Mark 10:17-31 Janet Chisom October 11, 2015 Prayer for Illumination: Eternal God, in the reading of Scripture may your Word be heard; In the meditation of our hearts, may your Word be known; In the faithfulness of our lives, may your will be done. Amen. Mark 10:17-31: The Rich Man As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before Jesus, and asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother. He said to him, Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth. Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, 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. When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 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! And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. They were greatly astounded and said to one another, Then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible. Peter began to say to him, Look, we have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. 1
Sermon: Stewardship Refigured Happy Stewardship Season! And, I do think it has become a season. I listened last week to NPR doing its fall fundraising campaign, working to raise enough money to sustain the music and reporting for the next few months. Two weeks ago I received a phone call from Gettysburg College, my alma mater, asking if I would give again this year to the Gettysburg Fund. Next Sunday here at church we will have our annual Stewardship luncheon after church and will hear about the financial needs and ministries of this congregation and be encouraged to make our pledge and contribution. From the regularity and predictability of financial campaigns (in church words called stewardship campaigns ) I think we can add Stewardship Season right in there with Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall! Stewardship is an interesting word that I have been thinking a lot about as I wrote the Sunday School lessons on Stewardship for the elementary grades. I looked up stewardship in my Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, expecting to see something about giving money back to God and tithing ten percent of what we have, but stewardship wasn t in there! A steward, however, is a person who cares for or manages something. Often the steward manages money or property for someone else, but a steward can also have responsibility for caring for other people or for information, or for the upbringing of children. Stewardship, in general is about taking care of things. Therefore, it s not just money that gives us an opportunity to practice good stewardship, but good stewardship can also be practiced in relation to the environment, natural resources, other people, time, and energy. We want to practice good stewardship by taking care of the earth, the animals and plants, the air, the people around us... not destroying or damaging them. Good stewardship emphasizes care and concern and helpfulness, not harm. So, really, stewardship is a daily, year-round task, even if we only talk about it during stewardship season. Today s lectionary-assigned Gospel reading provides one of those opportunities for us to talk about stewardship. We have heard the familiar story about a rich man who ran up to Jesus, fell on his knees before him, and asked, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered, You know the commandments. You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother. Very quickly the rich man affirmed that he had kept those commandments from his youth. 2
But notice the commonality in these commandments. Almost all of them are in the negative. How easy is it to answer that you have not murdered, you have not committed adultery, you have not stolen or given false witness? In effect the rich man is saying that he has not harmed anyone. At this point, I can almost hear Jesus saying, Yes, you have kept these commandments and done no harm, but have you done any good? Can you hear Jesus turning the question around? Can you hear him recognizing that the man has done no harm, and challenging him also to do good? Yes, you have kept these commandments and done no harm, but have you done any good? What good have you done with all that money you have? What have you done for others? Jesus response is humbling and instructive. Jesus tells the man exactly what he needs to do to do good. Although Jesus says You lack one thing, his instructions come in five parts: Go, Sell, Give, Come, Follow. Go Leave from here where you are just soaking up words and do something. Sell You own so much. Sell all of what you have. Don t keep back some of your money in a special account. Don t hide your favorite tunic or pair of jeans. Don t put your car in a neighbor s garage so you can use it later. Sell all of what you own. Jesus is asking for a 100% commitment! Essentially the rich man is being asked to put less trust in his possessions and more trust in God. Give Give away your money to the poor. I think this is the clincher... this is what Jesus is focusing on. Do good with what you have been keeping for yourself. Use the money to buy clothing for someone in need. Use the money to buy furniture for someone just getting a home after being in Family Promise. Use the money to buy canned goods for the Food Pantry. Use the money for flood relief or clean water in South Carolina, or counseling after mudslides in Guatemala. Use the money to sponsor someone in the CROP Hunger Walk or to register for the Superhero Run. The man is told to give his money away to those who need it. Do good; don t just refrain from harm. Come Once the man has divested of his wealth, he is to return to Jesus. Follow Following is another way of doing good. If the rich man were to follow Jesus there would be one more person to model the teachings of Jesus. He would walk in Jesus footsteps and see first-hand how to practice forgiveness, how to open his heart in love, how to heal sick bodies and sick minds, how to open his arms in welcome, how to feed and share with others, 3
