Sunday 11 October 2009
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Heb 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
“St Edward the Confessor was King of England in the eleventh century and died in 1066, just before William the Conqueror invaded England. In many ways, Edward was a strange king. He was born into an interesting family. He was the son of King Canute, who tried to stop the tide from coming in. Edward was sent to France when he was ten years old because the Danes had invaded England. While he was there he became very religious and prayerful, going to church whenever he could, and singing in the church choir. When his father King Canute died, there was a power struggle in England over who would be the next king. In the end, Edward’s brother Hardicanute became king until 1042, and when he died Edward finally became king of England. Edward’s reign was one of almost unbroken peace and he sorted out big issues without battles or wars, using diplomacy instead. During the reign of the Danes when he was a child, the people of England had been made to pay high taxes. Edward abolished this system and gave many of his own riches to the poor. A court biographer wrote of him: “How great is the influence of a king who is truly the father of his people. He is remarkable for his generosity to the poor, and never happier than when giving with alms.” Edward built a new Minster for London, just outside the city to the west. This is called Westminster and his burial sarcophagus is still there where it was originally placed in the 12th century.”
In the gospel before us today a young man approaches Jesus with his anxious question. He is seeking a royal inheritance; and he wishes to inherit eternal life. Unfortunately, he is also in a theological trap which is so easy to fall into, and in which I have to admit to being in myself. He thinks the way to qualify for this inheritance is by pleasing God. So his way of living his faith is about following a formula and ticking all the boxes he thinks God expects to see ticked. “So,” he says to himself, “I pray every day and have my quiet time with God. I keep the commandments, I read my bible, and I go to the synagogue.” What we notice is Jesus’ heart goes out to him. Often when Jesus met people who were claiming to meet the law’s demands Jesus became angry. It was not so on this occasion. Something about this young man is endearing to Jesus. Perhaps Jesus sees an anxious perfectionism, rather than proud hypocrisy. What ever it is that Jesus sees in this young man, the key statement here is that Jesus looked at him and loved him.
We know the brief exchange that took place about keeping the commandments, and that the conversation culminated in Jesus instructing the young man to sell all he owns, to give all the money to the poor, and then to follow Jesus. When interpreting this passage, there is blind alley that we need to avoid. The blind alley is the trap of thinking this is only a story for the rich, and that it simply relates to giving away all our possessions and all our money. If we go down that track, we are in danger of missing the key point that Jesus is making that all of us need to hear.
The young man in this story is searching for something, something he calls eternal life. Perhaps the modern question would be, “What will make me happy and fulfilled? What is behind the drama of my desire? These of course, are the big questions. In quiet moments, in moments of sudden joy or loss, these questions stalk our inner being. “What am I really living for?”
The Wisdom literature of the Old Testament echoes many of the answers that have cast their spell down through the ages on the human psyche. Building up one’s position in society and being successful in the eyes of our peers seems to give our lives a purposeful existence. Then there is the body beautiful. This has its marketers as well and some spend mega bucks staying beautiful, going to the gym and looking forever young. The wisdom writers say that all this is vanity. The bible also has warnings about the continuous striving for progress (see the creation story in Gen 2-3). The fact is that we struggle to say “no” to progress. We always think we have to accept it and bow down it because it is always good. All these apparent sources of meaning look attractive, but they are cul de sacs that actually help us avoid facing the dark night of the soul that helps us discover what it is to simply let God be God in our lives.
The story of the rich young man then, is a story that asks us to examine the attachments of our heart that serve to prevent us encountering God, or to put it another way, “What are the things that make us think we don’t need God at all?” That’s the real point of this story. What do we need to detach ourselves from so that we can entrust ourselves totally to the embrace of God? The point here concerns the first command that Jesus doesn’t actually name but implies in his answer to the young man; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul.” Jesus can see the thorns that choke his heart (to use the imagery from the parable of the sower) and, with typical insight, Jesus puts his finger on the very thing getting in the way of his encounter with God.
Jesus is pointing to a higher wisdom. Progress, looking beautiful, accumulating money and climbing the social ladder, these things will never satisfy. The Psalmist points out that when we die we can’t take any of that with us. “Though in life they counted themselves happy, when they die their wealth will not go with them” (Psalm 49). In the end when we face death other things suddenly seen so much more important. We look back only to wonder how easy it is to be completely distracted and then we realise that we need to refocus our lives on their true meaning, which is to know ourselves as loved and held by God.
This was the dilemma in which the young man found himself today. Jesus sees into this young man’s heart. He sees how much he wants to please God and how hard he is trying, and then he names the very thing that is getting in the way, the thing the young man is attached to more than anything else. So it is with us. Christ sees the things that hold our hearts in their grip; that we are afraid of letting go of so that we can let God be God in our lives. The challenge of the gospel to let go of the things we look to for security; whether that is power, wealth, beauty, physical or intellectual prowess, or whatever. St Edward the Confessor, St Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, Brother Roger of Taizé; these people are good examples of those who have attempted to embody this detachment in their lives.
The saints and mystic teach us that the very things we keep, the gifts we cannot bear releasing, are the very things that hold us in a grip of sadness. How often have we found that the things that we thought would protect us somehow turn around to bite us and even become our bondage? For example, say we accumulate a financial nest egg, only to find we can’t trust the financial markets. The finance company collapses and we loose a big chunk of it. In the mean time, we have paid big fees to our lawyers and accountants to stop the IRD getting its hands on it. And after all that, we find that family members are doing their best to get their hands on it as well. And after we have lived through all of that, we find that there is no insurance policy strong enough to prevent death and we wonder if it’s all been worth it.
Jesus is longing for us to let go of our many securities, so that we can take hold of eternal life and enter the kingdom of heaven. We must somehow have to let go of these to pass through the “needle’s eye.” Whatever that phrase of Jesus means, it suggests an unnavigable journey, an almost impossible task.
Put yourself in the place of the rich young man today. Jesus is asking the same question of you and me. Jesus knows you and me and loves us unconditionally. Jesus sees our goodness, the image of God in us, the love of God which is his own source and his own essence, and he beckons us come to him. We have only to open our hands and hearts to receive the inheritance of eternal life; the abundant life Jesus longs to give. The only thing stopping us from taking hold of this life is the possibility that our hands are gripping some other security so tightly that you will have drop it so that you open them to Jesus. In your prayer, ask for God’s grace to enable you to open your hands and heart to him. Ask God to show you what securities you need to let go of, that you may receive what you need and that you may give to others in their need. And if the hungry are fed by your hands, if the naked our clothed and sick cared for, then you will know that the reign of God is within you.
