Open Hands, Open Hearts

When I was a little kid, my parents gave me a red and white tricycle. And I loved that tricycle. When I was little, my coordination wasn’t too cool yet, so that if I tried to run fast, I’d inevitably trip over my feet and land on the ground. (Come to think of it, that’s what happens now when I try to run fast….) But on a tricycle I could go really fast. Nothing could stop me! And my tricycle and I were inseparable - I wanted to take my tricycle everywhere. Of course, when you are little, there are places your parents want to take you, where you can’t ride your tricycle….like the beach. Or an amusement park. Or even a grocery store. But my parents and I had some interesting conversations – well, maybe more like they talked and I howled - about why the tricycle that helped me go really fast when I was home, would just get in the way at the beach. And, of course, it’s now been more than 40 years since I’ve felt any need to ride a tricycle; it landed on the scrap heap decades ago.

Today we are continuing in Mark’s gospel in what some have called the “hard sayings” of Jesus. We walk alongside Jesus on the path that will ultimately lead him to the cross. As Jesus laid down His life, as His disciples, we, too, will have to lay aside those things that would distract us from following in his way. But we are promised that as Jesus was raised, we, too, will find new life as we follow in the way of Jesus.

In last week’s Gospel reading, Jesus faced hostile questioning from the Pharisees on the controversial topic of marriage. In this week’s Gospel (Mark 10:17-31), Jesus is questioned by a man who seemingly has everything he could want, but somehow senses that something is missing. We’re told that this wealthy man ran up to Jesus and knelt before him. And unlike the Pharisees, he was not a hostile questioner. Normally this young man might have had people running up to him to ask for assistance, so this rich man had genuinely humbled himself before Jesus. With all that he had, he still felt something lacking. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asks the man to consider his own words: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” Mark’s is thought to have been the earliest Gospel written, and Mark doesn’t hit his readers over the head with evidence of Jesus’ divinity, but more or less lets his readers figure out for themselves who Jesus is, and how to respond to this realization.

Then Jesus leads the man to consider his own religious training: “You know the commandments – “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother.” The man replies, “All these I have kept from my youth.” And yet, something is missing, or else why would the man seemingly be asking Jesus for something more.

Mark tells us that Jesus, looking at the man, loved him – Jesus saw the man was not trying to trip him up, but was utterly sincere in his seeking. And we know that sometimes we have to say difficult things to those we love, for their own good. Like a doctor diagnosing a patient and offering a cure, Jesus saw into the man’s life and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell what you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The man was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. And as we read, we can almost feel the man’s heartbreak at Jesus’ words, and Jesus’ sadness at the man’s response to his words.

Jesus said, “How hard it will be for those with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God.” The disciples didn’t know what to think, because the theology of the day saw wealth as God’s reward for righteous behavior. And certainly many of our TV preachers tell us their version of the very same thing – “God wants you rich.” Jesus, who evidently doesn’t take advice from the prosperity gospel folks, went on, “It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.” The disciples were even more astounded and said, “Then who can be saved.” Jesus said, “for people it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

“With God all things are possible.” We don’t know what ultimately happened with the rich young man. He may have told his companions, “I went to Jesus and asked to follow him, but Jesus asked too much.” Or Jesus’ words may have worked in the man’s mind and spirit over many days, and he may later have done as Jesus instructed. As Mark’s gospel does so often, we are only given a snapshot, not the entire movie down to the closing credits.

What are we to make of Jesus’ words to the rich young man? As I look around this sanctuary, I’m not seeing a lot of wealthy people. None of us have piles of extra cash lying around, and some of us are really struggling to get by. So there may be a temptation to dismiss the story as not applicable. On the other hand, compared to people in many countries in Africa and Mexico and South America, if we’re able to eat every day, we’re well-off indeed. And on the other other hand – I think I’m up to three hands now – does this story apply only to financial wealth?

I suspect it’s not entirely a coincidence that Mark places this story shortly after Jesus’ words – which we read two weeks ago - that go along the lines of, “if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out,” and “if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, better to enter eternal life with one than to enter hell with both.” The idea being that to the extent that we are put anything in this life before our commitment to following Jesus – even though it may be perfectly harmless in and of itself – it will inevitably lead us astray and cause us to stumble, to sin. In the case of the rich young man, it was his attachment to his possessions that caused him to miss the abundance that God offered him. Perhaps at some level he was aware of this even before he approached Jesus; or perhaps he couldn’t quite put his finger on the cause of his spiritual restlessness. Certainly he was aware that for all his possessions, something was missing; else he wouldn’t have approached Jesus in the first place. And certainly Jesus’ words brought complete clarity to the choice before the rich young man. Like cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye, parting with his possessions would have felt, for the rich young man, like an amputation.

I began my sermon by telling you about how attached I was long ago to my tricycle. As a pre-schooler, I looked at life in terms of “can I take my tricycle,” and if the answer was “no”, I howled in protest – missing the point that there were lots of fun things to do that didn’t involve tricycles. And I think that we miss the point of the story only if we look at what we’re asked to give up. God wishes to bless us with life that is not only eternal but abundant – rich in the spiritual blessings that come with walking in the way of Jesus. God comes to us not to deprive, but to give – indeed, no one can outgive God - but we cannot receive what God has to offer if our hands are clenched around something else that we feel we cannot live without. And we cannot follow where Jesus wishes to lead if we are stuck in some particular place that we feel we cannot leave. So while this story is about financial wealth, it’s not just about financial wealth – it’s about anything we take for granted, any kind of privilege, be it possessions or position of respect in society or a job title that gives us the right to be obeyed – it may even be personal attitudes that keep us focused on ourselves and oblivious to a community around us in need of Good News - all this we must be willing to lay aside to follow where Jesus leads.

The response of the disciples underscores all this. Peter began to say to him, “Look we have left everything and followed you.” In Mark’s gospel, the disciples in general and Peter in particular so often miss the point, but this time Peter’s words were spot on – he got exactly what Jesus was saying. Contrast Jesus’ response to Peter with his words to the rich young man: “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” As we become a part of the life of the church, of the community of faith, those around us go from being folks who sit next to us in church to being our family of faith, mothers and sisters and brothers. And even in our small congregation, we celebrate each others’ joys and support each other in our times of loss. We are not left to our own resources, but we have access to those of the community as well. And, yes, there may be persecutions – this way of living runs counter to what our culture tells us, and our neighbors may not understand us.

May Emanuel Church continue to be, as we have been for nearly 150 years, a place of open hands and open hearts. May we be a place where those seeking to follow Jesus will find spiritual abundance – a supportive community nurturing of faith. And where Jesus leads, may we follow. Amen.