Sermon for October 14, 2012 20 Pentecost Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Psalm 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31 by Jim Neal Opening prayer: Gracious God, help us to live into our baptism as we recognize our gifts of the spirit and how we can fully use them to your glory. Amen. Last Wednesday, Sylvia and I attended the Clergy Day at St. Mary s in Lakewood. The theme of the day was Living Your Baptism. Focusing on that theme will continue for the Diocesan Convention next month, as well as throughout the diocese for the coming year. I encourage each of our preachers to think about this theme as they prepare their messages. So, reflecting on this theme, Living Your Baptism, what can we learn from today s lessons? The people of Israel are offered a choice here in the book of Amos; they can seek God or face judgment! Seeking God is not simply a religious commitment, but it is a moral one as well. Preaching to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BCE, this was the emphasis that the prophet Amos wanted to make to his people. It is an "either or" simple choice. Having said that, the whole tenor of the society of the day was corrupt; the rich were getting richer at the expense of the poor and people had lost sight of their moral as well as their religious commitments. Amos saw many wealthy Jews turning from God, being cruel to the poor, and living selfishly. He encouraged the people to seek the Lord, to hate evil and love good. Times were good, but people were becoming arrogant and selfserving. I think Amos saw this as a downward spiral away from God. Living our Baptismal Covenant encourages us to use wealth and position to seek good and not evil. Life is full of choices. As Gloria Estefan wrote in a song, "We seal our fate by the choices we make." The New Testament letter Hebrews and today s Gospel lesson from Mark were both written about 30 years after Christ s death and resurrection. Persecution was evident against both the Jewish and Christian communities throughout the Roman Empire and many of the new Christian communities were in crisis. They were struggling to understand what Living into their Baptism meant when their lives were, at times, being threatened. This letter to the Hebrews was written to the Jewish Christians who were ready to give up their new faith. This letter reinforced that the word of God is living and active through Jesus. Therefore let us approach life each day with confidence that God s grace is ever present, especially in times of need. The Gospel of Mark was written when the final return of Jesus appeared not to be as imminent as once expected. People like Mark, and others to follow, saw the need to write down the stories that were so familiar to them but might be forgotten
in the future. Mark is the oldest of the four Gospels and contains many of the details of Christ s ministry and teaching. The incidents that he recorded in his gospel were meant to affirm the Baptismal faith of the Christians of that time, as well as for us today. 2 Today s story finds Jesus continuing his journey to Jerusalem to meet his final destiny. This story of the rich young man is one of the most familiar in the gospels. This may be due, in part, to the fact that identical stories can be found in Matthew and in Luke. But, I think it is also familiar because it makes us uncomfortable. Sell all your possessions and follow Christ! The subject of wealth is found in many of Jesus teachings. We live the wealthiest country in the world, so what is the proper use of our wealth? How can we be faithful stewards of our wealth, or more appropriately, God s wealth entrusted to us? Wealth bought privilege and comfort in the time of Christ, as it does today. In Jesus world, it was often seen as a reward for faithfully following God s commands. Here at St. Hugh we encourage each person to discern the gifts God has bestowed on each of us and how we can use these gifts in our daily lives and ministries: the gifts of speaking, music, art, compassion, teaching, outreach, cooking, communicating, praying, and many others. We are also taught to appreciate the gifts of creation: the beauty of a sunset and a rainbow, as well as rain, the fall colors, the abundance we see in gardens, in forests, in mountain meadows. Each of these is a gift from God and, as God s Stewards of these gifts, how can we take care of and use them as a way to visibly express our desire to do good and not evil? How can we use them to live into our Baptism? For living into our Baptism is a journey, not a destination. What about the gift of wealth? How do we practice good stewardship of our individual wealth? The rich man asks, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The man s running and falling on his knees before Jesus is an immediate sign of the intensity of his desire for eternal life. It is the same gesture as the leper (Mark 1:40) who fell at Christ s feet and begged Jesus to make him clean. As in the story of the leper, where Mark reports that Jesus "was moved with compassion," Mark gives his listeners an inside view of Jesus feelings toward the rich man: " looking at him, he loved him." Yes Jesus loved him when he held on to his possessions equally to how he would love him even with no possessions. To inherit implies it is something a person deserves or expects to receive because of who he is. This statement makes me think this rich man has just written his Last Will and Testament and has detailed how his possessions will be
