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Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 15, 2006 Sermon by The Rev. Barb Hauck, Deacon
Readings       

Go, sell, give…. come, follow me

The Reverend Billy Graham tells of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the Post Office was. When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven."

"I don't think I'll be there," the boy said. "You don't even know your way to the Post Office."
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I must tell you that when I began to work on this homily, the first thing I did was read the lectionary selections for today… and then I groaned! This reading from the Gospel according to Mark appeared to me to be one of those about which the good folks who pulled the lectionary together must have said to themselves, “boy, we’re gonna get ‘em good, with this one!” Now I know I have to learn to read these things before I volunteer to preach!

Well, let’s get to it. In this morning’s gospel we hear a righteous man say, “… what must I do to inherit eternal life?” I say righteous because we also hear that he has kept God’s commandments since his childhood. Clearly, though, he questions whether his righteousness is enough. Jesus looks at him with love in his heart and replies, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Sadly, the next line is, “when he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”

Jesus was extending to this rich man a call to join his circle of disciples. To do so, Jesus said, he must first let go of his property, so that thus unencumbered he could come, follow Jesus… living the simple life of an itinerant missionary spreading the Good News. I also wonder if when Jesus says that disciples can’t be rich – he means they can’t be burdened with all the complexities of life and relationships that often accompany wealth – financial or otherwise. This invitation reminds me of what it is to become like a child – setting aside all those things in our lives that bring us status and power over others. And despite his sincere devotion to the word of God, the rich man could not bring himself to accept Jesus’ call… the only rejection of the personal call of Jesus we hear in the Gospels.

To put this in perspective historically, at the time this was written many believed wealth was a sign of God’s pleasure. The ancient patronage system, in which the wealthy were celebrated as community benefactors, made it appear the local aristocracy was endowed with wealth and power by God. Many prophets of old, like Amos, reminded people that wealth was not worth as much to God as care for the poor and weak. But many people, being human, drew the conclusion that the wealthy elite were closer to God and more likely to be saved than they were. And Jesus then said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” What a shocking and unimaginable image that is – one which jars us into thinking ‘outside the box.’ For God is not called to make our vision of the kingdom a reality… it is we who, with God’s help, are called to bring God’s kingdom into being. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

“For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” Sounds like the disciples were to give up any ideas they might have had that they were in control… that they could determine their own fate. The wealthy man had obeyed God’s commandments… yet more was required. He was to give up that which provided him with prestige, influence, power. Ironically, if you remember the gospel reading a few weeks ago when the disciples were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest – that passage suggests that even these closest followers of Jesus might have preferred a form of discipleship that would permit them to have some form of prestige or influence, as well. How hard this call to discipleship must be!

What about us… how and where does this gospel fit into our lives? One of my colleagues on a local non-profit board where we serve recently shared a story about seeing Billy Graham on TV. It seems that Dr. Graham was on Larry King Live! and Larry was conducting one of his ‘to the point’ interviews. “Do you think you’ll go to heaven?” Larry asked him. Dr. Graham responded slowly, “Well, I hope so…” which Larry followed immediately with, “well, I’ll bet there are millions of people out there right now thinking, ‘gosh, if he isn’t sure given the life he’s led, what chance have I got?” Two thousand years later notwithstanding, that sounds strangely similar to the disciples’ response in today’s gospel reading, doesn’t it?

There’s little doubt that Dr. Graham has lived a good life… a life devoted to the Word of God and the Lord he loves. I imagine most of us try to do the same. Yet, how often do we, like the rich man, rush around doing good things – attending all our children’s games and recitals, giving to our church, serving our community in a variety of ways – all those things we believe we ought to do to be good and faithful Christians… and yet we forget the most important thing: that for which God most yearns, is the gift of our hearts. Am I suggesting we stop doing those things – serving meals at Damiano Center, volunteering at the hospitals, reading to children in our elementary schools? Of course, not – you’ll never hear this deacon tell you to stop doing those things. However, what I am suggesting is that when we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul and our neighbors as ourselves… service to others seems to flow naturally from somewhere deep within us. Go, sell, give... come, follow me. Yes – when we give our hearts to God, everything else seems to fall into place.

In a few minutes we will be welcoming Ewan Riley Moe and Alexsia Jewel Tryon into this community of faith through the sacrament of baptism. They are tiny children – without any sort of status or power. What sort of example will we set for them? Unlike Dr. Graham in the humorous story I shared at the beginning, we know the way to the Post Office… but many of us still wonder what we must do to inherit eternal life. How will we share our beliefs with the children? Will we, like the rich man, be unable or unwilling to go, sell, give… and come, follow Jesus? Or will we, by our example, answer the call God in Christ personally extends to each one of us… answer it by giving God our hearts? Will we hold onto those ‘things’ in our lives – be they physical items or the ‘baggage’ we seem to carry with us everywhere (baggage filled with our preconceived notions, our hopes, our fears, our resentments and anger) – will we hold onto those things which may be barriers to following Christ? Or will we let go of that which the world values in order to, as we will soon re-affirm in the Baptismal Covenant, “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?” How will our example teach these children what life in Christ is like?

We know God is calling us to discipleship… the only question is: how will we respond? Perhaps it will be an act of simple faith like that expressed in the following St. Paul’s Church School Prayer (my thanks to Carlyle Conrad for finding it for me)… a prayer which offers guidance in how we might each become like the small children we baptize today… and offer our hearts to God in all that we do. Only then will it no longer matter whether we’re first, last, or somewhere in between – for with God’s help, we’ll all get there together.

Let us pray.
O God, give me clean hands, clean words and clean thoughts.
Save me from habits that harm; teach me to work as hard and play as fair in thy sight alone,
as if all the world saw.
Forgive me when I am unkind, and help me to forgive those who are unkind to me.
Keep me ready to help others at some cost to myself; send me chances to do a little good
every day, and so grow more like Christ.
In his name, I ask it. AMEN.

           
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