Almighty and ever-living God, increase in us your gift of faith, that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to what lies ahead, we may follow the way of your commandments and receive the crown of everlasting joy. (ELW)
THE UPWARDLY MOBILE MAN
The Rich Man asks how to inherit eternal life. Jesus replies, You lack one thing. Go sell all you have ... and come follow me.
Let nothing hinder you from following the way of love.
True security lies not behind with worldly things but ahead with the kingdom.
Rich young rulers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but ...everything.
Have you heard about the Pandora report? About world leaders who have offshored their wealth so as to limit their tax liabilities? Upwardly mobile men.
Here in our Gospel is the story of the man who kept all the commandments but went away sorrowing when Jesus called on him to sell his property, distribute the proceeds to the poor, and then come follow Jesus. Who by the way was on the road to Jerusalem, the road to the passion - and to resurrection. But this man, on hearing Jesus' invitation, went away in sorrow, "for he had many possessions." He had at first felt affirmed, happy and confirmed, in that he was able to assure Jesus that he had kept the commandments from his youth. A clue might have been when Jesus asked him, why do you call me good? Only God is good. Which led to Jesus saying, later, for mortals it is impossible to enter the kingdom of heaven, but with God all things are possible.
The disciples who ask Jesus to explain everything also want his reassurance, that they will be okay, in fact rewarded, for giving up what they had to follow him.
His reply to them is practically a quotation from the last chapters of the book of Job, when that man, who had remained righteous, despite losing everything, was restored to health and received new family and possessions.
Sure, these disciples have received a new family, in that they have been adopted into God's family, as brother and sister and mother, as they follow his commandments.
And perhaps they will receive possessions of replacement value.
But the point is not what they had, in the past: Jesus is calling his disciples to look ahead, and to move forward, to enter God's kingdom and act in the certain knowledge that his reign is real.
That is going to take some faith, and it is going to require some action.
The disciples are caught between two options and cannot keep them both open.
On the one hand Jesus calls on them to receive the kingdom as a little child would.
On the other they feel the pull to do something to inherit eternal life.
What do you do to inherit?
An inheritance is a gift. Unearned merit is a contradiction in terms.
The desire to do - to ensure - to make certain - to clinch the deal.
The man who had many possessions could, looking back, say he had kept all the rules.
Except one: Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.
In other words, follow Jesus.
Then the rest will fall into its proper place, its right relationship.
Seeking assurance the commandment-compliant man comes to Jesus and instead of a sure thing - confirming his status, or giving him more! - he gets a mystery, a challenge, an opportunity.
There is one more thing to do. Be free of all that holds you back. Discard all hindrances. Turn away from what is now only an obstacle.
And come along. To the Temple to hear the teaching, to watch the confrontations with the powers that be, to witness death and death defeated.
That is what is left to do.
And then the reality of the kingdom will become real to you.
***
Remember the parable of the sower? Remember the seed that grew up amid the thorns?
These are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. (Mark 4:18-19)
Jesus represents the coming of God’s rule. And so he calls: leave everything behind, and come follow Jesus, be his disciple. . . .
Be as a little child, Jesus exhorts. Leave status and power over others behind. Abandon power, discard defence. For his power is perfected in our weakness.
DOWNWARD MOBILITY, Henri Nouwen called it. Abandon overt piety and all prestige. Seek oneness with the downtrodden, the differently abled, the foreign, the domestic abused and forgotten.
FRANCIS got naked before the Bishop, and all the people in the town plaza of Assisi, when his father demanded back “all you have had from me” - and he obeyed literally.
Radical sacrifice. That is what the Apostles were called to.
Generous hospitality: that is what the Disciples, the early Christians, practiced.
Can we give up something?
An example:
overconsumption
How do we ourselves over-consume at the impoverishment of others unseen? Do we make others poor?
But where will it lead? Where will the road of discipleship, following the way of Jesus, lead? TO THE CROSS.
RENUNCIATION (Philippians 2:5-8)
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
What would it mean for us to give up wealth, power, prestige, the ability to ‘get things done’ - privilege of nationality, race, color, sex, gender identity, age; to hold nothing back, and put first the kingdom of God?
What are we moving away from? What are we moving toward? And where is our security? In upward mobility, or the radical dependence on God that is faith - and hope?
So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
(Psalm 90:12)
Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men”:
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
(Isaac Watts. O God, Our Help in Ages Past. 1719)
https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/O_God_Our_Help_in_Ages_Past/
Oct. 9 (6 pm) and Oct. 10 (8 am and 10:30 am): Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; PS 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31
Christ the King Episcopal Church, Tucson (https://ctktucson.org/)
https://www.facebook.com/ctktucson/live/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb7AB4NIZv3kMlk9r0yBmGw/videos?view=57
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
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