Sermon from July 22, 2001
The poetry of T. S. Eliot captured something of the soul of Europe's religious apostasy in the 20th century. Even if you do not like poetry, the lines I am about to say may make a lot of sense. So, let me share some of it with you as a way of putting Mark 10 in its modern context. In "Choruses from 'The Rock,'" Eliot wrote the following.

O miserable cities of designing men,
O wretched generation of enlightened men,
Betrayed in the mazes of your ingenuities,
Sold by the proceeds of your proper inventions:
I have given you hands which you turn from worship,
I have given you speech, for endless palaver,
I have given you my Law, and you set up commissions,
I have given you lips, to express friendly sentiments,
I have given you hearts, for reciprocal distrust.
I have given you power of choice, and you only alternate
Between futile speculation and unconsidered action.
Many are engaged in writing books and printing them
Many desire to see their names in print,
Many read nothing but the race reports.
Much is your reading, but not the Word of God,
Much is your building, but not the house of God.

I also feel the justice of these words from the same poem:

"O weariness of men who turn from God
To the grandeur of your mind and the glory of your action,
To arts and inventions and daring enterprises,
To schemes of human greatness thoroughly discredited."

"Schemes of Human Greatness Thoroughly Discredited." Is that the chapter title that will be written over the 20th century? From Soviet Russia to the League of Nations to Fascism to LBJ's Great Society, and from Nuclear Power to Flower Power to computer power a kind of hollowness in the much ballyhooed achievements of our age leaves the heart of Man aching. Again, Eliot caught it perfectly, and in two lines of free verse he caught perfectly our efforts to keep up.

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

Doesn't that say so much to us who subscribe to magazines we never read? who seldom read the newspaper all through? who hear newscasts all day long and can't be sure we really know what it all means or even for sure if we're being manipulated? who have to choose among innumerable books and conflicting opinions?

However, the contradictions of our age have not really hit home with us in this country. They are present in our experience, but we transform them in our innocence. Vietnam, Watergate, slavery and abortion notwithstanding, there is still about the United States a kind of innocence that makes us experience these contradictions as irritants, and not as delusions. That is why we are a hopeful people. We still believe in progress.

Among Christian believers this belief not only mutes the contradictions of our secular, democratic culture; it can also blunt the radical nature of the Christian faith. Nevertheless, we must continue to hear (or try to hear) its radical claims. We do so today in one of the most memorable encounters in a career marked by memorable encounters. It is the story of the rich man in Mark 10:17:22.

Let's first put these verses in their proper context. In Mark 8:31-10:53, Mark develops his theme of a suffering Messiah by repeating the threefold pattern three times in these chapters. Here is the pattern.

Jesus' prediction of His suffering and death is always the first part of the pattern. The second part is always some inappropriate, uncomprehending response on the part of His disciples. The third part of the pattern is always Jesus' reply to the disciples' response in which He challenges, encourages, and teaches them what it means to be followers of a suffering Messiah. Then, an episode or series of episodes follows, which reinforces what it means to be followers of a suffering Messiah.

The key to the third part of the pattern comes in Mark 8:35. Jesus lays down there the radical principle of what it means to be followers of a suffering Messiah. "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." In that statement He completely inverts the values of ordinary life. In chapters eight through ten Jesus applies that inversion of values to specific areas of human experience – never more so than in verses 17-22.

Verse 17 finds Jesus facing a most eager young man. As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher, " he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Inherit eternal life was a Jewish way of saying, "receive eternal life." However you say it, the man certainly did ask the right question. And he asked the right man. But Jesus' answer is one we could never have anticipated. Part of His answer in verses 18-19 is a tease and part is a test.

The tease comes first in verse 18. "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good – except God alone." In one way this teasing answer draws attention to Jesus. He seems to say, "In calling me good, are you calling me God?" In another way it simply puts the man under pressure. "Since God alone is good, where does that put you, young man?" Where it left the young man becomes clear as Jesus puts him to the test in verse 19.

"You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do no commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" This statement actually sets the stage for the test, which will come shortly. The young man never blinked, and his response to Jesus is almost unexpected as Jesus' answer.

"Teacher, he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." I don't know if I could ever say that with a good conscience. I suspect that we hear that man's profession of obedience with a certain skepticism. Before we set our dogs on him, we had better hear how Jesus responded to his profession of devotion to the Torah.

Verse 21: Jesus looked at him and loved him. Once again, Mark reveals Jesus' internal state of mind. Once again, the affectionate, compassionate disposition of Jesus toward actual human beings shines through. We might wish Mark had said more, but Jesus' love is enough to turn aside any critical attitude we might have.

By the way, Jesus' response might also be enough to make us cautious before we think bad thoughts about someone else. Jesus may look on the very person we think bad thoughts about and love that person. It can change how you think about someone you don't like, if you look at that person as someone Jesus Christ loves. On the other hand, His love for people is not an invitation to sentimentality. We can see that only too clearly as Jesus puts that devout man to the test.

