Spiritual Obstacles October 21, 2018 Rev. Stephanie Ryder

Spiritual Obstacles October 21, 2018 Rev. Stephanie Ryder Hebrews 4:12-16: Indeed, the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of the one to whom we must give account. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet without sin. Let us then approach God s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Mark 10:17-31: As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, 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, the man 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. The reason we have studied the Bible for millennia is not only because the ancient and timeless stories of truth give us insight and comfort us, but also because they challenge and perplex us. The Hebrew reading describes this active and living word of God as sharper than double-edged sword, piercing us and judging our thoughts and the intentions of our 1

hearts. And the lectionary perceptively pairs our Hebrew reading with the Gospel reading, one that most certainly challenges us and cuts deep into our souls and marrow. At first reading of the gospel passage, I feel sympathetic for the man who runs up and kneels before Jesus. The man says, Good teacher, what do I have to do to gain eternal life? and it seems like Jesus is in a really bad mood, like he doesn t really want to be bothered with the man, like he s super annoyed, as he sort of snaps at him, Why do you call me good? Only God is good! as if he s very uncomfortable taking a compliment. Then Jesus says, You know the commandments don t kill anybody, don t cheat on your wife, don t lie, don t steal, love your mom and dad, and the man says, Yes, I ve done all that since I was a kid! So Jesus gives him the once over and is like, Well, I don t know, then why don t you go and sell everything you own, give it to the poor? and the man turns and walks away, dejected and saddened. It wasn t at all what he expected. Jesus turns to his disciples and says, Whew! Man, it s gonna be hard for those rich people to enter heaven! They are perplexed, and he says it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But with closer examination we realize that this is not an accurate assessment of the passage, that Jesus wasn t really being cranky, impatient and arrogant with the man, because of the little phrase in verse 21: Jesus looks at him and loves him. Jesus loves this man who comes to him in need and so he is not just going to give him a gold star, say he s doing everything right and send him on his way. He s going to tell the man the truth about the one thing the man lacks. Jesus, who is known in John as the Word of God, is the doubleedged sword that pierces and judges our thoughts and intentions and from whom nothing is uncovered. He tells the man he lacks one thing; to go and sell what he owns and give the money to the poor. What is the one thing the man lacks? We know he has good manners and he keeps the commandments and we learn only after, as he walks away grieving, that he has many possessions. In ancient Israel, wealth was a sign of God s providence, there was a correlation between wealth and being blessed by God, and the opposite as well. If you re down and out, you ve obviously done something to be in that position. And I don t know that much has changed in 2,000 years. I think we still associate wealth with righteousness, and being poor with being pitiful. My pastor when I was a youth, the one who baptized me and confirmed me and celebrated my high school graduation with me, I looked him up after I became a pastor here. I grew up in a place very much like Marin, in a beautiful suburb of New York City. And my pastor, Steve Jacobs, told me when I spoke with him a couple of years ago that he went on a mission trip to Africa some years after serving at our congregation and he noticed something was just not right. Something didn t make sense. 2

The poor, destitute people in Africa who he was there to help were so happy, so connected, so soulful. And the people he ministered to in the wealthy suburb of New York City were riddled with all kinds of disorders and dysfunctions and none were, it seemed, truly happy. They were filled with angst. He ended up staying there in Africa for 8 years to try to understand what this was, why this disparity. Those who look like they have it all together and have attained the pinnacle of success are not fulfilled, and those who barely have enough to eat and no roof over their heads can t stop smiling and singing. What was it? Let s look back to Jesus first response to the man: that only God is good. The man s goods are not ultimately good, his prayer life and keeping of commandments and achievements and acceptance into a prestigious college and high-paying job and political power aren t ultimately what is good. Only God is good. The man seems to have what everyone would want, as evidenced by the disciples questioning that if he can t be saved, this wealthy commandment-following man, who can? Peter says to Jesus, Look! We have left everything and followed you! That s right, Jesus replies. All who leave their houses and families and work for my sake and for the sake of the good news will receive a hundredfold now, in this lifetime and in the age to come, though with some persecutions he inserts in there as if it s just a tiny inconvenience that really won t hardly be noticed at all. Peter and the other disciples were perhaps not as tied down with their possessions and commitments. They had less to lose. Jesus waved to them when they were out in their fishing boats and called, Follow me! and they re like, Cool! Let s go! They will have a house, a family and a new profession. A hundredfold of what they had. They re perhaps willing to risk leaving what they had because they weren t unhealthily attached to their stuff--what they had wasn t really too much to be concerned about. A couple of nets, an extra pair of sandals, perhaps. Nothing that can t easily be replaced. Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first, Jesus says. What does he mean? Were the disciples first and they re going to be last, and the man who s going to spend the rest of his life deciding what to sell and give to the poor will be first? Or is the man first because he s wealthy and they are last because they re poor? I know a story though about someone who was really first, as in The First Lady. Author Lisa McCubbin has just published a book about Betty Ford, and one of the scenes that stands out for me the most is when Betty s family confront her about her addiction, with love, they say, reminding me of the way Jesus confronts this man with the one thing he lacks after looking at him with love. Betty Ford s daughter Susan says it is still the most painful memory of her life, the intervention with her mom, and yet the family did it out of love, because they cared so deeply for her. Betty Ford is angry after the intervention, and the family is scared about the impact of what they have done as she is carted off to a rehab center. Once there, Betty is given the intake interview and then led her to her room. It s one room with 4 beds. She looks around, 3

