Proper 23 Year B

Sometimes you have to lose in order to win!

Mark 10;17-31

A few years ago, I took an Anatomy and Physiology class at the local college. I was in my sixties at the time and was taking it purely out of interest. What fun it was just to take a class for the enjoyment of it, and not necessarily to have to find a way to turn it into dollars and cents.

I was amazed, however, at how many times students would ask the same questions over and over again:

 Do we have to know this?  Is this going to be on the test?

Actually, it was unbelievable to me. There sat future doctors, nurses, and other critical patient care professionals asking, Do we have to know this?  Is this going to be on the test?  Someone who might do open heart surgery on me someday was more interested in the mechanics of passing an undergraduate test than the material that was being covered.

The rich young man who confronts Jesus in our Gospel this morning is asking a similar question. Here is a man who knows how to score high marks.

Here is a man who has worked hard to maintain a meticulously diversified portfolio.

Here’s a guy who moved from Microsoft to Apple Computer just at the right time.

His IRA’s and his 401K’s and his Tax Deferred Annuities are all in place and impeccably well-managed. The apartment complex that he owns along with the condo on the seashore are all managing to keep his taxes down and his assets up, and he traded his gas guzzling SUV on a Toyota well before oil prices escalated.

This guy is successful by most everybody’s standards. He’s worked hard and done a lot of things right to get where he is, but still, there’s this thing called salvation, and this rich young man thinks of it as a commodity just like everything else he owns, and he’s not sure he’s added enough of it to his strong box of personal valuables.

So, he approaches Jesus with this question:

Good Teacher what must I DO. . .? 

Now Jesus knows right away, without even blinking an eye, that essentially this man is more interested in passing the test than he is in the gift of life that Jesus is offering free of charge, even to ragamuffins and sinners. To this rich young man, the whole concept of free grace is incomprehensible. Hence, he asks: What must I DO. . .?

He can’t believe anything is free without DOING something to obtain it. In fact, I suspect that he finds free grace offensive, because such a concept would mean that others who are less deserving are receiving it.

Jesus can tell from that question, What must I DO? that this man is interested in the mechanics of religion, the mechanics of achieving a passing score. He wants to know what’s going to be on the test. Jesus can tell that he has made his method of acquisition of wealth — his method of acquisition of everything. Even the gift of salvation which, you understand, requires no method of acquisition at all.

This man is a winner, but here’s the problem: he’s asking his question of Jesus. This is the same Jesus who says, Lose your life if you want to gain it. This man comes with a systematic theology of winning and presents it to a Messiah who holds to a completely non-systematic theology of losing.

It’s true, this man, like so many of us, has come to the realization that there must be a spiritual something beyond what he has already achieved. The problem is he can’t possibly imagine that the spiritual something could be obtained by any other means than by continuing to be a winner. . . than by manipulating God, for these are the methods to which he is so accustomed.

Jesus knows that this first century yuppie mistakenly believes that there are certain good deeds that will make him the teacher’s pet. . . that will get him in good with God. Now maybe we have a clue as to why Jesus questions the man’s use of the word Good. It’s almost like Jesus is saying, You think it’s all about being good, don’t you? Well, forget it. You couldn’t be that good no matter how much you DO. God’s giving you a passing score, so stop trying to get the answer key ahead of time. Stop thinking you can DO anything that will make you any more accepted than you already are. Stop trying to be a spiritual winner, and simply accept God’s acceptance of you!

You see, this man has been worrying about the test for so long, that he just can’t trust that Jesus is going to give him all the answers and then call off the exam!  A whole lot of the world out there thinks that we who sit in churches every Sunday do so because we’re losers, and for Christ’s sake, I hope they’re right.

One Saturday a very successful businessman was hard at work washing his car when he met the best salesman in the world, and he was only five years old.

Little Danny watched as the man wiped off the hood of his car ever so carefully, and then he said, That’s sure a beautiful car, Mister.

Such a compliment, as you can imagine, caused the man to stand straight up. Danny then held out three sticks of gum and asked, I’m selling gum; would you like a piece?  They’re only a penny.

Sure, I’d like a piece of gum, said the businessman.  He paid Danny his penny and popped the gum into his mouth.  Only then did the man caution the young lad:

Have you ever considered the economics of your proposition?  Have you figured the profit ratio?  Have you included your labor and your overhead in your calculations?

Danny said, I don’t know about that kind of stuff. I’m only five years old.

The successful man of means went on to explain to Danny that he couldn’t make a profit selling his gum at a penny a stick when the pack cost much more than that, unless you had a tax angle or something.

And Danny said, But mister, it doesn’t work that way.  Usually what happens is people give me a nickel or a dime, and they don’t take my gum.

Now that’s Jesus economics; the economics of Free Grace!

You see, I think Jesus’ message in this Gospel to all of us is that when it comes to God and Salvation, all the scheming in the world won’t measure up to just an ounce of trust. And once you trust that the gift is free, you’ll want to do all kinds of good things, but only because you can’t think of anything else to do in the midst of such love and generosity.

What must I Do, Jesus?

And how does Jesus answer? He answers by challenging the man’s intentions. He does this by quoting him a few of the commandments: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness, and if all of those are just a bit too ethereal. Jesus adds an extra commandment not listed in the original ten but, perhaps, one that might hit a little closer to home: You shall not defraud.

Now don’t misinterpret this. Jesus isn’t saying follow these rules, that’s what you have to do. No, I think Jesus is handing the man a straight line here, and then hoping that he might draw the right conclusions on his own. I think Jesus was hoping that he might say something like:

 Oh, I get you. I haven’t been all that successful at keeping the commandments, so hopefully it’s not just about being a winner; it’s not just about being right and doing the right things… maybe it’s not just about being good.

But, instead, listen to his pathetic answer: Teacher, I ‘ve done all that good stuff ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.

This guy needed so much to be a winner that he’d lie to his grandmother if it would get him one rung higher.

Now the Gospel tells us that Jesus looked at this man with love.  Do you know why? Because Jesus loves us even when, especially when, we get it wrong.

But I’m sure that the Savior must have thought to himself, You poor, lovable guy.  You still don’t get it do you?  I love you, probably more than you will ever know, but it just doesn’t work that way. You have to lose your life if you want to save it. You have to stop thinking you can climb the ladder of spiritual success and just trust that it’s God’s good pleasure to give it to you, no strings attached, and no, you won’t have to clean your room or take out the garbage first.

This man of many possessions isn’t dumb, but he sure seems a bit slow. And so, in one last attempt to get through to him, Jesus tells him to go and sell everything and give the money away. Now when many of us hear this part of the Gospel, we start thinking just like the man in the Gospel. We take a complete inventory of all our household goods right down to what’s parked in the garage and wonder where we stand on the scale of salvation. But all of that misses the point.  

This Gospel is not about the evils of money; it’s not about equal distribution of wealth. It’s not about communal living, or a system of holy socialism. What Jesus is trying to tell the man is to stop worrying about what’s going to be on the test and start thinking like a loser.

Trying to save yourself is as hard as trying to get those camel humps through the eye of a needle. Trying to manipulate your way into the wholeness God wants for each of us really is quite impossible, but did you hear the Good News? It’s not impossible for God; God’s going to save everyone. Why? Because ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD. So go and lose your SELF. 

Go ahead, be a loser for Christ!