inherited by those whom he loves. Now he wants to know what good fortune he will inherit for accumulating such wealth. 3 He did not expect Jesus reply: Go sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me. When he heard this, he was shocked and he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. This is the only call to follow story in Mark in which the person being called turns down Jesus invitation to follow him. Where else have we seen similar instruction from Jesus? Each of the disciples gave up their vocations, their families, and their possessions, and followed Jesus. Jesus sent out these disciples, two by two, to heal and teach. These twelve were sent out with the following instructions: Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it. Week before last at our Thursday morning worship, the topic for discussion was St. Francis of Assisi. I think he could have been influenced by those verses. St. Francis was born into a prosperous merchant family and could have inherited the family jewels. But instead, in spite of his father s intense opposition, he accepted a vow of complete poverty and began a life to serve the poor. As the order grew it became more difficult to manage a growing organization in complete poverty; but it continues today with the vow of poverty and the mission of serving the poor. Do you remember Job? When he lost his children, his flocks and herds, all that he had, his supposed friends, who came to commiserate with him, kept asking what sin he had committed to cause God to take away all these things. They assumed Job s wealth, both his family and his possessions, were signs of God s favor. Up to the point of the loss, everyone had seen Job as a righteous man, one who had, therefore, received these signs of blessing. The loss of his wealth, therefore, must be outward and visible signs of the loss of that divine favor. As a rich man, he was one of God s favorites. As one who had lost his wealth, they thought Job had done something to offend God. Now look again at our rich young man. As a wealthy person who kept all the commandments, he must have enjoyed approval, privileges, the envy of his community, and regard as one who did indeed enjoy God s favor. We might expect that he was a favorite of the temple hierarchy, an honored guest among his friends, and probably seated at the head of the table instead of at the foot. His
wealth most likely placed him among the first of his community -- most decidedly not the last. 4 To give away all his possessions was to risk losing all of this. His friends might look upon him as Job s friends looked upon Job. What had he done that he must give everything away to the poor? Would selling all that he had include selling his home, not to mention all the beautiful possessions that furnished it? And how would he buy food? How would he live? Is it any wonder that he walks away in sorrow? Considering how harshly Jesus talks about the rich, it is reasonable to ask how Jesus feels about them. Does this mean that Jesus hates rich people? Thankfully, Mark provides a clear answer when he tells us in verse 21, Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and then goes on to instruct the young man to sell his possessions. Jesus reply is deeply rooted not in envy, distrust, or any desire to put down one whose position of privilege came from worldly wealth. It comes from the kind of love that yearns for this man to know his true worth without the possessions, the ways in which God s love wants to provide for him in ways he can never provide for himself, to know the confidence that he is indeed one of God s beloved, and to live in that light with or without his wealth. When the young man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus offers a dual prescription: sell everything you own and give it to the poor. The prescription for you and me may be quite different. Jesus may know that we are workaholics. His advice to us, then, may be to prioritize our lives. Refocus. Be sure that God takes precedence over our work. Some of us may be addicted to something (food, alcohol, drugs, money, or possessions). Jesus advice to us may be that we must rid ourselves of this addiction, and attach ourselves solely to Him. This does not mean that prosperity should not be seen as coming from God. It can be seen just as we see wisdom, talent, opportunity, and a host of other things as gifts from God. Too often, however, we fail to recognize that every Godly gift carries with it God s hope for how it might be used. Joy for us is when we align our use of the gifts God gives with what we discern to be God s hope. In reflection on today s reading as we live our Baptism, these questions come to mind: What are the gifts God has given each of us individually, and collectively to our church family? What is God s hope for their use? What obstacles keep us from fulfilling God s hope? What are our gifts? What is God s hope for us? What obstacles do we encounter?
5 Reflect on these questions for a few moments. Amen.