perplexed. Uh, excuse me, but I was the First Lady, and I m used to having my own accommodations, she says, like, obviously, don t you realize this? And yet it is this very thing, sleeping on a cot next to 3 other addicts that Betty understands the meaning of humility that allows her to spend the rest of her life in service to others. She realizes she is just like them in her need for help. That she clearly doesn t have it all together. That she is really no different from the other women in the room who have a very big problem that is ruining their relationships and their lives. And perhaps this is how the first became last, and then the last become first. Perhaps it is about humility, and accepting who we are in the world in relation to God. One woman tells how a few years ago, in crisis, she went to a local Christian spiritual center and was assigned a spiritual director who was an elderly Catholic sister who listened to her story. The woman was told two simple things. First, the spiritual director said that God is love. Second, pointing her finger at the woman with firmness and affection, the spiritual director said: Remember, you are poor. She explained: you do not have the resources to save yourself, fix your problems, or change the world only God does. We are tempted to believe in our own ability and responsibility for our lives, in no small part because of our many possessions: great education, successful work life, health insurance, retirement savings, and a house full of stuff. We are tempted to believe that, based on our own efforts and knowledge, we can achieve a spiritual life, a godly life, eternal life. But we can t do this without God. For mortals, it is impossible, but for God, all things are possible. We can t save ourselves by our own power. We need God s power. This is the message that Jesus wants to give the man. The man asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. What can I do? First, you can t do it on your own. When I was preparing for ordination and the constitutional questions I would be asked, such as Will you fulfill your ministry in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture, and be continually guided by our confessions? And Will you pray for and seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love? a colleague told me that rather than say simply, I will, he answered, With God s help, I will. I loved the humility in this, that the only way to possibly attempt to do God s will is in partnership with God. Jesus is saying we don t attain spiritual ascendance on our own. If the emphasis is put on the word do in the man s question, What can I do to inherit eternal life, we realize that the question presents an oxymoron, because the very word inherit means it s a gift given that has nothing to do with our doing. We inherit eternal life by God s doing and our being our being human beings and not human doings. The man is focused on what he can do to inherit eternal life and Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give it all away. Perhaps only then will he experience that he actually needs God. That he doesn t have it all together on a spiritual level. He will then understand that there is a hole within him that only God can fill, that no matter how hard he tries to fill it with things, possessions, achievements, accolades, the hole will still be 4

there. When we put our hopes and trust in these things, temporary things, they become obstacles. I think we are all born with a hole in us. A hole we try all of our lives to fill. As one Bible study member recalled from a sermon she heard long ago, it is like if we have a bag of M&Ms, even when we eat the whole bag, we aren t ever satisfied. Goods temporarily appease our desire to possess and consume, however, we are only satisfied by giving it all away, by divesting in goods and taking out one of the o s and leaving space for God. Goods become good by being circulated, both given and received. When goods are hoarded by a few they are not good. Jesus isn t romanticizing poverty but uplifting the circulation of wealth. The return on investment is treasure in heaven: the infinite joy that God offers. Meister Eckhart, a 12 th c. German theologian said, God is not found in the soul by any kind of addition, but by a process of subtraction. Letting go and decluttering can be hard and challenging work; but in the end, it will lighten our load. It is hard to enter the kingdom of God when one has so much to lose. The way to eternal life is not through our own achievements but by surrendering and claiming our need for God. Recognizing we have nothing to lose. Ultimately, salvation lays not in our hands, but with God, without whose support we cannot realize our deepest desires. It is through human responsibility and God s grace. Jesus says in the prior passage in Mark, similar to inheriting eternal life in this passage, that to enter the kingdom of God, we must enter as children. Children are dependent and haven t acquired anything by their own power. What seems like foolishness and weakness in the world s eyes is our true hope and security: God s wisdom, power and mercy. This is the perplexing news of the gospel that there is power in weakness, wealth in simplicity, and freedom in humility. The good news is that with God, we are fully known, fully loved, and given infinite mercy and grace. God wants to be our everything, our all in all. God wants to do the impossible. Let s give it up for God!. 5