St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Pentecost 23b (Mark 10. 17-23 [24-31])
Our gospel this morning is NOT about money.
It is about what and whom we treasure most.
A man comes running to meet Jesus.
He was in such a hurry!
When he gets to Jesus, he does something someone never does to a mere rabbi.
In great reverence, he falls down on his knees.
He looks up with a face full of hope and enthusiasm and says, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Eternal life meaning God's kingdom.
Eternal life meaning the path to life with God.
Jesus gives him a list of 6 commandments.
5 of the big 10, with an extra thrown in.
The man knows that there's got to be more to inherit eternal life.
He's never murdered or committed adultery or lied or even defrauded.
He's honored his parents.
Of course there's more.
That list of don'ts and do's would be expectations of simply being a good person.
A generally established code for proper human behavior.
So because Jesus loved him, Jesus told him the truth.
Jesus takes the expectation up a notch.
Jesus tells him, "Sell everything you have. Give it all to the poor.
Then follow me. That's what it will take for you to walk the path of life with God."
As far as I can figure, this is the only time in the Gospels that a person says no to Jesus' personal invitation to be his disciple.
The man's look of hopeful, happy anticipation turns to one of great sadness.
Perhaps he even cried.
You can imagine how dejectedly he walks away.
Don't we like to think that the rich man is someone very different than us?
But don't each of us have riches and possessions and all sorts of things going for us?
What the man relied most upon for safety and comfort is what insulated him from a true and absolute relationship with God.
What do we rely upon that insulates us from a true and absolute relationship with God? What Jesus said was so countercultural.
Then. Now.

All good Jews knew that God blessed those God loved with great material prosperity. Does that sound familiar to anything we hear today?
All good Jews knew that God expected all those whom God loved to give alms to those who were poor. Don't we still believe that?
But to give up all that one had? Give it all to some poor person-who'd probably done something awful to be so poor?
That wasn't anywhere in the book of God's law.
Then. Now. Was it? Is it?
When we talk about riches and wealth and what we treasure, it's helpful to remember the Greek word that is often translated as wealth or riches: mamanos.
Mamanos means that on which one makes a base.
On what or whom do we base our lives?
Jesus says that those who follow him are called to a new kind of materialism.
Jesus says those who follow him have a new kind of material life-a call to serve others.
Christians, those who follow Jesus, must choose between the materialism of self- absorption and the new materialism of absorption in the love and care for others.
Between the materialism of meeting my own needs and the new materialism of serving the needs of others.

Between a materialism of goods and a new materialism of good works.
Those who follow Jesus are not most concerned with the accumulation of goods and status but the accumulation of relationships, particularly with those in need.
Those who follow Jesus most treasure the relationship we have with God.
The relationship which will truly affect what we choose to treasure.
I have a dear friend who has a master's degree and only lacks finishing her dissertation to earning her Ph.D.
She has taught in colleges; she has been the manager of two successful stores.
A few years ago she decided to sell or give away most of what she has and put the little that was left in storage.
She lives in the attic room of a family's home and works in a retail store.
She has chosen to do this so that she can be free to come and go to help care for her adult son who is fighting cancer.
This was a person who had a dream house, a dream wardrobe, a dream car.
A lifestyle that many would admire and desire.
She made this sacrifice so that she could better serve the needs of her son.
Interestingly, her parents don't understand-why doesn't she have her own place? Why doesn't she have a real job?
My friend believed that all her beautiful stuff and her time choices of lifestyle and career would have gotten in the way of her relationship with her son.
I think that Jesus would point her out in a crowd and say that she has received "a hundred times in this present age."
Of course working or having a meaningful career is not bad.
Of course having stuff is not bad.
Of course having a good time is not bad.
But Christians are called to something more than the minimum that is expected to be a good person.

One man has described what Christians are called to have is a materialism of blood, sweat, and tears (Andrew Warner in Christian Century).
What materialism defines us?
Christians know that it is not through our stuff that God shows God's favor upon us. It is through the quality of our relationships with others and with God that we experience the fullness of God's grace.
I will tell you the truth: Jesus does say that when we leave all for Jesus' sake and the gospel's sake that we will receive the fullness of God's grace today, a hundred fold-not only in God's provision for us (as God provides) and in our relationships, and oh, yes, in our persecutions, too.
Jesus tells us the truth.
It will be impossible for us to do this.
Relying on ourself, that is, it will be impossible
It will be absolutely possible for God to do this with us.
Relying on God, that is, all is possible.

We're never told what happens to the man who walked away.
I like to think that after living life his own way, that one day he had the courage to choose Jesus' way.
What about us?
Hearing Jesus' invitation, will we walk away with dejection because it's too much to be asked? Or will we run to accept that invitation-knowing that because it's too much to be asked, that God absolutely will do it with us. AMEN