All Things are Possible with God!
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
In one sense the importance of this story is not the rich man, he could
be anyone really, but Jesus’ response. But you can’t ignore
the man because he seems so earnest! Jesus is walking down the road
with his disciples when all of a sudden a rather smartly dressed gent
comes running toward them and throws himself down on the dusty road
in front of Jesus. He was not going to be ignored!
No touching the hem of Jesus’ robe, no asking a friend to speak
on his behalf, this man was nothing if not determined to get what he
wanted from Jesus. And what did he want? ‘Good teacher, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?’
Now, on the face of it, that’s not a bad thing to ask Jesus! It’s
probably not what someone might ask today, it might be rephrased as
‘What must I do to become a Christian?’ but as eternal life
is the promise at the heart of what Christianity is all about we’ll
look at the phrase as it’s presented to us.
But it’s actually one of those sentences that can change its meaning
depending on how you say it.
What do you mean, John? Let me explain!
He could have said ‘What must I
do to inherit eternal life?’ or alternatively
‘What must I do
to inherit eternal life?’
Still confused? Bear with me!
Let’s take option 1) ‘What must I
do to inherit eternal life?’
After correcting him on the subject of goodness (only God is good!),
Jesus answers him by quoting a few commandments. They’re the ones
to do with respectable living, the basics of a decent life; do not kill,
do not commit adultery, don’t defraud anyone and honour your father
and mother. This is a respectable man, so there’s no hesitation
and the response is almost instantaneous. ‘I’ve kept them
all since I was a lad! Is that it? Is that all I have to do? Blimey,
that was easy!’ (I paraphrase!)
So he went back home a happy chap, knowing that being a nice person
is all you have to do to earn eternal life……………..
well, that’s not quite how it happened, but it would have been
a nice and easy option. In fact if that was the answer I guess that
our churches would be a lot fuller than they are. Think about it for
a moment, the church announces that all you have to do to be ‘saved’,
to be a Christian, to earn eternal life (however you want to phrase
it) is to lead a respectable life and ‘do no harm’.
And there’s the problem of course, because respectability, being
nice is not enough. Not harming or hurting another person, either physically
or mentally is admirable but on the whole it’s actually rather
negative – it consists of not doing things!
At this point Jesus looks him in the eyes and probably sighed. Our reading
says that Jesus loved him, and I think he probably sighed and shook
his head a little. It’s that gesture we all make when our children
say or do something silly or fail to understand something really important
– it’s an arm around a shoulder, the quiet voice, an element
of mild rebuke but it’s mainly about love, tinged with sorrow
because Jesus knew what was really going on in this man’s heart.
Our reading from Hebrews says that the Word of God is ‘Sharper
than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and
spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart.’ And I think that’s exactly what happened next when
Jesus replies.
‘Look,’ says Jesus, ‘you’ve been great about
not doing some things, that’s wonderful, you’ve lived a
respectable life thus far, you’re an upstanding citizen - but
what good have you done? Tell you what, you’re a successful man,
plenty of fancy things around your house, how do you feel about selling
them on ebay and giving the proceeds to charity? You want to know what
you can do, well here’s a start, and it would certainly demonstrate
how much you want what you’re after! Show me how much you want
eternal life, how important that is in your spiritual journey! Do you
want it enough to lose everything you have that is precious to you?’
Was Jesus being a little unfair? Did it really need this enthusiastic
potential convert to give all his possessions away? Or was this simply
Jesus testing him, asking ‘How much do you really want this?
How much do you really want to know what Christianity is about?’
And the response seems to have been ‘I want it, I really want
it – but I’ve spent years building up my little world, it’s
precious to me, I can’t give that up!’
And that’s where so many people get stuck! Jesus asks ‘How
much do you want this? How important, how central to your life is the
hope of Christianity?’ and we answer ‘Well, quite a lot
really, but as long as it’s on my terms! Don’t start asking
too much of me, because I’m quite comfortable with where I am
at the moment!’
At which point, I guess Jesus turns to his disciples, sighs again and
talks about needles and camels.
