Today’s gospel reading probably
strikes more fear in the hearts of us more than any other. While Jesus often spoke about the allure of
wealth, the false feeling of safety and power it creates, and the way people
get hurt in its abuse, nowhere else does he so blatantly say, “Sell all that
you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; then come, follow me.” (Luke
18:22)
To say that we don’t like hearing
that is putting it mildly. We
immediately start to analyze the text looking for escapes and loopholes. Jesus really can’t mean that we have to sell
everything, give to the poor, and then follow him? Can he?
I’ve heard it said that Jesus didn’t
really mean that literally. He meant it
figuratively. He meant that we have to be
willing to sell everything, but not actually do it… unless specifically
asked to do it. Just like this rich
ruler.
I wonder what kind of word we’d have
to hear from God before we’d actually obey.
It would have to be something stronger than the feeling a guilt and fear
that this text stirs in our bellies. I
suspect even if we were to step outside and the clouds would spell out,
beginning with our name… “sell all that you have and give the money to the
poor.” I suspect we’d ignore it. Or perhaps we’d fund an atmospheric study on
climate change to figure out what was going on for such a weather phenomenon to
occur.
Well, I have bad news for you. I’m NOT going to soften the blow of this text.
I’m
not going to say you don’t have to, but be willing to.
I’m
not going to say that we really don’t qualify as being wealthy enough to heed
this command – this is meant for people wealthier and more prominent than
ourselves.
No,
I’m going to let this text stand as it is.
So, what do we do with it?
Let’s note that there are a number
of stark contrasts going on here. People
are also talking past each other.
Perhaps the most important one of those is the way “Kingdom of God” and
“eternal life” are mixed together.
It is always important to remember
that when Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven,
he is not talking about eternal life.
Kingdom of God refers to here and now.
This time. This place. He means the dynamics of God’s will alive and
real for people to see and live in right now.
Eternal life is something that is
actually talked about rarely in the Bible.
In this text though, we find them mixed.
The rich ruler asks, “Good teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Obviously this is about eternal life.
Jesus’ answer is, “How hard it will
be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” This is about the
present age.
The response of those who heard it
is, “Then who can be saved?” So the
crowd is thinking eternal life.
After a couple sentences Jesus says,
“Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or
parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back
very much more in this age…”
You see clearly there the way
Jesus connects kingdom of God with life here and now.
But then Jesus concludes, “…and in
the age to come eternal life.”
So, these two things are indeed
separate. And yet here they are linked. Keep that thought in mind because we’ll come
back to that. But there’s another
dynamic we have to bring in by going back to the beginning.
The
ruler asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” That sentence is fraught with problems and
dripping with subtle arrogance. At first
it seems deeply respectful. He calls
Jesus “Good” and “Teacher.” And Jesus’
reply seems nonsensical, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”
Come on Jesus, if you don’t qualify
as good, who does?!?
Yet he’s calling the guy out
on his very flawed world view. This guy
addresses Jesus as good and teacher because that is the game of status,
privilege, and trading favors. He’s
honoring Jesus because he expects Jesus to honor him as an equal in return.
Jesus’ response is not a knock on Jesus’
own goodness. It is a refusal to play
the world’s game of status and honor.
Remember back to the testing of Jesus at the beginning of the gospel? The devil says to Jesus after showing him the
glory of the world, “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:7)
In other words, “Jesus, you’ve got what it takes to be top dog in this
world. Play the game of life like
everyone else and you’ll come out the clear winner.” Jesus refused then. And he refuses this ruler’s world view.
We see more of it as his sentence
continues, “…what must I do…”
Notice he does not say, “What is the path to eternal life.” He does not say, “Jesus can you help me
attain eternal life.” No, he says, “What
must I do…” The focus is on
himself. It’s about his own abilities
and wealth and talents. If you were here
last week you may remember the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax
Collector. The Pharisee prayed, “God, I
thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even
like this tax collector.” There we also
saw someone focused upon himself and his own abilities.
And then to put a cherry on the top
of the arrogance sundae from this rich ruler, “what must I do to inherit eternal
life?”
Inheritance is legal language. He sees life and salvation as if it were a
business transaction with God.
Jesus’ response at first makes it
sound like that’s how it is. He says, “You
know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder;
You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and
mother.’”
And, with a sense of business
negotiation the ruler replies, “I have kept all these since my youth.”
But Jesus’ answer pulls the rug out
from under his feet.
Jesus asks this guy to give up far
more than his possessions. That’s
actually the easier task. Jesus is
asking this guy to give up his self-focus; his ability to depend upon
himself. He’s asking him to become
dependent upon God. And if he is to
enter the kingdom of God (again, this means God’s reign here on earth) then
he’s going to have to become interdependent with other people. He’s got to give up his self-reliance.
Let’s bring back in the kingdom of
God/eternal life distinction we had earlier.
Why
do our possessions here and now mean so much to us? Why do passages like this bother us so
much? Because we use our possessions to
give us an identity. Our homes, our
clothes, our cars all say something about us: wealthy, poor; successful,
failure; important, ignorable; worthwhile, worthless.
Our
possessions also give us a sense of security.
If you have money you have choices.
And you have power. If you don’t
have money you are at the mercy of whatever comes your way. We perceive money to be security.
This
text challenges us to see possessions differently. Instead of money being identity and security,
are we able to take the daring step of seeing money as opportunity? Can we see our resources not for ourselves
but as power to bring about God’s kingdom on earth? Can we genuinely and generously use our
resources to build up the value of other people? Can we use our resources to create community
for all?
Notice
I did not say to become an enabler.
Notice I did not say put yourself in the poorhouse. But I did say see money and possessions as resources
to build community.
God invites us -and wants us- to build his kingdom here and now on this earth. It would be a community where all have value. Where all contribute meaningfully, and all have what they need. That would be a wonderful world! That is a world where we contribute to God’s kingdom now, and puts it on a path towards eternal life. Remember we talked about the merger of those ideas at the beginning.
Now our gospel reading for today
should have ended with the words, “…to be continued.” For indeed we only saw the first half of a
two-part episode. Next week we will meet
another rich ruler. I’m not going to
give his name this week. I’ll save it
for next week and I’m almost certain you’ll recognize him. There we will see what happens when someone
does take to heart the grace of God.
There we will see when a rich person does enter the kingdom of God –
here on this earth. And how it places
him in God’s salvation.
For now though, we need to live in
the dis-ease of our lives and of our possessions. Relying on them will take us nowhere. But seeing them as a gift and an opportunity
will empower us to create God’s kingdom.
That is a kingdom that begins now and extends to eternal life.
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