instead, Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.

Transcription

1 The Good Life Patricia Hampl, the author of The Art of the Wasted Day, recalls her father saying that life, if you re lucky, is divided into thirds: youth, middle age and You look good. The dawn of that third stage is glinting right at me. It isn t simply that at this point more of my life is behind me than ahead of me. Like so many Baby Boomers, I hate the phrase Senior Citizen. I much prefer Middle-aged. But who am I kidding? Who do I know who s 136? I suppose that many people between their mid-50s and late-60s begin to re-evaluate their lives. You reach a point when you have worked hard enough, long enough that you begin to focus on the significance of your life. I know people that thought they were going to live forever, but then they get diagnosed with breast cancer or prostate cancer, or some other serious disease, and their life suddenly takes on new meaning. What they thought important is no longer important. Things they took for granted now become precious. I have seen such people live with a new sense of thankfulness. They cherish each day as another gift from God. Some of us may know the name Michael Milken. He was a Wall Street financier noted for the development of high yield bonds commonly known as junk bonds. Michael Milken was an intense individual, whose obsession in life was making money and lots of it. You may remember the movie Wall Street starring Michael Douglas who played a character based on Michael Milken. In the movie he gives a talk to the students at the Harvard Business School and tells them, Greed is good.

2 Well, greed proved to be not so good for Michael Milken. In 1989 he pled guilty to felony charges for violating U.S. securities law. He was sentenced to 10-years in prison, fined $600 million, and permanently barred from the securities industry. While in prison Milken was diagnosed with prostate cancer. That diagnosis changed his life. He renewed his Jewish heritage and had a kind conversion. He resolved that once out of prison he would use his money to benefit humanity just as he had used it to benefit himself. After his release from prison, he set up the Milken Family Foundation to fund medical research into curing melanoma and prostate cancer. In November 2004 Fortune Magazine called Milken The Man Who Changed Medicine his work in medical research had become that influential. Today Michael Milken continues to do good work and live a good life, but that hasn t hurt his net worth, which as of 2018 is $3.7 billion. Now maybe your story is not as dramatic as Michael Milken s, but all of us have an experience that prods us into examining our life, thinking through our values and priorities, and reflecting on whether we are making the most of the life we have on this earth. We all want a life of purpose and significance, a life that leaves the world a better place because we have lived in it. I call it The Good Life but how do we get it? Our gospel tells us about a man who had everything he could ever want; yet it wasn t enough. He had youth. He had success. He had wealth. He had power. Why, he even had religion. But it wasn t enough. He kept asking himself, What am I missing? Is that all there is? Isn t there something more? Jesus answered the young man s question by going to the heart of the matter. He didn t give him Dear Abby advice. He didn t tell him the seven laws of highly successful people. He told him

3 instead, Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me. Jesus is not giving the man a lesson in economics. And he s not telling you and me right now to sell all our possessions. He s saying that the good life can only come by putting God at the top of our priority list. When God is first, everything else has its place. There s an important truth here: it s always in our best interest to put God number one in our list of priorities. But for some reason we resist. We let our possessions possess us to the point where they hold us back from God. The young man couldn t step out in faith because his possessions held him back. So, he walked away with a heavy heart for he was holding on tight to a lot of things; and he wasn t about to let go of anything. That is a tragedy, because he could have found what he was looking for, if only he had let go of what he had. In commenting to his disciples, Jesus says, Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God s kingdom? It is easier for a camel to go through a needle s eye than for the rich to get into God s kingdom. Jesus is confronting us with a choice we face every day: Will I try to achieve the good life by clinging to what I have, or by being his faithful follower? We know in our gut that Jesus is right, but we re constantly tempted to think and behave as if he is wrong. Think about how nonsensical is some of the choices we make on a regular basis. Does it really matter if we wear a $300 or a $30 watch, since they both tell the same time? Does it matter if we carry a $300 or $30 wallet or handbag, since the amount of money in it is the same? Does it matter if we drive a $50,000 car or a $15,000 car, since they will both get us to where we need to go? Whether the house we live in is 500 or 5000 square feet,

