21st Sunday of Trinity, Mark 10:23-31

Oct. 21, 2012; 21st Sunday of Holy Trinity; Texts: Psalm 119:9-16; Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Hebrew 4:1-13 (14-16); Mark 10:23-31; Title: They Get it When Jesus said it. Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

There Jesus goes again, getting his disciples all worked up to make a point. It takes a while before they get it, just like it does us. If only Jesus just came out and said it… probably no one would listen. He makes us think and that’s hard work. And believing is not our work at all. To make sure everyone was tuned in Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” How difficult, how challenging, how fraught with thorns to enter the kingdom of God… for those with wealth, substance, enough stuff!

          Jesus doesn’t say at first, the fat Wall Street cats or the Hollywood actors richer yet. The first word for wealth he uses is if you have more than enough for today, like a home, a car, a bank account. You don’t even need to own a boat to qualify for this word “wealth”.  People of substance find it hard, damn hard, to get into the kingdom of God (Pardon the clear expression of Jesus’ warning). Why does Jesus talk this way? Everyone just watched a rich young ruler walk away from the kingdom after asking, “What must I do to enter the kingdom of God.”  The ruler outrageously said he obeyed the law from his youth. So because Jesus, the king, loved him, he said something outrageous for just that young man. “Sell all you have, give to the poor, and come follow me…”  Was wealth the issue or something wealth can do to a person? What does wealth do to make it hard to enter the kingdom of God?

          The young ruler’s problem is fairly easy to sort out. First, he didn’t let the law do its proper work. He looked at the law superficially so it made him proud. He thought he deserved God’s favor. Then Jesus knocked the stuffing out of his pillow, because he loved him. Jesus proved the man loved money more than God. The young ruler despite thinking himself OK was breaking the first commandment. So why when Jesus said how hard it is to enter the kingdom if you have wealth his disciples were amazed? And after Jesus saw their amazement he replied to their exclamations of surprise. Jesus said to them again, literally, Jesus answered them, saying… “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished.

          This time Jesus uses a word for rich that means the really rich. We went from middle class to upper crust. And the disciples were beyond astonished. They were literally struck with amazement, dumbfounded and panicked. This was crazy talk.  Before we consider the crazy talk let’s look at the figure of speech Jesus used, about camels and needles. It is a bit weird. Naturally, it is camel fodder for commentators who suggest what Jesus may have meant. In the fifteenth century, for the first time we know of, someone said Jesus meant the needle gate in Jerusalem. A camel could get through there, if all its baggage was unloaded; and if it groaned and harrumphed its way through on its knees. That illustration fit medieval theology quite well. You can make it into the kingdom of God if you work hard enough. Interpreters said the camel was an allegory, meaning someone who wanted to get into heaven must unload this world’s goods, give it to the church, and i.e., become a monk or nun.  It’s a clever interpretation, but not what Jesus said and so not what he meant. In the 5^th century others suggested a slight word modification. In stead of the Greek kam-e-los, maybe Jesus said kam-i-los, which wasn’t a camel but a heavy rope. Then the illustration is you can’t get through an eye of a needle by your own efforts. The rope is too big. The meaning is closer to what Jesus said, but it is not what he said either. The early manuscripts are not in dispute about the camel or needle’s eye. Jesus said, you can’t get Palestine’s biggest animal through the tiny hole of a needle, any more than you can do it in a pig’s eye or an elephant’s eye. That’s how hard it is for a really rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven, children! 

          And don’t forget that Jesus said “children.”  That is a clue. Do you remember two weeks ago the text said something like “unless you become like one of these (referring to infants) you cannot enter the kingdom of God?” What was it about very young children that Jesus praised? Now Jesus calls 12 grown men, some of them older than he, “children” while they are having a panic attack because the rich can’t do it.  Now, what’s wrong with being rich? We’re used to hearing that rich folks are greedy and selfish. They won’t even pet a poor man’s dog (By the way, saying that is breaking the 8^th commandment).  That’s not how folks looked at the rich in Judea back then. Popular opinion was if you had enough to eat every day, a nice place to live, two changes of clothes, and the good opinion of others that was God’s blessing. And we agree. When something nice comes our way we say, “What a blessing!” And it is, unless like the young ruler it keeps us from the kingdom of God.    

          So what of the really rich? Not only are those folks really blessed by God, because they have the most, in that day they were most often in church. The really rich were asked to direct the synagogues and were patrons for the temple. Surely that’s evidence of being close to God. The really rich, like the rich young ruler got elected to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish government over most things religious and civil. Surely that’s evidence of being blest by God. They were nearest the holy things. But do you see the problem in that assumption? Handling holy things, being thought of as holy by others doesn’t mean you “get it.” But our ideas are not so different today. I know I’m complaining, but why does the district president get paid 3x what the average pastor gets?  Is it because of his position? He represents the church as one most blest by God?

