Mark 10:17-22 (Pentecost 21B)
St.  John, Galveston 10/13/24
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    This morning’s message is based on the Gospel reading from Mark 10. I suspect that it’s a familiar section of Scripture to many of you. A wealthy man approached Jesus one day and asked Him a question. Even though we sometimes say, there are no bad questions, this man’s question seriously challenged that principle. “Good Teacher (he asked), what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The question was a bad one because it indicated that the man neither understood righteousness before God under the Law, nor did he understand the nature of an inheritance.

    An inheritance, as I’m sure you know, is not earned. Rather, it’s given. Or, we could say, it’s received, depending on whose perspective we’re considering. In that regard, there is actually a nice tie in between this passage and the verse near the end of last Sunday’s Gospel reading, where Jesus said, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” The question the man asked was flawed because he was thinking of eternal life, not only as something he had to earn, but also as something he could earn. The rest of the passage is Jesus lovingly trying to correct the man’s faulty understanding of what an inheritance is, so that, he too would enter the Kingdom of God.

    I don’t know that I’ve ever done this before in a sermon, but I’d like to approach this morning’s reading by using a bit of alliteration, focusing on three words in verse 21 of Mark 10. The verse says, “Jesus, looking at (the man), loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” The words I’d like to focus on this morning are, looked, loved and lack. However, since I’m a Lutheran pastor, I’ll take them in an order more suited to the dividing of Law and Gospel. And so, Jesus looked at the man who lacked something to inherit eternal life and He loved him. 
    Jesus looked at the man. This in itself is an amazing thing. I mean, the fact that God knows us, that He knows you, and that He cares about every aspect of your life says a lot about God. That Jesus looked at the man speaks to the very nature of God. It highlights God’s desire to save mankind from sin and death. As much as we may think these things are self-evident regarding God, the fact is, this personal nature of God is part and parcel of the Gospel itself. We confess it in the words of the Creed, “who for us men and for our salvation  (Jesus) came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” The Scriptures too, speak of this amazing aspect of God’s nature, highlighting the fact that He came to us in the flesh to save us from sin, death and the devil. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood. He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”  

    And so, Jesus looked at the man, and He saw that he was lacking something to inherit eternal life. What was it that the man lacked? I mean, according to the description we’re given of him here in Mark 10, he seemed to have his life pretty well put together. He was rich, and since he clearly didn’t understand the nature of an inheritance, we can assume that he was probably pretty successful in life. He was also apparently a pretty upright sort of guy. I mean, when Jesus laid out before him the second table of the Law, that is, commandments 4 through 10, he said rather confidently, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”And so, at least outwardly, the man was a model citizen. Honestly, he was probably the sort of guy that mother’s and father’s would want their daughters to bring home on a date. So, what was it that this man lacked to enable him to inherit eternal life?

    Well, as it turns out, what he lacked was not outwardly evident. In other words, you couldn’t look at him and see what he was lacking. You see, what he lacked was a matter of the heart. Elsewhere, the Bible says, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” While it’s not likely that the man had actually kept all of the commandments in the second table of the Law as he said he did, it’s quite clear that he had stumbled over all the commandments in the first table of the Law. The first three commandments deal with a person’s relationship to God. You shall have no other gods before Me, you shall not take God’s name in vain, and you shall remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

    When Jesus told the man to “go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me,” the man walked away disheartened because he had many possessions. The point being, the man’s money, his possessions, were more important to him than anything else in life, including Jesus. And so, while Jesus wouldn’t tell everyone to sell everything they have and give it the poor, He told this man to do so, because He knew that his heart was far from God. He knew that the man’s greatest treasure was his money. Indeed, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

    Still, we’re told that Jesus loved the man. I said earlier that God is a personal God, in that He is intimately acquainted with His creation. The Incarnation of Jesus, that God took on human flesh, to save the word from sin and death, is evidence of God’s desire to know His creation. But, behind His desire to know us, to know you, is His love for you. God didn’t do what He did to save the world from sin and death in some mechanical, unfeeling fashion. Rather, He was moved by love. Indeed, “For God so loved the world (literally, the kosmos) that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.”

    Jesus looked at the man who was lacking and He loved Him. What those three words say to me, is that we don’t have to get our act together before God will love us and care about us. In that regard, I’m always mindful of one of Jesus’ disciples, namely Judas Iscariot. He’s the one, of course, of betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, a paltry some really. Judas brought the soldiers out into the garden that night to arrest Jesus. He had worked out a sign with the soldiers so they would know which one of the men in the garden was Jesus. “I’ll give Him a kiss on the cheek, Judas said.” When I do, you’ll know that the one I kiss is Jesus. That night, Judas approached Jesus to kiss him. And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you do, quickly.” 
     
    Jesus called His betrayer His friend. Like the man in this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus loved Judas to the very end. God doesn’t require us to get our act together so that He can love us. Rather, He loves us, that His love might move us to repentance and to joyously receive what He so desires to give us. The Kingdom of God, eternal life, is given to us. Or, from our perspective, we receive it as we would receive a gift.

    “We should learn to bring our eyes (says Luther), our hearts and souls to bear upon yonder life in heaven and in a lively hope await it with joy. For if we would be Christians, the ultimate objects of our quest should not be marrying, giving in marriage, buying, selling, planting, building, activities that  Jesus says the wicked will be engaged in especially before the Last Day. To be sure, we too, must use these things in order to satisfy the needs of the body. But our ultimate quest should be something better and higher; the blessed inheritance in heaven that does not pass away.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.  

+ Soli Deo Gloria +