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| Some people want to get literal about the Bible except when it comes to gluttony and fiances! |
Sermon audio can be found here.
Just over a week ago I got engaged to be married (WAHOO!!!). This, at least to me, is very good news. My pending nuptials have since occupied my thoughts: Where will we get married? How much money do we want to spend on this celebration? Who all can we invite? These and many other questions have been swirling around in my mind. I usually sleep like a log at night, but this week I have been more restless. All of these questions have produced a bit of anxiety, but I take it as a good sign; I am taking this next step seriously. Admittedly though, I have a hard time not relating everything back to getting married, even today’s Scripture from Mark comes back to this life-changing event.
Kim and I are not uprooting our lives today, but things will certainly be different for us in the coming months. While I may not sell all my possessions, I know that the days of living in my bachelor pad are now numbered. We both live our lives as followers of Jesus, but the way we walk with Christ will be different as we join together as a married couple. This is all very good, but like any big step into the future (going to college, buying a house, moving jobs, getting a prognosis, confronting a loved one about addiction, etc.) it is not without its share of sorrow and sleepless nights. We may respond to these transitions like the man from today’s gospel story with shock and grief.
Scholars differ in how they interpret the departure of this man, who is a “ruler” in Luke’s account and “young” in Matthew’s account of the good news. Does the “rich, young ruler” walk away devastated because he does not want to get rid of what he has or is he grief-stricken as a result of letting go of everything that he owns? I tend to lean towards the sorrow stemming from having to let go of those possessions, so that he can follow Jesus. The things we own eventually own us too!
On the day of Kim and my first date my soon-to-be-in-laws did something very strange. They sold their home, the place where Kim and her brother spent their formative years, and bought a motor home. They sold most of what they owned and put some family keepsakes in storage and have since traveled across the United States and beyond. I did not know them before this moment in their lives, but even since getting to know them I have recognized a shift. They are different than they were over two years ago. I sense that there is freedom in not being tied down by a mortgage, four walls, and all that adorns the houses we call home. So what do we just sell everything we own and move into RVs? Maybe.
Younger generations are taking part in a movement to live in tiny homes, with tiny environmental footprints and less of a financial impact on their lives. Somehow though I don’t think that is Jesus’ message from today’s gospel. A friend of mine said recently, “Everyone wants to be a Biblical literalist except when it comes to gluttony, then they ignore those words and stuff their faces at Ryan’s.” I have a similar sensation when hearing Jesus speak about financial matters.
Jesus says directly to sell all that this man owns and give the money to the poor, then to follow him. This is not an analogy or parable. We are consumed by the consumerism in which we participate. We are possessed by our possessions. Where our treasure is there is our heart also. It is not that we are “bad” if we have possessions, it is that those things that possess us also distract us from fully following Jesus. Do we sell it all? Maybe not right away, maybe not all at once, but remember we cannot take it with us when we go.
The intention of our lives is not to live without possessions, for that can all too quickly turn into a type of competitive spirituality. There have been monks throughout the years who take on one another in this type of asceticism. It is as dangerous as the isolation that comes from a certain type of wealth. Rather, our intention is to follow Jesus and whatever gets in the way of this relationship must be sacrificed, whether it is a possession, an addiction, or even someone who is a stumbling block to us.
It might seem impossible for us to get rid of all of these things and that is because it is. “Then who can be saved? Who can enter into the Kingdom of God on her own? Who can earn, achieve, or possess his way inside?” “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
This is the very best news of all.