"One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Well, friend, you said you wanted eternal life. How much is it worth to you? How badly to you want it? After all, eternal life is no small thing. It is not a collector's item. Do you even know what you are asking for? Are you as superficial about eternal life as some people think you are about the commandments of God? Is your desire for eternal life really commensurate with eternal life?

Just think about that! Not just "unending days and unwearying strength," but immortality in a state of unbroken joy and unfeigned good will; a state also marked by the elusive sense of timelessness. You want what no human being in his natural state can have. What is that worth to you?

We may hope that verse 22 does not give the man's final answer. But it surely gives his first answer and the reason for it. At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

George Macdonald, a 19th century writer and preacher, has given the best commentary on this verse that I have ever read. He rebuked our pedestrian boredom in the face of the truly transcendent when he said, 'You do not indeed sell (Christ) for 30 pieces of silver, but you are glad not to buy Him with all that you have."

Those last words cut. "You are glad not to buy Him with all that you have." "You are glad not to." Does earth so drag at us that we love something more than eternal life? Do we love this life more than eternal life? Do we love treasure on earth more than treasure in heaven? Was that the black hole in the rich man's spirit that was suddenly exposed in his encounter with Jesus? The value of eternal life seems to have been an absolutely new idea to him.

It also speaks to our generation.

"...who turn from God
To the grandeur of your mind and the glory of your action,
To arts and inventions and daring enterprises,
To schemes of human greatness thoroughly discredited."

That man walked away from eternal life. That's how deep and powerful the black hole in his spirit was. People speak vainly of God's putting people in hell. People walk away from eternal life. They create their own hell and like it.

This episode provokes another disturbing question. Well, Jesus, why don't you go after that man, try to talk to him, make him understand? I thought you said you loved him. Maybe he didn't hear that right. I can hear our Lord say to us, "I cannot go after him; I love him too much to do that. When he really wants eternal life, he knows how to have it." But the man wanted to have eternal life on his own terms, on his own religious terms. He wanted to control matters in a way that was not subject to his control. The great gifts of God are never subject to our control.

In the history of Christianity thousands of Christ's followers have sought to give the answer which the rich man failed to give. They have sought poverty as some people seek wealth. In the wisdom of the Holy Spirit the Church has never said that material poverty needs to be the practice of every Christian. Pursuit of poverty is for those who choose it as a way of a deeper union with Christ in this world. It has absolutely nothing to do with the unwanted, grinding poverty in which so many people live.

But what about the rest of us, who count ourselves as followers of Christ and who have at our disposal wealth that transcends that of most human beings that have ever lived? How do we take to heart in some meaningful way these words of Jesus' to the rich man? I believe we begin by allowing a question to get down deep in our souls and do a work of purification and transformation.

How badly do we want eternal life? Do we want it badly enough to buy Him with all that we have, if it came to that? We can say we have faith in Christ. Do we really? Would anybody be able to call anything they see in our lives, faith in Christ? Is there any evidence that we love Him more than anything else? that we love eternal life more than this life? that we love treasure in Heaven more than treasure on earth? We've got to answer those questions.

The sanctity of the Church worldwide depends on its capacity to receive and live by the words of Jesus that we have heard today. Likewise, the sanctity of this congregation depends on our capacity to receive and live by these same words.

Now, that capacity differs from person to person, sometimes dramatically. It is important to remember that, because when we hear these words of Jesus, our first response may very well be, "I can't do that." We identify closely with the dejected departure of the rich man from Jesus.

Nevertheless, Jesus' words give us a vision of human life that is worthy of persons who are made in the image of God, whom He made to participate in His eternal life. At the same time they set the bar so high that doing nothing about them may seem the only realistic thing to do; but if we do nothing about them, the sanctity of the Church will be diminished.

Maybe we cannot swim the English Channel, but we can swim to the other side of the pool. So, a better way to respond to Jesus' words is to ask ourselves, "How can I live by these words in some meaningful way?"

We might be more generous and less self-indulgent with our wealth. Just give more of it away in order to benefit other people. For most of us that is the first substantial step we can take in order to taste what is involved in the "last full measure of devotion" to Christ that Christ Himself says is worthy of eternal life.

Beyond individual deeds of generosity there is a gradual process of self-surrender to Jesus Christ. We evangelicals have, I believe, spoken and sung too glibly about "laying all on the altar" for Christ. That is not a possibility only for especially religious people. It is the calling of the whole Church, but we all achieve it slowly, "line upon line, precept upon precept," three steps forward, two steps back, for years and years. The question that Jesus' encounter with the rich man raises for us is: What is eternal life worth to us? Can we give a responsible, credible answer to that question?