Christ the King-Epiphany, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

October 13, 2024 / 21st Sunday after Pentecost / Lectionary 28B

Mark 10:17-31

It’s easy to hear this story and assume that it’s all about the perils of wealth:  about a rich man who, though he was obviously a good and moral person who kept the commandments, just couldn’t liquidate his assets and give away the money to the poor.  This idea is even reinforced by Jesus himself, whom Mark records saying in the next paragraph that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.  So, this is just Jesus at his “turn the world upside down” best, right?  To be poor is good; to be wealthy is bad.

Well, I’m not sure it’s that simple.  Jesus didn’t ask everyone to give up all their possessions or wealth.  Think about it:  he, himself, was supported by a circle of wealthy women who were among his disciples.  Some of them may have even been in attendance that day.  Jesus didn’t condemn everyone who had wealth.  And certainly, many of the people in the crowd, including his disciples, didn’t have much in the way of material wealth(1).  But of this one rich, would-be follower, he did make some very clear demands.  Was it because Jesus could see that money was this guy’s one thing that he thought made him who he was?  Was it because Jesus, in really looking at this man, could tell that his wealth meant more to him than anything else?  You know, a variant of v. 24 reads not just, “How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God,” but “How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God.”  That makes me think that maybe this story isn’t about money at all.  I suspect that the rich man’s problem is not his money, but his attitude toward it:  his belief that his money was what made him who he was and his trust that his wealth would get him through.  

Not many of us – perhaps none of us! – can be confident that we are wealthy enough to get us through any challenge that life might throw at us.  But there are other aspects of our personalities that feel define us for who we are, other ways that we count on ourselves and our own ability to get to where we need to be.  We might believe that we’re quick-witted enough to reason our way out of trouble; we might trust our strength to get out of any jam; or perhaps it’s the strength of our relationships that we count on to get us through.  Intelligence and strength and a circle of support are not bad things, in and of themselves, just as having money is not inherently negative.  But if we rely on anything in this world more than we rely on God, then we’re in trouble with the very first commandment:  You are to have no other gods.

Martin Luther explains it this way in his Large Catechism’s explanation of the first commandment.  He writes:  

There are some who think that they have God and everything they need when they have money and property; they trust in them and boast in them so stubbornly and securely that they care for no one else.  They, too, have a god – mammon by name, that is, money and property – on which they set their whole heart.  This is the most common idol on earth.  Those who have money and property feel secure, happy, and fearless, as if they were sitting in the midst of paradise.  On the other hand, those who have nothing doubt and despair as if they knew of no god at all.  We will find very few who are cheerful, who do not fret and complain, if they do not have mammon.  This desire for wealth clings and sticks to our nature all the way to the grave. 

So, too, those who boast of great learning, wisdom, power, prestige, family, and honor and who trust in them have a god also, but not the one, true God.  Notice again, how presumptuous, secure, and proud people are when they have such possessions, and how despondent they are when they lack them or when they are taken away.  Therefore, I repeat, the correct interpretation of the commandment is that to have a god is to have something in which the heart trusts completely.

The bottom line for the rich man and for us is this:  the only thing our heart can trust completely is God.

How does the story of the rich man end?  I have always pictured the rich man walking away from Jesus, dejected because he couldn’t do what Jesus asked him to do.  But you know, if you read carefully, that’s not the only possible way to end this story.  Mark writes that he went away grieving because he had many possessions, that’s true.  But he doesn’t tell us what happened next.  Is it possible that the man went away grieving because giving up his stuff was hard . . . but that he did it anyway?  Maybe I’m just a sucker for a happy ending, but I’d like to think that it’s possible.  I’d like to think that Jesus’ invitation to follow, his invitation into a richer, fuller relationship of trust in God, was so compelling that the man did give away everything, even though it was hard.  After all Jesus did look at him with love – the only person in the gospel of Mark that is named individually as being loved by Jesus – Jesus did look at him with love, and who could resist love that pure and strong?  With my rose-colored glasses, I can imagine this guy selling all of his belongings, giving his money away, and becoming one of the many unnamed disciples of Jesus.  But if that’s how the story ended, remember:  it wouldn’t have been because he earned a spot on Jesus’ roster.  It wouldn’t have been because he had given away all his possessions.  It wouldn’t have been because he figured out how to stuff a camel through the eye of a needle.  If he ended up following Jesus, it would have been because, without his money, he found his deeper identity – that of a beloved child, who is valued neither more nor less than anyone else.  It would have been because without his money, he found himself vulnerable – and being vulnerable, he would have discovered a whole community of others who were following Jesus.  If the rich man became a disciple, it would have been because, in getting rid of his idol, in leaving behind his dependence on his money, he experienced the joy and freedom of trusting in the only One that is guaranteed always to come through. 

(1)   https://www.wilgafney.com/2024/07/14/let-it-go-girl-of-camels-and-hearts/