What Could You Not Leave Behind? Sermon on Mark 10:17-31

Rev. George Miller
March 1, 2020
Mark 10:17-31

After last week’s moment upon the mountain, we have come down to the ground, knowing that every step we take with Jesus is a step closer to the Cross.

Today is going to be a difficult, uncomfortable sermon because we have a difficult, uncomfortable reading about possessions, persecutions and the disruption of the worldly order.

It’s a message provoked by Tuesday’s event at the mall, a presentation on American History and the African Diaspora.

When looking around, there were so many people with ties to Emmanuel UCC who were present.

Not just members like Roxie, Nancy and Clay, but other folk who have come to Emmanuel for worship and special events, like Pat and Dr. Powell.

A thought crossed my mind- how many of these same people have attended other events in the community-

the County Commissioners meeting, the Women’s Right to Vote event, the Gay Pride Event, and SunTrust Service.

This is where the uncomfortable part comes in- what if they, I, and us were not there because we had been asked to give up things that pertained to our identity?

I hope you can follow the train of thought that’s been going through my head. Here it goes-

Today we have a story that takes place as Jesus and the disciples are making their way south-west to Jerusalem.

A man runs up to Jesus, kneels before him and asks what he can do to inherit eternal life.

When he is told to sell what he owns and give the money to the poor, his demeanor changes and he walks away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Now, it can be easy for us to judge this man. To claim he is self-centered. To call him greedy. To point a finger at all rich people and call them “bad.”

But we should withhold judgement.

After all, this man did seek Jesus out on his own. There is a chance he truly wanted to know more about eternal life.

Not only did he seek Jesus out, he did two things people in power are never supposed to do.

He ran to Jesus, which was often looked down upon by the upper-crust, like wearing white after Labor Day.

He kneeled before Jesus. A sign of subservience that maids, slaves, and members of the lower class may do, but not rich men.

Perhaps that is one reason why Jesus looked upon the man and loved him.

Maybe Jesus saw that the man’s actions as a demonstration of a true hunger and desire to know.

Perhaps Jesus looked upon the man with love because he knew he was about to push him so far out of his comfort zone.

Jesus told him to go, sell, give, follow.

The man could not, so he left in shock and sadness.

This is the only story in Mark in which someone is invited to follow Jesus and they choose not to.

In some ways, we can also say this is a story in which Jesus fails.

Jesus meets someone who is anxious to be a Citizen of Heaven, and yet this potential candidate slips away.

Thanks to Jesus’ words there is one less New Member to attend today’s New Member Class.

Could you imagine the phone calls and e-mails Diane would receive if I said anything that would prevent a possible new member, let alone a very, very rich one, from attending church?

We can say that in this story Jesus failed because he caused someone to walk away sad and unhappy.

Is it because there is something wrong with the guy, or is it because there is something wrong with Jesus’ ministry style?

What if Jesus just said “Fill out a pledge card”, or “Give $1,000 to the Shepherd’s Pantry.”?

Why did Jesus have to go whole hog and tell this potential patron to sell it all- diamonds, rubies, gold?

Is this just another case of Jesus speaking in extremes and hyperbole to get us to think and act?

And who are we to judge this man?

We don’t know him. We don’t know how he came across his wealth.

Was he born into it, did her earn it, did he come to the country with nothing in his pocket, work his butt off, spend years eating nothing but rice and beans while he saved every cent he made?

Ask someone who survived the depression or came here from Haiti to give up everything they had and see the trauma you create.

We can try to personalize today’s story to see how we would react.

You don’t have to be rich to have possessions; you don’t have to have possessions to be attached to things.

What if Jesus asked me to give up every one of my CDs and LPs, including my father’s case of 45’s?

What if Jesus said to all our Ohioans that you can never see or cheer for the Buckeye’s ever again?

What if Jesus came to Sit and Stitch and said, “You can never hold another needle, thread, nor knit, purl, and hem again.”?

Gets a bit more difficult, doesn’t it?

Gets a more uncomfortable once we take the focus off a millionaire and makes it something we can relate to.

What if instead of abundant wealth, Jesus asked us to give up something we needed in order to live a full life?

