What Must I Do?

This is my sermon text for October 14, 2018. The text for my message was from the Gospel of St. Mark, Mark 10:17-31. Parts are taken and/or adapted from a previous sermon on this text. +  pBRC

May God’s Grace through the Good News of Jesus Christ be at the center of your lives forever.  AMEN.

Sometimes a lesson, or a verse from a lesson, hits a little too close to home and makes it hard to focus on the whole lesson.

I’ve been here in Oklahoma City for almost six months now, and the lease in my apartment is up, and I’m waiting to hear from a couple of property management firms early this week about moving into a new place.

So the line from today’s Gospel lesson, “he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions,” (Mark 10.22) is personal, because I need to relocate my many possessions, and will need some help in so doing.

While I do have a lot of stuff, it isn’t a much as I had six and a half months ago. I got rid of, and left behind a lot of stuff in Wisconsin. One of the churches that I served has a Free Garage Sale so people can donate items they aren’t using to people who can use them. Given the place I hope to move into, there are one or two things I wish I had brought with me, but they are items of comfort not necessity. As we talked about in our Small Catechism discussion this week, they are wants and not needs.

Ultimately, that’s where I think we all get hung up, not being able to, or not making ourselves differentiate between what we need and what we want. Given the weather this past week, I WANTED to get all of my sweatshirts out of storage. However, the half dozen of them that I have in my apartment are enough to meet my NEEDS to stay warm.

I WANT to have more choices. I NEED to stay warm. I can do that by wearing the same sweater or sweatshirt twice, as long as it is clean.

But we want control.

That is ultimately why this man who had many possessions went away sad. Jesus told him to give up control.

The man asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10.17) Jesus responds by asking him to verify his identity. If you are going to inherit something, you have to have some connection to the one with the estate you wish to receive a portion of. So Jesus challenges him with the Law, with following the Commandments.

When the man says that he has obeyed them since he was young. Then Jesus asks him to prove his faith. ‘Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."’ (Mark 10.21)

This upset the man, who went away in grief, and shocked Jesus’ disciples.

In Jesus’ time, they thought anyone who was rich or wealthy or who had a lot of money or a lot of stuff, that person must be blessed by God. They believed that having a lot of things meant God really loved you. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10.25) The people Jesus was talking to were confused because if someone who they thought was blessed by God wouldn’t be able to get into heaven, then no one could.

They said, “Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them & said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” (Mark 10.27) That is the point of the lesson. Everything is possible for God, and we should trust God for everything. On our own, we can’t do important things; we can only do with God’s help and through God’s almighty power.

The young man didn’t realize he answered his own question, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

To inherit something, someone must die. Someone must give up their lives. For us to inherit eternal life, (to quote from John’s Gospel) God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3.16-17)

Jesus calls on those who would follow him to TRULY follow in his footsteps, laying down their current life to go and serve others. Don’t worry about what is to come, but trust in God.

Jesus knows what is coming for him. In the three verses that we skip between the end of today’s lesson and the beginning of next week’s lesson, Jesus tell his followers for the third time that he will be killed when they reach Jerusalem. This passion prediction is the most detailed.

But he goes to Jerusalem any way because his entire faith is in God.

The man who had many possessions went away grieving because Jesus asked him to move where his faith was located.

The man’s faith was in his possessions.

The man’s faith was in what his possessions could do.

The man’s faith was in how he obtained his many possessions.

The man’s faith was in himself.

The man thought that his needs were what he wanted.

The man’s identity was wrapped up in what he had. What he had determined who he was.

I think it is that way for man of us. We are what we have. We are what we do to earn a living.

Jesus challenges us, as he challenged this man, be who you have faith in; be who you PUT your total faith in.

We have to move our faith from WANTING to believe that Jesus died on the cross so that we will inherit eternal life to NEEDING that to be true because we have no where else to go. We have to let go of WANTING to earn God’s love and learn to rely that we NEED God’s love because we are all alone and for us things are impossible.

Fortunately, for God, all things are possible. And God wants us to realize that we need to put our trust in God. AMEN.