The Jews of Jesus’ day had a simple notion of prosperity –
it was the sign of a good man. If you were rich then God had blessed
you. It was a proof of character. These days there are plenty of churches,
particularly in the US which preach something similar – it’s
called a Prosperity Gospel and I don’t see how it fits in with
the Gospel message.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
That’s not what the man or the disciples wanted to hear, it went
against the whole cultural thinking of the day – surely God would
bless his people with wealth if they obeyed the Law.
'The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who
then can be saved?"'
What’s the big problem with having ‘stuff’ and being
relatively well off, as most of us probably are (in comparison with
some people in the world)? What do we say to Christians who are also
wealthy?
Well, it’s about values, and it’s about where our heart
is fixed. We’ve grown up in a culture which hasn’t said
that it is God who blesses us with riches, but rather that material
possessions are a wonderful thing, to be desired and coveted, because
they show how successful we are. Money = success. It’s a simple
formula, and it’s probably got the world into the mess it is in
now.
If we’re constantly evaluating our possessions, adding up the
interest in the bank, the value of our shares, thinking about switching
to a newer shinier car, watching the property market to see how the
value of our house has gone up (or down) – if this is the thing
that turns us on then our thoughts are very much fixed to this world
and not very far beyond. It becomes difficult to see that there are
some things, some values in this life that go way beyond being fixed
by price. If you think everything that is worth having has a price tag
attached, then you’re going to be disappointed, I’m afraid.
God’s not against earning money, or even getting rich –
there are plenty of wealthy Christians in the world. Jesus merely points
out the pitfalls.
‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’
The problem in the way this is phrased is the letter ‘i’,
and ‘i’ is a problem throughout life – let’s
face it, ‘i’ is right at the centre of the word sin!
‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’
‘There’s nothing you can do’ answers Jesus, ‘Absolutely
nothing you can do!’
‘What!’ reply the disciples. ‘If there’s nothing
we can do, then how can anyone be saved?’
‘Hang on!’ says Jesus, ‘don’t interrupt! There’s
nothing you can do, but everything God can do!”
There’s nothing you can do, because it has already been done for
you in the person of Jesus!
Which brings us back to our reading from Hebrews, where the writer reminds
us just why there’s nothing we can do. You see, however respectable
you might be, how upright a citizen, how full of good intentions, there’s
always the ‘i’ in the middle of sin which spoils things
eventually, and as the writer to the Hebrews tells us (Heb 4:12-16):
12… the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all
creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
That is why there’s nothing I can do, because there’s nothing
humanly that I can do to Spring Clean my life out, nothing I can do
to get things right between me and God, no level of respectability that
I can reach to earn eternal life…………. when ‘i’
is at the centre of what I am.
Which is why I said at the start that there are two ways of posing the
question the rich man asked of Jesus, and the second is ‘What
can I do to inherit eternal
life?’
Now that might seem like a pretty subtle difference, but I think it
shifts the emphasis from head to heart. ‘What can I do?’
is more of a cry for help, there’s humility rather than pride,
a yearning rather than a desire, and that’s the starting point
from where God does the impossible. The writer to the Hebrews carries
on to say:
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we
profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way,
just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help us in our time of need.
Mercy and Grace are at the very centre of a Christian’s life.
Mercy and forgiveness are there because of the ‘i’ problem,
those bits of our life which that ‘sharper than a two-edged sword’
reveals, the rubbish we’d rather hide in a dark corner.
Grace is an undeserved and unmerited gift, and it is given freely by
God to those who humbly ask ‘What can I do to inherit eternal
life?’ It is though the Grace of God that we can inherit eternal
life (the hope of all Christians) not through our respectability or
a life spent trying hard to keep to the rules – that doesn’t
sort out the ‘i’ problem. What can we do, as the writer
to the Hebrews reminds us is to ‘… approach the throne of
grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace’
All we can do is come humbly to Jesus, confessing our sins and accepting
the forgiveness that he offers to all who come to him with humility,
leaving pride behind. There’s no need to throw ourselves at his
feet as the rich man did, presenting to him all the things that we’ve
done to try and earn favour and brownie points, but rather we need to
open up our hearts and souls to Him, trust His Word and accept with
confidence the free gift of eternal life that he offers, trusting that
He can do the impossible in our lives, that he can and is willing to
Spring Clean our hearts if we are willing for Him to enter and do just
that.
‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’ says Jesus. ‘Will
you let me in?’
Are we ready for God to do the impossible?
