If you’re going to invest in something, how do you determine its value? It seems like everything in life has a price, and the price depends on how much we value it. So, once upon a time, Beanie Babies were the rage and people spent lots of money on them. Now, they’re pretty worthless. I have a lot of baseball cards, but I’m not sure they have much value. Maybe if I had a Mickey Mantle Rookie card in perfect condition, things would be different. Apparently, Mantle’s 1952 rookie card is worth around twelve million dollars, surpassing the 1910 Honus Wagner card, which is valued at around seven million. Why are these pieces of cardboard with a picture on them worth so much? Again, value is determined by what we’re willing to pay. Alas, I don’t have sufficient funds to invest in rare baseball cards. But, if you’ve got lots of money to spend, then why not? Everything in life has a price!
Last Sunday’s reading from Mark’s Gospel spoke of divorce, while this week Mark speaks of money. I’m not sure which topic is more uncomfortable for preachers to talk about—marriage or money. But, Jesus wasn’t afraid to talk about such things.
In today’s reading, we find Jesus once again on the road. As he was walking along, a man ran up and knelt before him. He asked Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered by pointing to the commandments. Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t bear false witness. Don’t defraud anyone. Oh, and honor your parents. These six commands make up the Second Table of the Law and speak to the way we live together in the world. The man told Jesus he had diligently kept all these commandments since childhood.
Now these commandments aren’t just a series of moral virtues. These are markers of God’s covenant with God’s people. They speak to the way we live together in this life. So, if we’re going to experience God’s realm, we need to be in right relationship with our neighbors. That is, we need to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Like Job, this man appears to be a righteous man. He’s the kind of person you want as a neighbor and as a church member. He’s trustworthy, loyal, and kind. If anyone is going to experience the realm of God, it’s this guy! However, while Jesus looks at the man with love, he tells the man that he lacked one thing. If this man wants to inherit eternal life, he has to sell everything he owns and give the proceeds to the poor, storing up treasure in heaven. After that, he can join Jesus’ band of followers.
Jesus knew the man had a good heart but he wanted more from him than simply obeying the commandments. He wanted the man to totally commit himself to being a disciple. That meant giving away everything he had, which was a rather radical demand. If the man did what Jesus asked he would join the ranks of the poor. That didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone do something like this? According to Mark, the man walked away grieving because “he had many possessions.” He wanted to walk with Jesus, but his possessions got in the way.
When people read something like this in the Bible, they wonder whether Jesus expects us to follow these instructions. St. Francis of Assisi took them literally, but surely this doesn’t apply to me. As we ponder this question, Jesus tells his followers that it is difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. In fact, it’s easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom. That didn’t make much sense to his disciples or to many Christians down through the ages. So, interpreters have gotten rather creative in finding loopholes so rich people can enter the kingdom. One of the most famous loopholes suggests that once upon a time there was a gate in Jerusalem called the Needle Gate. To get a camel through the gate you had to unload it so it could squeeze through, and then you could reload it. The same is true for the wealthy. They can make it into heaven, but they can’t take their wealth with them. The problem is that we have no evidence that such a gate ever existed. In other words, Jesus doesn’t offer us a loophole.
The reason Jesus’ followers didn’t understand his warning to the rich is that people in the ancient world considered wealth to be a sign of divine blessing. If you’re rich, you’re blessed. If you’re poor, you must be cursed. I wonder if things have truly changed in our world. In any case, the disciples want to know who could enter the kingdom, if not rich people. Jesus simply answers that with God all things are possible.
When Peter heard this, he reminded Jesus that he and his colleagues gave up everything to follow him. So, was that enough? Jesus assured him that “no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,” will miss out on anything. Indeed, they will receive a hundredfold now and in the age to come. However, “the first will be last, and the last will be first.”
When we read this passage, it would seem that Jesus is advocating a radical form of discipleship. That’s true, but I need to add a word of qualification. When Mark wrote his Gospel, his community assumed that the end of the age was close at hand. If Jesus was going to return in the near future to set up God’s realm, then why plan for the future? Why buy houses, life insurance, or invest in IRAS if you’re not going to be around to use them?
So, what about us? It’s been almost two thousand years since Mark wrote his Gospel, and we’re still here. Taking care of the poor is important, but it’s probably not a good idea to join the ranks of the poor. We would just be adding to the problem of poverty. On the other hand, Jesus does raise important questions about what we consider to be most important in life. Into what are willing to invest our lives?
It would appear from this reading that wealth gets in the way of discipleship. When it comes to wealth, the question is always, how much is enough? Gordon Gecko, the lead character in the movie Wall Street, declared that “greed is good.” This is what he told a group of investors:
Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms. Greed for life, money, love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind, and greed—you mark my words—will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.
While Gordon Gecko believed greed is the key to our salvation, I’m not sure Jesus would agree.
I don’t agree with Gordon Gecko, but I will confess that I haven’t taken a vow of poverty or sold everything Cheryl and I own and given it to the poor. I might not think of myself as wealthy, but in the grand scheme of things, I’m pretty well off. So, what should we do with Jesus’ message?
There is another story that I think complements this one. In the Gospel of Luke, a lawyer asked Jesus what a person needs to do to gain entrance into God’s realm. When Jesus asked him what scripture said, the lawyer told him that a person needs to love God with their entire being and love their neighbor as they love themselves. Jesus commended him for giving the right answer. But, the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus to define the neighbor he was supposed to love. Jesus answered the lawyer’s question with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
When Jesus asked the man, who was the neighbor in this parable, he told Jesus that the neighbor was the person who took care of the man in the ditch. The person who took care of the person in the ditch was none other than a Samaritan. What made this parable compelling is that Jews considered Samaritans to be dirty rotten heretics. Yet, that’s who the lawyer identified as the neighbor (Lk 10:25-37).
The issue before us has to do with the way we invest ourselves in God’s realm. It would seem that investing in God’s realm involves loving our neighbors. Our neighbors aren’t necessarily the people who live next door or who look like us, vote like us, or even worship like us. If this is true, then loving our neighbors involves a lot more people than we might think!
Our reading from Mark ends with Jesus telling the crowd that the first will be last and the last will be first. That is, when it comes to God’s realm, things get turned upside down. Just because you’re on top now, doesn’t mean you’ll be there in the end. When it comes to my possessions, I need to ask myself whether they own me or belong to God. In asking that question, I will find my answer about what God wants from me when it comes to entering the realm of God.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Acting Supply Pastor
First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, Michigan
October 13, 2024
Pentecost 21B
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