of a child. A child has nothing, lives simply, and only relies on what blessings are given. There’s nothing we really bring to influence God. We simply trust and choose to follow.
Two examples mentioned in the commentaries were St. Francis and Mother Theresa. Both of them sacrificed everything they had to follow the call to serve the Kingdom of God. Just as Peter said to Jesus, “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” we must be willing to devote ourselves to following Jesus instead of holding on to everything. You may have tremendous blessings in life, but you have to remember you follow the gift-giver and not the blessing itself.
Having good things is not sinful. But hoarding up money, desiring (or even lusting) for power and influence, worshipping and clinging to all the worldly things you can get your hands on…how does that mirror Jesus? It’s not a question of what you have. It’s a question of the heart. How can someone who’s first and only love is great, pleasure, and worldly satisfaction understand “blessed are the poor,” from Luke’s Gospel? We must be willing to choose the Kingdom of God and give up what things we have in this world.
Lastly, the promise is a great return on this investment in God’s kingdom. After Peter has noted that they have given up everything to follow Jesus, he hears Jesus’s reply that for every sacrifice, they will receive a hundred times over the blessings. There will be persecution, but the blessings here or eternal will be worth the sacrifice. The Psalm uses the words, “Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.” Whatever we give up for the Kingdom of God, the love of God is worth it.
The work of the kingdom is powerful because in the world we are taught to run from evil, to avoid suffering, to get away from things that are uncomfortable, painful, or difficult. But the follower of Christ marches straight into the middle of the struggle to try and help. Our calling is to bring faith AND hope to this world. We do that by following Jesus. Jesus never shied away from the struggles of life—he healed, loved, offered grace and mercy. Our calling is to be like Jesus, as hard as that may be sometimes.
Not every endeavor is a success. Many years ago, when I was relatively new here, a member came to me and asked me to help her grandchild. He was a good kid who wrestled with addiction issues. At the time we talked, he was finishing up a stint in jail for testing positive for whatever was his drug of choice. I began writing letters to him and corresponding till he was released. We worked here at the church to give him things to do, keep him occupied, and find an outpatient support group for him to join. It seemed like his life was getting back on track. No more drugs, no more bad behaviors, no more gang affiliation.
But one night he was in his female friend’s car. And the police tried to pull him over. Old habits kicked in and he sped away. He ended up crashing while speeding and succumbing to his injuries. It would have been easy to focus on what he did wrong, his short, wayward life, or any of the sins he had committed. They were most certainly numerous. And the other preacher at the funeral had a field day bringing up those wrongs. However, I had letters. I had letters where he wrote, “It’s a lot I want to know, and I’m truly trying to turn my life over to God. It’s not the life I want to live. I just want the proper guidance in my life with the Lord and the people I’m around.” Or where he wrote this, “Pastor Will, I’m so very determined to do everything in my power to live up to God’s calling in my life.”
He may have lost his life. We may not have been able to save him from all the troubles he lived with, but I know this day he loved God and followed Jesus even if he didn’t get it right. His heart and soul sought Christ, his mind simply kept letting him down. Following Jesus is a hard task. It calls us to make a choice between all that we have in this world and the Kingdom of God. We may not get it right all the time, but at the end of the day the question that measures our life is this: whom do we choose to follow? Amen.
Worship Video
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