Sermon
10-11-2015
Grace and peace to God our father and from our lord and
savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.
When was the last time you took a trip? Think for a
moment about what you usually pack.
So, confession time. I tend to pack way to many books. For example, in preparing to
travel to be with my family in Wisconsin to celebrate my brother’s wedding,
this is what I’m thinking about bringing with me.
Rising
Strong…. I can’t put it down, so good, but I’m almost
finished….
Accidental
Saints… Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber’s newest book, can’t wait to
start it.
Jane
Eyre
– rereading this old favorite
Texts
from Jane Eyre… when I want something a little lighter than
18th century romance on the gloomy English moors…
Complete
Psalms – modern translation, try to read a psalm every night…
RISE
UP Bible…
A book
on writing that my friend recommended to me…
A
novel that Karen Repka lent to me that I haven’t started…
Seriously these are all books that I have sitting next to
my bed. Because I never REALLY know EXACTLY what mood I will be in and what
book that will require. And though I
probably won’t bring ALL of these with me, I will still probably pack MORE than
I need, and will end up regretting it when I am dragging my luggage across
country.
Speaking of luggage, when I was a camp counselor back in
Wisconsin, we had to pack everything we needed for an entire summer and make it easy to take to a different
cabin every week.
Some of these campers we had, though, in packing for one week rivaled what we counselors
brought for the entire summer. Curling irons, , hair dryers, running shoes, baseball
cards, sugary snacks, both girls AND
boys were sometimes guilty of this …and
I can’t even imagine what camp counselors of today have to deal with - iPhones,
iPads, tablets, and all kinds of electronics.
I think we might be surprised at how few things we need when
we are focused on what is right in front of us – making new friends at camp, or
spending time with family, noticing what’s happening on this journey we call
life, rather than worrying about what to pack in order to be ready for whatever
might be around the corner.
Jesus was setting out in a journey. Maybe he was in the
middle of packing, though I can imagine that Jesus probably packed pretty
light. Perhaps he was just stepping out the door of the house he was staying,
or had just left the city limits. In any case, he was not long on his trip when
a man runs up to stop him. And the last thing Jesus must have wanted was to
deal with more questions.
In a graphic novel version of the Gospel of Mark, the
rich man is actually carrying everything he owns on his back – toasters,
bowling balls, golf clubs, a swimming pool, a couch, flat screen TVs, signs of
the “good life.” As he talks to Jesus, he is literally sinking into the sand under
the weight of all his stuff while he asks
Jesus his burning question.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” What an odd
question. That’s like me asking my parents, what must I do in order to be your
daughter? Or my cats, if they could talk, asking me what must we do in order to
belong to you? Or perhaps like Syrian refugees might say to all the countries
that refuse to give them asylum: what must we do in order to be treated like
human beings?
These refugees shouldn’t have to ask this question. They already are human beings and deserve to being treated as such. My
cats already belong to me. I am my parents’ daughter.
What do you do
to earn an inheritance? What an odd
question. Because the answer is simple: nothing. YOU YOURSELF do absolutely
nothing to receive any kind of inheritance that you have coming to you. The
only criteria is that you are yourself, the receiver, the child to whom your
benefactor is leaving their legacy.
So what then, can we do
to inherit eternal life? It is to be who
you are. It is to be a child of God.
THIS is the inheritance that we all have received at our baptisms,
as we were washed with water and with promises from God. At that moment, we
were claimed as God’s own beloved children and received God’s mark as belonging
to God forever. And nothing can ever change
that, not success or failure, not perfection or mistakes, not wealth or poverty
or anywhere in between.
But BEING a child of God also means we pack for this journey we call life in a
particular way, and we travel together on this road in a particular way.
We, as beloved children of God, are called to follow
Jesus, and as we have heard in the last few weeks, this call to discipleship really
hard. Following Jesus means that we take up our cross. Following Jesus means
that whoever will be first must be last. Following Jesus means welcoming the
vulnerable and undesirable among us. And sometimes, following Jesus means letting
go of what causes us to sink.
This is not
what the rest of the world wants us to do AT ALL. According to this country and this culture – the more you earn and the more
you can buy, the more you are worth.
And the more stuff we have, the more prepared we feel we are for whatever this
scary world throws our way. “I need this,
and this, and this, just in case.” Those
most prepared, with the most stuff, are admired and revered. And that means we
need to get more stuff. And this is how our possessions come to possess US.
We try to buy our way out of our fear of the
unknown. It is must easier to calm our anxiety with a few more things than it is
to trust in a vague eternal something that can’t be bought or earned. It is
much easier to try to fill the empty void in our hearts with stuff
than it is to put our trust in a man who the world never understood.
In the world’s eye, this Jesus was a loser – hung out
with working class guys, never owned a house, or much of anything for that
matter. No clothing lines or fancy buildings were named after him. He was a
poor peasant from the wrong side of the tracks who DIDN’T “pull himself up by
his own bootstraps,” get rich, and write a book. He died at the hands of his
enemies without fighting back, leaving no earthly possessions, and left his
disciples – who abandoned him - with no legacy to speak of.
No legacy to speak of, that is, except the promise that
eternal life is ours. And the promise that Jesus will be with us to lead us there. Even if we are still possessed by
our possessions. Even if it’s like getting a camel through the eye of a needle.
Does this seem impossible? Perhaps. But God has never let
the impossible stand in the way before.
The losers of this world are actually winners in God’s kingdom? Impossible. The
poorest and the least served first at the heavenly banquet? Impossible! The
refugee and the stranger given premier status? Impossible. Giving up everything
which results in receiving even more? Impossible! Death? Defeated? Impossible. Eternal
life is really ours? Impossible!
For us, if we were to try to do all this on our own, it WOULD
be impossible. But we were created by a God who laughs at impossible
things. A God who welcomes rich people into heaven but gives poor people a
place of honor. A God who gives the powerful a place, but not the place of
honor. A God who demands everything of us while at the same time
freely gives us everything. For us, this would indeed be impossible. But for God,
the possibilities are endless. AMEN.
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