October 11, 2015
"What
must I do to inherit eternal life?"
That question has been asked
down through the ages.
It was asked by a man who
threw himself before Jesus in the story we just heard.
We don't know who the man
was.
Mark simply presents him as
"a man," possibly rich, certainly sincere.
Jesus, clearly impressed by
him, leads him to complete what is lacking.
"Go, sell what you own,
and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then
come, follow me."
Jesus is simply calling him
to cast aside all other dependencies and in radical trust stand bare before the
God who gives.
This is an invitation to
discipleship.
There is no praise of
poverty or attack on wealth.
It is the life of
discipleship, not the renunciation of wealth, that leads to eternal life.
But if you're going to
follow Jesus, you must give him your all and withhold nothing.
All of us have areas in our
lives that we are content to give to God.
The man in Mark's story was
willing to conform his life to the Ten Commandments.
But there was one thing he
was not willing to do.
Each of us may have one
thing that we will by no means surrender to God.
It may be my ambition.
Or my sexuality to which I
give free rein no matter what the consequences.
It may be a deep-seated
hatred for someone.
God can have everything in
my life, but this one thing God cannot have.
God can have my service and
sense of duty, my neighborly love, my
time and talents.
But this one thing God
cannot have.
Now the curious thing is
that God lets me find God's own self when I offer God this one thing that is
the hardest for me to surrender.
The uncertainties, doubts
and difficulties with which we torment ourselves, that rob us of our peace with
God and hopelessly block our ability to follow Jesus,
do not lie in intellectual
difficulties
but at this one point in our
life that we refuse to give up.
For the man in Mark's story
it was his money.
Of course, the point at
issue here, as I said, is not renunciation as an end in itself but "What
is necessary for me to do in order to follow Jesus?"
For some it may indeed be a
complete renunciation of wealth.
St. Francis believed he
could not follow Jesus until he had given away all he had.
But for most Christians,
following Jesus does not mean a renunciation of wealth but a stewardship of
wealth.
Stewardship is a baffling
concept to some people. Stewardship is simply managing my resources as if I
held them in trust for God who is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
How hard, indeed, it is to
enter the kingdom of God, especially for the wealthy.
Riches constitute a
formidable obstacle to persons who seek discipleship.
But the difficulty is not an
impossibility.
The good news does not lie
in interpreting the oft-quoted "needle's eye" as a small gate through
which unburdened camels could scarcely pass.
Any interpretive efforts to
make the kingdom of God humanly possible are out of order. "For mortals it
is impossible," said Jesus, "but not for God; for God all things are
possible."
That is the good news which
Jesus speaks to his disciples, to us.
That obstacle, whatever it
is, is not the only thing that stands between me and God. Jesus Christ also
stands there, and he stands on both sides.
He stands on God’s side
because it is not we who are seeking the kingdom of God
but God who is seeking to
bring us into the kingdom.
And Jesus is the lamp,
"the light of the world," by which God seeks us.
Jesus also stands on our
side, knowing our weaknesses, temptations and what death is, because he
experienced them all.
He has come and he has
identified with us.
As our great high priest
before the Father in heaven he is willing to be our mediator and advocate,
willing to cover our nakedness with his own righteousness so that we can
approach with boldness "the one to whom we must render an account."
That's why everything,
absolutely everything, depends on following Christ, being counted by him as his
brothers and sisters,
being regarded by him as his
coworkers on behalf of the kingdom of God.
And to the Peters among us
who have indeed sacrificed much to follow Jesus, he consoles us with the
assurance that our discipleship will be recognized and rewarded in this age and in the age to come.
But we have to be willing to
follow.
So, what is the one
thing that “one more thing” that Jesus is asking of you at this time in your
life
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