          So why do we think people with the most-est are most blest by God, when         they really are the least-est likely to enter God’s kingdom? For example, the rich young ruler respectfully bows to Jesus. He is blessed - untroubled, unbroken, enjoying the honor of men but not knowing the dishonor of a cross. Folks thought, he thought, he was closest to God. But he was an idolater who didn’t even know it. Those with “big” wealth can have about anything they want; and a lot of that is just given to them, like honor, and spiritual rule. That’s the danger of wealth. The issue is not only a false security in wealth; it is a false idea about what blessing is. We think ease is blessing, our trials not. How foolish can we be? And the disciples in their amazed panic turn a vital corner. They ask if those most blest by God cannot do it, cannot save themselves, who can be saved? Do you know, “children?” Yet the disciples ask the right question in the right way. They said to him, “Then who can be saved?”

          The talk changes from who is able to enter the kingdom, who can do it, if not those with wealth. The talk is a different word: it is “be saved.” That is not something you, I, or the most financially empowered person does. Note the grammar: “Who can be” is passive. “Saved” is also passive. Someone other than the person needing salvation must do the action. The disciples get it. It is not “who has the ability to save themselves” (active voice). It is “by whom can we be saved” (passive voice). It took a while before they got it, and only after Jesus got them all worked up. Then He drives the point home, for us as well. They get it when Jesus said it. When he first looked at them they tuned in, now there is a different word for look, meaning, he gazes intently on them. It’s time for the fat lady to sing.  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, (adunatov) but not with God. For all things are possible (dunatov) with God.”

          We could translate: with man - unable, un-empowered but not with God. For all things are able, empowered, with God. Isn’t that amazing? It is God’s blessing! Doesn’t it take a load off your shoulders? None of us must be blest by worldly standards to enter the kingdom. Wealth, influence, public esteem, education isn’t required to be saved. Nor do you have to sell everything and become a monk to be saved. In fact, all our work to obey the law won’t save us, since we fail at every point even when we don’t know it. In short, we cannot save ourselves. It is impossible with man (“man,” the generic word for all human beings, no discrimination of sex, age, race, handicap, income or criminal record). 

          So how do you get into the kingdom of heaven? Answer: for you, impossible, with God, possible! He can do it and He does. How good is that news? You are saved by God’s grace. He saves you through Christ, by water and word, making you His little children. With God all things are possible, all things, including saving the wealthy. Did Peter get the point? Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”  He can’t mean “I’ll get into the kingdom because unlike the rich young ruler I left all behind?” If so, he’s forgotten what he and Jesus just said. How do we make sense of what Peter means? Consider this: Peter said he left all to follow Jesus, but had he really left all?  Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection what did Peter do? He went fishing. It sounds like he kept his boat. And he was married. Scripture records He had a house and a boat. Maybe he even owned a donkey.  He had wealth. Peter has in mind what is possible with God. “Lord, we left all to follow you.” Such deeds are the result of being saved.  “Some of us had wealth, a home and donkey and a boat. Then you called us to follow, you made us fishers of men.” “You’ve done the impossible. You’ve brought us into the kingdom of God. You made all the difference.”

          Does that describe what happens when the Lord works faith in us? Is that what faith does, we receive from Jesus and with joy follow? Only in view of grace and faith it makes sense when Jesus solemnly said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Jesus calls us into the kingdom of God. And faith inherits all the blessings of God, including persecutions in this time. In this time, an interesting expression: not chronological time but the time of significance, of a season, a purpose. In this time, when Jesus looks intently at us to get our attention, to grasp us, to teach us, to feed us, to shepherd us, to discipline us, to save us.  In this time when despite our sinful nature He brings us into the kingdom of God, blessing us even with persecutions that keep us from self-reliance.            In this time we are receiving all that is promised, even if we don’t see paradise or see the fellowship of the saints for all that it is, yet.

          We are receiving the kingdom of God with brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, lands. Faith sees we are incredibly wealthy. We will inherit the king’s kingdom. Those who see as the world sees will not enter the kingdom of God, for they think they are able - like the rich young ruler. That’s the idolatry of self. But those, whose eyes are opened by Christ, repenting our sin of unbelief and    hearing the word of forgiveness, receive boundless blessings. We will be given, we will be blest with what counts most, with what is priceless, even a cross, until we hear the Father say “enter into my joy, forever.” With God, all things are possible.

He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Grant this O Lord, unto us all. (Amen)