how to teach others the way of discipleship. By following Jesus there would be one more person to share the good news of Jesus love for all. There would be one more person to challenge and encourage others to reorient their lives so that they are attentive to the poor and the outcast and the widow and the orphan. By following Jesus, good would be done. As I said before, stewardship is about caring for and managing things in a good and positive way. For this rich man, Jesus began his lesson on stewardship by focusing on the money that the rich man had. But then Jesus expanded his lesson on good stewardship to point out other ways of doing good, including caring for people, the poor specifically, and being a good steward of time and energy, Come, follow me. I m sure you know that this challenge is not just for the rich man. It s for us, too. Truth be told, we are all rich. We may not be as well-to-do as the person sitting next to us or the person down the street, but we have more than many people in this world. We have food in our refrigerators, a roof over our head, access to medical care, and access to education. So this story about the rich man speaks to us. We also can learn from Jesus loving conversation with the rich man. We can receive Jesus teaching about stewardship as one including caring for money, caring for people, and caring for time and energy. On Friday I was at my car dealer getting my oil changed. As I was sitting in the waiting area, a woman came in and said hello. It was a bit awkward for me because it was more than just a hello. I could tell that she thought she knew me. She sat down next to me, and after a minute she said, It was so nice to have people from Salem Presbyterian help pack the truck. You had a whole women s Bible Study there on Wednesday. We are so grateful! You re welcome, I said. It was our pleasure. I still didn t know who she was, but at least I had a hint that she was from Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church and had something to do with sending a truck full of clothes and water and diapers to South Carolina to assist people whose lives had been disrupted by the flooding. We did finally introduce ourselves (although Molly already knew who I was) and we had a great conversation about our churches and outreach and her sister s congregation in South Carolina, and the many people who donated clothing, or purchased water or diapers, or gave their time to sort things and pack the truck. I think we practiced stewardship of time and money and energy this week, and there s a community in South Carolina that is very thankful. 4
I can think of other examples of when people give their time as a gift, to help others. We all have so many things in our schedules, but we make time for the important things. Just here around the church we have our Sunday door openers and coffee starters, we have our table setter-uppers to make sure that the tables in Gresham Hall are ready for events, and many of you volunteer with Family Promise. Deacons put up paraments and lock doors and take care of offering. Elders visit shut-ins with communion, bringing conversation and prayer. And that s just within the church. It doesn t count when you are on PTA or Needlework Guild or Rotary or visit your relative each week in the nursing home. We do practice good stewardship. But here s the clincher... I think we can do even better! Remember that the rich man was asked to give 100%. Jesus was not asking for that 10% tithe. The rich man was told to go, sell your possessions, and give it all to the poor. I would think that the rich man would have been thrilled to hear about a 10% tithe. That would have been easy! So I m wondering. Can we each take a mental survey of how much good we do with our money, time, and energy for others. Would it even be 10% or would we go away grieving knowing that even more is being asked of us? It is a bit of a mystery as to why the man went away grieving. Was he grieving because he was unwilling to part with all of his possessions and money. After all, his possessions were what brought him comfort and power. It is what he had worked for and what he enjoyed. Although he wanted to be assured that he could have eternal life, giving up all he had was too big of a sacrifice for him to be able to make, and so he was grieving. Or, maybe he was grieving because he knew that he would give it up but that it was just very hard to do and life as he knew it would be changed. He would be putting his trust in Jesus instead of material things. That would be a change and a difficult one at that, and so he was grieving. Nobody said that stewardship was easy, just like nobody said that Christianity was easy. From the beginning, the disciples and followers of Jesus were persecuted for how they lived and what they said. Even in this passage, Peter and the disciples are reminded that those who give up everything to follow Jesus will receive a hundredfold reward, including houses, family, fields... and persecutions. Jesus didn t sugar-coat the demands of following him. Yes, there would be rewards, but there would also be difficulties. Nobody said that a Christian life would be easy. As followers of Jesus Christ we are given a daily challenge to be good stewards. We are called to care for money and resources and people. We are called to give to the poor, and watch after the outcast, and feed the hungry, and manage our time. We are called to come and follow the teachings of Jesus 100%. 5
Let us pray: Dear God, we have so much, and yet we are called again and again to give to others. It can be difficult to be a good steward, to do good for others and not just refrain from doing harm. Guide us to open our wallets and our hearts and our arms and our schedules so that we can serve others and do good. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me. And what you want to give me is love, unconditional, everlasting love. Amen. Henri Nouwen 6