March 12, 2023 Lent 3 Matthew 19:16-20-16

             Well, here we have it.  The most dreaded of all of Jesus’ teachings.  Sell what you have.  Give the money to the poor.  Then come follow me.  It offends everything about our lives.  It cuts at the heart of who we are and how we understand ourselves.  I don’t believe there is any other biblical passage that has gotten more attention with people trying to wiggle out of it.  Some say the eye of the needle was a gate in Jerusalem that a loaded camel couldn’t fit through.  So it had to be unloaded before squeezing in.  Interesting idea… total nonsense. 

Some say these words from Jesus are only for a select few – those to whom Jesus has made a special calling – like this rich young man, or someone in a religious order, or something like that. 

Some jump to logical conclusions.  They say if everyone sold everything and gave it away then how would anyone live.

Some say this rich young man was a special case.  That he was somehow more greedy than most.  That his wealth stood between him and true discipleship.

And my favorite – that Jesus didn’t really mean that we had to give up all our stuff.  He only just meant that we had to be willing to, if he asked us.

Ha!  All of it, total nonsense!

What cowards we are!

I’m not about to sugar coat it.  I am among those daring enough to say that this passage is most authoritatively spoken when we leave it as it is, which makes us stew uncomfortably in our own juices.

Here’s the thing.  In our lives money is just about everything.  If you have it you’ve got it all.  And if you don’t, you have nothing.

It’s more than us just not wanting to give up all the stuff of our lives because we like all our stuff.

And it’s more than just that money can buy us clothes that make us look good, and a house that gives us an identity, and a car that gives us status.

Money is safety.  Money is power.  To have money is to have an identity.  To have money is to have control.  No money… none of those things.

I recently read the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park.  I’m sure many of you have read it since it’s a true story based on the life of Salva Dut.  He’s one of the Lost Boys from Sudan who was resettled in Rochester twenty some years ago.  If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.  It’s only a little over a 100 pages long and the print is big.  If you can stomach reading it all at once it’ll only take an hour or so.

Salva is born in south Sudan to a family that we would consider poor.  For that area, however, he was somewhat well to do.  His father was a local leader.  His family had a house and cattle and he went to school.  But then when war breaks out he is suddenly forced to flee right from school.  With nothing except the clothes on his back he journeys on foot going from refugee camp to refugee camp for years on end.  He sees people starve to death, die from dehydration, and be forcibly driven from a refugee camp and be mowed down by gunfire simply at the whims of the government.

He has no power.  No identity.  No way to provide for himself.  No way to determine his future.  And no way to determine the whereabouts of his family, if by some slim chance some of them were still alive.

He spends years in refugee camps with nothing to do – nothing at all.  No job.  No education.  No entertainment.  Nothing.  He just sits there existing with no real purpose.

You see, that something else money gives us too – a purpose.  Money gives us a reason for being.  Even the ability to give money away is a luxury a person who has no money does not have.

How to picture this rich young man who comes to Jesus.  I suggest not reading more into the text than is there.  Do not imagine him as the type of guy who shows up wearing some expensive Italian suit, stepping out of a chauffer-driven limousine, with his nose in the air, and giving the affect of someone who’s living on a trust fund.

No, picture him this way.  If you have a daughter, picture him as the perfect man you imagine her bringing home as her boyfriend.  He’s intelligent.  He’s educated.  He has poise.  He’s dependable.  He knows the value of hard work.  His knows how to be fun and playful.  And he takes his faith deeply to heart.  He is perfection.

Or another image.  We’re not supposed to do this, but we do it anyway as a congregation.  There are certain people who when they visit people swarm around them wanting them to join the congregation.  We’re warm and friendly and welcoming.  And then there are others, who when they show up… well, sure, we welcome them.  We’re friendly.  But we won’t get all that fussed if they don’t return.  This man represents the perfect young man we’d want to have in our community of faith.

He asks, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  We immediately think, “Nothing!  You’re a shoe-in.  You’re perfect.  You are the model of what God wants from a person.  You are the poster boy of faith.  You even address Jesus as “teacher”, a show of honor and respect.”

…get rid of it all then come, follow me.

There is simply no place in our self-understanding for us to grasp what Jesus says to this guy.  It makes no sense whatsoever.

If you’ve been in worship regularly since last fall you may remember me mentioning that I’ve been visiting a woman in the hospital who is from Syracuse because it is too far for her pastor to come regularly.  She’s elderly, has had two strokes, and is on feeding tubes and a ventilator.  She is conscious and alert but she has no quality of living.  She has no purpose in life.  She has no hope of improvement.  And every time I go I ask God, “Why?”

Let’s roll right into the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.  That is Jesus’ teaching in response to the disciples’ bewilderment about the rich young man.  Workers are called to work in the vineyard at different parts of the day.  At the end of the day we, in our logic, would expect the money to be distributed according to how long they had worked.  It’s only fair.  It’s only just.  In fact, it’s about the only way it could possibly work.  Those who created greater value for the vineyard owner would be paid more than those who created lesser value.  No business could possibly operate otherwise.  But in the parable everyone gets equal pay.

Let’s always remember, Jesus loves to make his point by using absurdities and exaggerations.  I wouldn’t suggest trying to run a business like that!  But Jesus’ underlying point is made.  Value for God is not measured in the same way we measure value.

Value for God is not measure in the same way we measure value.  The story of the rich young man, the disbelieving response of the disciples, and the parable that follows upends every piece of truth we build our lives upon.

If we think it is all an excuse for laziness, or if we throw up our hands in exasperation then we’ve missed the point.  Focus on that rich young man again.  He is perfect.  He’s everything a model citizen should be.  He lives an authentic good-hearted, well-intended righteousness before God.

His chances of getting to eternal life?  Zero.  No chance whatsoever.  It is impossible.  Period.

Let these words of Jesus echo loudly in your head, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

We recently read Jesus saying that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you could move mountains.  Well, maybe you actually can’t.  But with enough dynamite and heavy excavation equipment you can move a mountain!

How about your ability to get to eternal life?  Absolutely, totally, completely, impossible!

It is the work of God, and God alone, that can do such an impossible task.

That is our faith.  That is our hope.  That is our trust.  With faith, hope, and trust there – and the knowledge that no matter how much money we have it is all still completely worthless before God – then we are actually in a place to understand our money.

Salva Dut knows that money can drill wells in South Sudan.  He’s devoted his life to raising money throughout the world to make it happen.  When a well is drilled life changes for everyone.  Boys and girls can go to school.  People can work constructively.  Poverty diminishes.  Being alive becomes an enjoyable and meaningful experience.

When you recognize how worthless your money is before God, then you are in a place where God can truly use your money in a worthwhile way.  That is the heart of Jesus’ challenge to the rich young man.  And that same challenge comes to us as well.