Saturday, October 14, 2006

Rich Folks

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, AR
October 15, 2006; 19 Pentecost, Proper 23, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Mark 10:17-31) As he 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, 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."
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It's really the wrong question. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

The fact is, there's nothing you must do to be saved. The great message of the gospel, so passionately refined by St. Paul in particular, is that salvation is a gift. A pure gift. There's nothing you need to do to be saved. Simply accept the fact that you are loved and accepted. God loves you unconditionally. God loves this man of many possessions unconditionally. The gospel writer Mark, who is so economical with his accounts, includes this wonderful description of this wealthy man, "Jesus, looking at him, loved him." That's the divine perspective. God looks at us, all of us, and loves us. There's nothing you have to do to earn that love. It is a gift. More than that, it's just the way God is. God is love.

So it's the wrong question -- "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" There's nothing that he or anyone else can do to inherit eternal life. "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."

So, given the fact that God wishes to give eternal life as a sheer gift, that God wants us to live in the fullness of God's kingdom, how do we live? Now that's a better question, a healing question. How can I be whole? How can I be authentic? How can I be truly happy? How can I fully cooperate with what God is doing for the healing of the world? That's what's underneath this man's earnest question.

This good man -- who has never murdered or committed adultery or stolen or lied or defrauded --this good man needs something. The one thing this man needs, is to be whole, authentic, truly happy and cooperating with what God is doing for the healing of the world. The one thing this mans needs is to be freed from his possessions. "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." But, it was too much of him. He was possessed by his possessions. He went away, grieving.

I ran across something written by a woman who is the pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Edison, Georgia. Stacey Elizabeth Simpson's reaction to this story about the rich man who goes away grieving reminds me of my own first reaction. She writes, "I remember the first time I read this story I was seven years old, reading Mark's Gospel in bed. When I got to verse 25, I was so alarmed that I slammed the Bible shut, jumped out of bed, and went running down the hall. I shook my mother out of a sound sleep. 'Mom,' I whispered urgently, 'Jesus says that rich people don't go to heaven!'

"'We are not rich. Go back to bed,' came my mother's response.

"I knew better. I knew I had all I needed plus plenty more. I would later learn of fascinating attempts to soften the text (the use of the word 'camel' for 'rope,' of 'eye of the needle' for 'a small gate'), but the little girl inside me knew that these words of Jesus were hard and scary."

These words of Jesus are hard and scary for me too. I am a wealthy person. I too am possessed by my possessions. I also come away grieving from this story. Like the disciples, I come away perplexed asking anxiously. "Then who can be saved?"

It takes a bit of surrender to accept the answer. "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." Part of what that means is that ultimately, I'm not special. Even though I am rich and fairly powerful, there's nothing I can do to inherit eternal life. Whatever good things I may think I've accomplished, that's not enough to merit my eternal life. It's impossible. Ultimately I'll enter eternal life dead and penniless. "For God all things are possible."

In the meantime, how can I be a little more whole, a little more authentic? One way is to live more freely, less possessed. That was the invitation to healing that Jesus offered the man with many possessions. Give up some of your power, some of your possessions, and you will have treasure in heaven. You see, people like us, people who are relatively secure, rich and powerful tend to think we can bend life in our own direction. Because we tend to be able to handle most things we think we can probably handle nearly all things. We tend to think we can do something even to inherit eternal life. There is something that is lacking in us because we've been relatively secure.

That's why it is important for us to practice some freedom from our security, our wealth and our power. Those things get in the way of our trust and dependence upon God. We need some practice to trust God and accept our vulnerability. To give money away is good practice. Especially for people like me who have a lot of it. I find that tithing is a good habit. But even tithing is not too hard for people like me who make more money than we actually need. I have a friend who is a stewardship consultant, and he tells people, "Give 'til it hurts. That's what feels great." Give until you can feel some twinge of vulnerability, some need to trust God.

Jesus spoke most vibrantly to the poor, the vulnerable, the marginal who live close to the fragility of life. Jesus feels especially close to us in our vulnerability. St. Francis and many other spiritual greats have voluntarily embraced a life of chosen vulnerability as a path toward deeper trust in God. Some of the most inspiring people I've known have been homeless and poor, people who live in active trust in God because they have nothing else to trust in.

Jesus' invitation to give away possessions is an invitation to a fuller life. And notice, at then end of this passage he promises that such generosity has its rewards. He speaks as one of the prophets who traditionally comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. It's another reminder that those of us who are rich -- and from an international perspective, that's nearly all of us in this room -- those of us who are rich live in some spiritual danger because of our wealth and power.

Yet Jesus dined with the rich. (He was criticized for it too.) And there is one rich person who is praised in the gospel story. Joseph of Arimethea is wealthy and powerful, a member of the ruling Sanhedrin. Joseph used his wealth and power to befriend Jesus. It was in Joseph's own tomb that Jesus was buried. Joseph gave his support at some risk. He was offering generosity toward one whose execution was endorsed by the Sanhedrin and by other monied interests. Joseph stuck his neck out and risked some of his public standing to befriend the poor executed criminal, Jesus.

Those of us who are rich and whose needs are met have not just a moral obligation but also a spiritual opportunity, according to the consistent witness of scripture. If we do not choose voluntarily to become part of the community of the poor, as did St. Francis and others, then at the very least we are called to share God's values, which include what the theologians call a "preferential option for the poor." We can choose to use our wealth and power on behalf of the poor? If we are unable to sell what we own and give money to the poor, we can be generous in using our means and our influence on their behalf.

I'm glad to say, that's part of the heritage of this church. This is a wealthy church. But we are also a generous church. We do give much to the poor, through Community Meals, Seven Hills Homeless Center, the Community Clinic at St. Francis House, Cooperative Emergency Outreach, the Discretionary Fund, tutoring, Community Kids Closet, and other ways too many to mention. That's all good, and it does help cooperate with God's reconciling work to heal the world.

But it's best seen as a response of thanksgiving because all that we need has already been given to us as a gift. After all, there's nothing we can do to inherit eternal life. God has already given us our place in that union of all things which is God's reign. Therefore, there is nothing we need to hold on to, nothing we need to grasp possessively for our security. Ultimately, we are free. Free, even of our possessions. I know it may sound pretty impossible. But not for God; for God all things are possible.