What if Jesus asked us to give up our reading glasses? Or our motorized chairs? Or our health insurance cards?

Could you do it; would you do it, even if you were guaranteed eternal life?

Maybe this reading even goes deeper, even more uncomfortable.

What if riches and wealth were not the issue?

After all, Jesus had friends with money, like Martha and Mary. How else do you think he got to enjoy so many free meals?

Maybe it wasn’t the man’s riches that Jesus was concerned about, but how the man’s riches shaped his identity.

That it was his money, his home, his mode of transportation, his collections, that defined who he was?

What if his image of self was entirely attached to what he owned? That the man only identified himself through his wealth?

In other words, he did not own his possessions, his possessions owned him.

If we allow for this interpretation, then today’s reading becomes really uncomfortable.

What if Jesus was challenging this man’s very identity, that Jesus was asking this man to leave behind the very essence of who he was, and what had shaped him?

Take away the concept of money, and just focus on identity and this reading can really become uncomfortable, it can really hit home.

I think back to the event on Tuesday and all of those who were present, and what matters to them.

And my heart broke.

Jesus asked this man to give up something that identifies who he is.

What if Jesus came up to Nancy, in her suffragette dress and sash, and asked her to give up her right to vote?

What if Jesus came up to Rev. Dr. Powell and told her to give up preaching??

What if Jesus came up to Pat and told her that in order to follow him, she must give up the 15th Amendment???

What if Jesus came up to me and said that I must go back into the closet if I wish to follow????

…It gets a lot harder to judge this man and be self-righteous when reading a scripture that could be about identity and giving up a part of who we are.

What if Jesus asked Ari to give up his violin? Told Carnide to never sing again?

What if Jesus stood before us in this sanctuary and said, “In order to follow me you must give up this building, the parking lot, and the Fellowship Hall?”

It’s not so easy now, is it?

The price of eternal life and the change Jesus is asking suddenly becomes too much to bear.

So….what is the Good News? What do we do with a rather out-there, uncomfortable interpretation?

First thing first, I don’t think Jesus would ever ask anyone to stop singing, or stop playing violin, especially when they use their gifts to praise the Lord.

I don’t think Jesus is asking anyone to give up their rights or step back into the closet.

I do think that once again Jesus is speaking in extreme hyperbole.

Jesus is going to extremes to get us to think, to participate in a wrestling match in which we must work and engage with God in a way we never would have before.

Jesus stirs up the soil around our feet because he knows that’s how to prepare the soul if you’re going to plant seeds.

Jesus raises the bar because he knows that is how we grow.

Jesus is asking 100% knowing that we may only be able to give 90 or 9%.

And who says that today’s reading is the end of the story for the man possessed by his possessions?

Sure, he walks away shocked and sad. But do we know what he did the next day, and the day after that?

What if after the shock of the experience wore off, he woke up one week and felt moved to donate some of his money to Jesus’ ministry?

What if one month while going through his closet full of clothes and shoes and things he decided to go down to the local charity and give it away?

What if after some time he discovered that the more he gave away the more he felt like he was getting back?

What if the man in today’s reading became the one who made possible the final Passover meal Jesus ate with the disciples?

What if he paid for the tomb that Jesus’ body was placed in?

What if this rich man never did part with all his wealth but he offered his home as one of the places for the early churches to meet, or he helped to fund the mission of Peter and Paul?

We don’t know. We can’t tell how this man’s story unfolded and how it ended.

But we can hope that through his encounter with Jesus he did in some way experience a change of heart.

We can hope that in some way he experienced his own grace.

We can hope that in some way this man’s encounter with Jesus opened his eyes over time, the hold of his possessions loosened around him, and that he was in some ways set free to follow Christ.

Today’s message may not fully make sense, but hopefully today’s message helps us to not be not so quick to judge others, but to look upon ourselves,

and to wonder, really, really wonder, what does it mean to follow Jesus?

What does it mean to follow Jesus during Lent when we know that ultimately it will lead us to the Cross?

Are we willing to follow, or are we more likely to freeze or to flee?

No one can answer that for us; we ourselves may not even know until we are the one’s kneeling before the Lord and hearing what is being asked of us.

Amen.