The Rich Young Ruler
Scripture: from Mark 10

As [Jesus] went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”

He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.

That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.

Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

This was the scripture for Sunday. I think that it's very tempting for preachers to avoid the talk about money in this scripture. After all, very few of us in the affluent West like hearing that "It's harder for a camel to go through a needle's eye..." Still, I think this is an important story, and we can't take the money part of it out. So, a few points:

First, "the kingdom of God" is not the same thing as "heaven," i.e. a place up past the stars somewhere with fluffy clouds, angels, and harps, etc. The kingdom of God, as Jesus taught it, is here among us now. Entering into it means being aware of something mysterious in this life.

So the next question is: can wealth stand in the way of entering into the kingdom of God? That's what Jesus argues, and I think it's true. All our stuff, and the time we spend tending to it, and thinking about it, and wishing for more money, and planning our careers around more money, and time spent shopping - all of that - keeps us distracted. And it promises us sense of security - falsely. The real source of power that matters is God, not things.

Finally, there are many people who think churches are obsessed with money. To me that's funny because the ones I've been to are usually obsessed with not talking about it, or else have a very matter-of-fact stewardship campaign that lasts for a few weeks out of the year. At any rate, no matter what I tell Heather, I'm actually not going to be rolling in dough now that I am ordained. Sorry honey.

My point, though, is that Jesus didn't say, "Go, sell what you own and give it to my cause." He told the rich young ruler, "give it to the poor." To me, this makes the true nature of the story much clearer: Jesus is trying to heal the rich young ruler of his false and empty dependence on his wealth. Unfortunately, that illness is one of the hardest to recognize. The man walks away upset, and unable to follow.