Pentecost 19, Year B
October 15, 2006
Mark 10:17-27

Herman Rednick was my first spiritual mentor and teacher. He grew up in Philadelphia, the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. As a young man, he attended art school where he won prizes in figure drawing and painting. As Herman worked to establish himself in the art world, he became interested in meditation and in the teachings of Christ in the New Testament. Somewhat later, he traveled to India, to study with a religious teacher.

Herman’s commitment to the spiritual life grew strong. He wondered if he was being called to give up his practice of art in order to devote all his life to Christ. Herman’s teacher advised him to go away and meditate on this question: Would he be willing to give up his art in order to follow Christ? When Herman returned, he said yes, he would be willing to give up his art to follow Christ. “Well”, replied the teacher, “then you will not have to.”

But sometimes the conversation goes differently. Sometimes, we do have to give up something precious to us. Another man became interested in the teachings of Jesus, so much so that he sought him out and asked him a similar burning question: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Now, this was not the usual form of address by a student speaking to a Rabbi, which is reflected in Jesus’ reply; “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” This teaching, Jesus knew, would have been known to anyone familiar with Hebrew scripture. What, then, are we to make of this departure from custom? Maybe Mark wants us to understand that this man is unusually perceptive, that he senses the presence of the Holy One of Israel in the person of Jesus.

If so, then suddenly, the conversation moves to a higher level. The man knows he’s not talking to just any old garden variety Rabbi, but to someone who speaks with the authority of God. And Jesus knows that this man, unlike many in the crowd, is not merely curious. His desire for God is genuine. Both of them know that the answer to the question “what must I do?” and this man’s response to it, will determine whether eternal life will be his or not. The stakes in this encounter are high.

You know the rest. They review the fundamentals of Judaism and determine that the man has kept the Law of Moses all his life. But look what happens next; “Looking at him, Jesus loved him.” The Greek word used here is a form of agapē, a love modeled after God’s love; totally committed, uncondi-tional and sacrificial. Mark is saying that Jesus saw into this man's heart, into the core of his being and knew everything there was to know. And knowing all this, Jesus was filled with compassion because he saw what the man had not disclosed; that “he had many possessions” and, more importantly, that his soul was weighed down with the burden of those possessions. Jesus saw that material things had too great a hold on this man’s spirit, preventing him from receiving the eternal life he longed for.

That’s why Jesus said, “You lack one thing”. He was saying, “You have the wisdom to know your need of God, the spiritual tradition that leads to righteousness and the personal devotion that has brought you to me. You lack only one thing; the inner freedom to step away from all that gives you security and identity, and return my love, totally committed, unconditional and sacrificial. That is what it means to have eternal life…to trust completely in the One who is eternal and so to become one with that One.

So, if you really want to inherit eternal life, here’s what you need to do: Go, sell what you own…give the money to the poor…you won’t need it anymore because in the act of letting go of it, you will find far greater spiritual treasure, real security and true identity as you learn to follow me.”

It is worth noting that the unconditional love that Jesus has for this man (and calls him to return) is inseparable from his love for God. The Bible teaches that we cannot truly love our neighbor apart from our love of God. And we can only truly love God if we are willing to forsake all other gods, including and especially the god known as Mammon. In other words, if this man is to find the inner freedom to love as Jesus loves, then he must break the stranglehold that his great wealth has on his soul.

This is why, when he hears what he must do to inherit eternal life, this rich man is (in Mark’s words) “shocked”. For one thing, it was commonly believed, as many believe today, that wealth was a sign of God’s favor. This explains why the disciples are “astonished” when Jesus later declares, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" This Good Rabbi, this man of divine authority, has challenged the rich man’s fundamental assumption about himself, striking at the core of his being. He sees an awful truth for the first time. He sees how great is his bondage to Mammon, and he understands immediately that he is far from ready to claim his greater inheritance, the treasure of eternal life. And this is why he “went away grieving”…not sobered, not regretful…but grieving, for his cherished image of himself as a spiritual man had just died.

Please note: This is not an absolute teaching to be universally applied to all persons who happen to be wealthy. Pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life, is not that rich man before Jesus. Rick Warren “gets” that love of God means refusing to serve Mammon. That’s why he has used his book royalties to pay back every penny he has ever received in salary for his ministry, and why he gives away 90% of his income to the work of the Gospel. As Jesus says, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God, all things are possible.” Rick Warren is free from Mammon by God’s grace.

This is a teaching about what enslaves us, what inhibits the divinely given impulse to become who we are meant to be. It’s about finding the inner freedom not to be so defined by career or possessions or a romantic sense of poverty or addictions or status or image that we neglect the heavenly treasure of growing into the image and likeness of God.

Jesus invites us to meditate on this: Are you and I willing to give up everything and anything, especially those things which seem so essential to our security, which define our identity, in order to find an even deeper security and truer identity in God? Paul gave up his privileged position as a powerful Pharisee to become a slave and a prisoner for Christ. Francis turned his back on his family’s riches and lived in the streets as a beggar for Christ. Last week at my CREDO conference, I met men and women who gave up successful careers in the law, in business, in the military and in medicine, sometimes at considerable personal cost, to serve Christ in the Church.

Once Herman made his inner commitment to sacrifice his art to follow Christ, he found that that he was not in bondage to his art. It was not a god to him. And so God did not require him to forsake it. Instead Herman’s acceptable sacrifice was to offer his art to God. For the rest of his life, Herman’s paintings reflected spiritual themes and he considered them a form of service to others. What is it that you hold dear, that is part of who you are? Are you willing to offer it up sacrificially to be used in God’s service, to serve as a blessing to others? Then, chances are God will not ask you to abandon it, but to consecrate it; not to renounce it, but to renew it.

Jesus looks on us and loves us. Right now, somewhere inside, you may even hear him saying “You lack one thing; you know what I’m talking about. Go…set yourself free and then come, follow me.

AMEN