4 loneliness is the same. And whether you fly first class or economy, if the plane goes down, you go down with it. Leo Tolstoy told of a man who was promised he could have as much land as he could run around in a single day. The man set off to encircle his plot of land. As the day wore on, the circle got larger and larger. Compelled by the thought of all the land he could own, he kept widening the circumference of the circle. Stride by stride, mile by mile, he dreamed of his great wealth until at last he staggered and dropped dead of a heart attack. One of the people I most admired in the corporate world was Jack Welsh, the former chairman of General Electric. If you owned GE stock during his tenure with the company, you made a lot of money. And yet, Jack Welsh disappointed me several years ago after his brush with death in which he suffered a massive heart attack. When he was asked what he had learned from that experience coming face to face with his own mortality, his answer was, I learned I didn t spend enough money. At first the interviewer thought he was joking, but Welsh went on to say that after his bypass surgery, he vowed never again to drink wine that cost less than one hundred dollars a bottle and he was completely serious. When I read his answer, I thought how sad! I suppose if there is no God, if there is no eternal life, then Welsh s answer makes sense. Maximize your material enjoyment while you can. Eat the best food, drink the best wine, and fly in a private jet. If this life is all there is, that makes perfect sense. But what a bankrupt and hopeless way to live! Christians know there is more to our existence than this transitory life. Because God has called us into existence and given us a reason for living, we never lack purpose. Every day we can get out of bed and serve God in some way, help make a difference in the lives of others, alleviate some suffering, do some good, and help make this world a better place.

5 Jesus says to his disciples, Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land whatever because of me and the good news will lose out. In other words, Jesus is saying that the good life is a life given away a life lived for others a life lived for God. You see: God gives the good life to those who give themselves to God and to others. Seek first the kingdom of God, Jesus says, and all these other things shall be yours as well (Mt. 6:33). During my time as Rector of various parishes, I have been blessed to have on my staff clergy of immense integrity and generosity. I think of John Baldwin who was my deacon at St. Thomas Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. John was an executive at Armstrong Flooring who took early retirement to train as a deacon. He spent the rest of his life at St. Thomas caring for the sick and elderly, preaching, leading worship and helping with administration. He didn t get paid for his work he did it because he loved the Lord and he loved the church. He could have spent his life at the country club where he was a member, golfing during the summer and being a snowbird during the winter, but he chose instead to serve and to give generously of his time, talent and money. John is now in heaven but I am sure that even now he is serving in some capacity because at the center of that man s life was a servant s heart. Then there was Ned Kellogg. Ned was an Annapolis graduate, a Captain in the United States Navy, and the commander of a nuclear submarine. At some point in his life, Ned heard the call of Jesus to become a priest. He retired from the Navy, went to seminary, got ordained and did whatever jobs the bishop asked him to do, often going to the poorest churches in the diocese. Eventually, I persuaded Ned to become Assistant Rector for Pastoral Care at St. Bartholomew s Church in Poway, California. This Navy nuclear submarine captain was as kind, decent and

6 spiritual a human being as I have ever known. He had this Christlike compassion, this ability to deal with troubled people gently and with wisdom. I often characterized Ned as combining high tech skills with a high touch ministry a one-of-a-kind person. I loved the man and felt privileged to work with him. When he died a few years ago, I thought to myself that as he entered the gates of heaven Jesus was there to greet him and say, Well done, good and faithful servant! Come, enter into my kingdom. When I was in university, I got acquainted with a middle-aged Jesuit scholastic studying for the priesthood. Jim Thompson had been an executive with a prestigious advertising firm on Madison Avenue in New York City. Why did you leave such a lucrative job to become a Jesuit? I asked. He replied, One day, I went to the office and had this startling revelation. I realized that any day, I could keel over dead. And what did it all mean? I wanted this job because I wanted money, I wanted influence, and I wanted to make my mark on the world. And yet, I felt powerless, trapped. I simply walked away from it. I cut a deal with the company and my salary plunged 80 percent in the first year. The following year I decided to become a Jesuit. And I have never regretted a moment of it. I feel better than I have in years. You see, it feels good to be free. Jim died all too soon in life, but in his last years as a Jesuit priest he touched the lives of many another good and faithful servant of Jesus. You may not be called to the priesthood, but what would it take for you to follow Jesus unreservedly, unconditionally right now in your own situation? What would it take for you to hear the story of Jesus and the rich young ruler, not as an onerous command, but rather as a gracious invitation? I wonder if we can hear this story, not as bad news but as good news.

7 The truth is: when we lose ourselves, we find ourselves. When we serve Jesus, we experience freedom. When we take that leap of faith, God reaches out and embraces us with everlasting arms. Yes, I know, faith is scary because you have to trust God amidst a hundred unknowns and a thousand doubts. Still, there are people who go to bed each night with a peaceful soul. And they are not corporate chieftains with golden parachutes. They are ordinary people who have an extraordinary faith in God. The rich young man turned away. It s ironic, isn t it? He was seeking the good life, but he couldn t afford it because he was too wealthy. Why not take Jesus at his word that real living is yours when you step out of your comfort zone and follow him? He wants to give you the good life not take it from you. But you need to trust him by stepping into the new life Jesus offers you today. Dr. Gary Nicolosi October 14, 2018 Text Mark 10:17-31 Proper 23, B