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The Opposite of Rich

Biblical text: Matthew 19, Mark 10:17-24

Most of us know this story as the story of the rich, young ruler, although Mark is the only one who suggests that he is rich, Matthew is the only one who says he is young, and Luke is the only one who calls him a ruler. The fact that he shows up in three of the gospels is a pretty good indication that the story is true, although many of us wish that he had not shown up at all. Because of him we have one of the hardest sayings in the whole Bible: Go sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come follow me.

Mark doesn’t tell right off that the man is rich, but you get the sense that he is. Not because he shows good manners by running up and kneeling at Jesus’ feet or because he addresses him so grandly once he is there, calling him Good Teacher, but because of the question he asks. This is someone who has his act together. His bills are paid, his income is secure. He isn’t plagued by lesser questions like how am I going to feed my family? How will I make ends meet? This man is free from trivial concerns and can think of the good life that is to come, secure in the knowledge that he is one of God’s chosen people.

That is what wealth meant in his day. If wealth was gotten fairly, by honest means, then it was a sign of God’s blessings. Bestowing wealth on God’s people was a way to free them from the daily grind in order to serve the Lord. So this man approaches Jesus with no shame about his possessions. In a way, they are his credentials, the very thing that allows him to ask this question in the first place.

Looking down at this man kneeling before him, Jesus sees someone who wants to achieve as much in heaven as he has achieved on earth and who will do whatever is required of him to add eternal life to the list of things that are his. He’s an extraordinary man who is hoping Jesus gives him some extraordinary assignment but instead Jesus says, “You know the commandments.” And he reels off about half of them. It is an ordinary answer, the ABCs of life on earth.

“Teacher, I have kept all of these since my youth,” the man says — and Jesus loves him, just like that, so we know he is not acting in a pompous way. He says this almost like a confession: I have kept the law all my life, which is how I know it is not enough. I have amassed great wealth, but I know that is not enough either. I am a rich man — rich in possessions, rich in respectability and rich in obedience to the law. But I know none of these things can give me the life that I want. What must I do to inherit eternal life, the kind of life that lasts?

No wonder Jesus loves him. He is a man who is ripe for God. He has come to the end of what he can do for himself. He has come to the end of what society can do for him. All that is left for him is to kneel in front of this wonderful street preacher and ask him what to do. So Jesus looks at him ­— really looks at him — and loves what he sees. He sees a seeker who has kept God’s word and has translated that into a life of obedience yet who knows there is more and knows who to ask for it.

So Jesus chooses his words with care: 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.” It is a dare to the rich man to become a new creature, defined in a new way, to trade in all the words that have defined him up to this point — wealthy, cultured, responsible, powerful, obedient — to trade in those words for a new word: FREE.

I think this story is not only about money. If it were, we could all buy our way into heaven and you know that is not true. No one can earn eternal life, no matter what we do. We can keep the commandments until we are blue in the face, we can sign our paychecks over to the church, and rattle tin cups for our supper, but still not have a place at God’s banquet table. The kingdom of God is not for sale. The kingdom of God is God’s amazing gift to be given by God. The catch is that you have to be free to accept that gift. You cannot be tied up and too involved in other pursuits to receive that gift. You cannot accept God’s gifts if your hands are too full of other things. You cannot follow if you are not free to go.

That’s why I think the rich young man went away feeling sorrowful. He understood all at once that he was not free. He had great possessions that he lugged behind him like a ball and a chain. He is the only person in the gospel of Mark who walks away from an invitation to follow; he is the only wounded one who declines to be healed. Poverty scared him more than bondage. He could not believe that the opposite of rich might not be poor, but instead, might be free.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” Mark says that the disciples were astounded by these words and I wonder why they were amazed. Two of them had left fishing nets behind, two had left a fishing boat. One had walked away from a lucrative career as a tax collector to follow this man with the burning eyes. All of them had walked away from something although it was not a prerequisite to becoming a disciple. It was more like a consequence really. He called, they followed, and some stuff got left behind. Not because it was bad stuff, it was stuff that was in the way. He called and nothing seemed all that important anymore. Jesus was so much more real in their lives than anything else. He set them free. It was not their achievement — it was his gift to them.

I know what you are thinking: there are the children and the grandkids, the aging parents, the mortgage, the doctor appointments, the economy, the future. It’s the same for me. There are days when threading a camel through the eye of a needle seems easier than following Jesus. So who can be saved and who is brave enough to be set free? The question has not really changed much since Mark wrote this text. And neither has the answer. For us it is impossible but not for God. For God, all things are possible.

 

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