Text: Mark 10:17-22
Our text today is the Gospel lesson from Mark 10, where a
rich man asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?” Jesus' reply surprises us. We would expect him to say, “Trust in me as
your Savior. I will soon be going to the
cross to pay for your sins, and three days later rise to life again.” Instead, he says, “Keep the
commandments.” But Jesus only says this
to make the man recognize that his wealth and possessions were keeping him from
having eternal life.
You might be saying to yourself right now, “Well, that's
not a problem for me. I'm not a rich
man.” But you and I are more like that
rich man than you might think. Our
wealth and possessions, however great or small they are, often get in the way
of our relationship with God. Our
offerings are meager. Our minds are
preoccupied with taking care of our things or getting more things. Our possessions have such a hold on us...and
we have such a hold on them...that we have a hard time putting Christ first in
our life. We have a hard time when it
comes to being faithful stewards of the earthly treasures that God has given
us.
Our
possessions have a hold on us
The rich man in the text may very well have been a pretty
good guy. He was probably an upstanding
citizen. He went about his life not
bothering anyone. Everyday on his way to
the office, he kissed his wife and kids goodbye at the door. He honored his father and mother even in
their old age by listening to their advice and taking care of their needs. He was a good and honest businessman, never
stealing or defrauding anyone. He really
thought that he had kept the commandments as Jesus had told him. And most of us probably consider ourselves
good people, too. We are “churchgoing
folk,” after all.
But before Jesus answers the man's question about how to
inherit eternal life, Jesus asks him a question. The man had called him, “Good teacher.” Jesus asks, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Now, we know that Jesus is God, so he is
truly THE Good Teacher...capital G, capital T.
But the rich man in our text didn't know that Jesus was God. So Jesus says in effect, “Hey, as far as
you're concerned, I'm just a man. So why
are you calling me 'good.' No one is good except God alone.” Jesus seems to be setting the man up so that
he would look at himself and recognize that he is not good. He is a sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus could have quoted Psalm 14, like St.
Paul did in Romans 3. It says, “None is
righteous, no, not one; no one
understands; no one seeks for God...no one does good, not even one.”
However, the rich man doesn't recognize his problem. He says, “Teacher, all these commandments I
have kept from my youth.” But notice
what commandments Jesus mentions. He
quotes from the Second Table of the Law...those commandments that have to do
with our relationship with our neighbor.
Jesus seems to purposely leave out the First Table of the Law, the first
three commandments...those that deal with our relationship to God. This was where the man's problem really
lay. Although outwardly he was a good
person, he really had another god, and that god was his possessions, his
wealth, his material goods.
The question was “What must I do to inherit eternal
life?” Jesus' answer: “Keep the commandments.” We all know this is impossible, because you
and I know that we have a sinful nature that cannot keep God's commandments. But for the sake of argument, let's say that
the man really had kept the commandments as he thought. Jesus points out to the man that unless he
releases his grasp of his possessions...unless he gets out from under the hold
that they have on him...unless he gets rid of his false god...then he cannot
inherit eternal life. “You lack one
thing,” Jesus told him. “Go, sell all
that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and
come, follow me.”
You and I have varying degrees of wealth. Some of us live paycheck to paycheck. Some of us rely on a meager pension and
Social Security checks. Some of us live
quite comfortably in large, nicely decorated homes. Some of us have nice homes and nice cars, but
we are in debt up to our eyeballs. But
whatever our financial status is, we are all like the rich man in our
text. Our possessions are our gods. And the litmus test for this is found in our
reaction to Jesus' words. How do you
feel when Jesus says directly to you, “Go, sell all that you have and give to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”? Can you do it? Are you yourself willing to get rid of
everything that you have, give it to those who have less than you, and live out
on the street in order to inherit eternal life?
I'm afraid not. Our possessions
have a hold on us that we cannot break.
Jesus
has taken hold of us
But the Son of God “sold” all he had when he left his high
position in heaven and became a man in order to die for the sins of the
world. And now, he gives life and
salvation to us poor sinners so that we would have treasure in heaven. He has taken hold of you in the waters of
Holy Baptism. You belong to him. You are marked with his name.
You see, the man in today's text was asking the wrong question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is
a foolish question, because you can't inherit eternal life. After all, what is an inheritance? Is it something you earn? Do you have to do something in order to get
your inheritance? No, it's something you
get because of whose you are...who you belong to...who you are related
to...it's a gift. And usually,
before you get your inheritance, someone has to die first. And that's exactly what the Son of God did
for you. He died bearing our sins in his
body on the cross, Through Christ's death, we are redeemed from the sinful
grasp that our possessions have over us and the hold that we have on them. We are brought back into the family of the
Father in the waters of Baptism. And now
we have an inheritance in heaven that can never spoil or fade. 1 Peter 1:3-5 says that our God and Father
“has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled,
and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded
through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
And through God's power working in Word and Sacrament, we
can release our grasp on our wealth and possessions and see them rightly as
gifts God has given us to use in the service of our neighbor. We don't have to sell them and live on the
street. We get to be stewards of what
God has given us, while all the while looking forward to our inheritance in
heaven. All that we have is only
borrowed for a time. Our first fruits we
give to God before we do anything else...giving a portion of our earnings off
the top as an act of worship and trust.
And then we take the rest and prayerfully use it in love for those who
need our care and concern.
In closing, I'd like to point out one small part of this
account that might get overlooked. It's
my favorite part. It's where Jesus
looked at the man and loved him. He
didn't look at him with disdain or contempt.
He didn't look at him and say, “You silly little man, thinking you can
somehow keep the commandments. I can't
stand people like you.” There was none
of that. Even in the face of the man's
sinful response and the fact that he walked away disheartened and sorrowful,
Jesus looked at him with love.
That's how Jesus looks at you. With love.
He knows what things are lacking in our lives...he sees the way you and
I have fallen short of the glory of God...yet his heart still goes out to
us. He looks at you and he loves
you. Having heard God's Word today,
don't walk away like the man in our text, disheartened and sorrowful. Come to Jesus in repentant trust, and follow
him. He is our “priceless treasure” now...he
will be our treasure in heaven. And with
that treasure, and with his eye of love upon us, we can look at others with the
love and compassion of Jesus and share our earthly treasures with them...while
pointing them to the true treasure of Jesus.
Hence,
all earthly treasure! Jesus is my
pleasure, Jesus is my choice.
Hence, all
empty glory! Naught to me thy story Told
with tempting voice.
Pain or
loss, Or shame or cross, Shall not from my Savior move me
Since
he deigns to love me. (LSB 743)
Amen.
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