Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Mark 10:17-31
The Rev. Ross M. Wright
And Jesus looked at him and loved him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have – give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” Mark 10:21
“As Jesus went on his way, a man ran and knelt down before him and asked, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’”[1] Here is a man who seems earnest enough. He demonstrates reverence for Jesus by kneeling before him. He obviously respects Jesus as a wise teacher; he expects that he will receive a good answer from him about a serious question. But Jesus does not really answer his question – at least not in the form in which the man poses it. Instead, the Lord abruptly asks him a question:
Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments – do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal . . .”
What are we to make of this curt response? Jesus’ question exposes the man’s motivations. He wants a “weighty pronouncement” from the expert rabbi.[2] He wants to add knowledge to his already exemplary life and significant possessions – he is a wealthy, Mark tells us. Jesus’ question reveals that eternal life is not the subject of theoretical discussion or an interesting sermon. This man got a lot more than he bargained for.
Jesus’ response also gives the man’s question new meaning. Notice how he directs his attention to God. The question about eternal life is the question about the living God. Jesus’ question reveals that this man stands, not before an expert rabbi, but in the presence of the Son of God. What are we, without God? What does all our knowledge add up to if we do not know God? What is the value of our work, all of our striving, without God? Kierkegaard wrote a biblical meditation entitled, Purity of the Heart is to Will One Thing. It begins with a prayer:
Father in heaven! What is a man without Thee! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know Thee! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know Thee: Thee the One, who are one thing and who are all![3]
Jesus’ response points to the one thing that really matters.
Notice also how Jesus responds to the man’s claim that he has kept all of the commandments since he was a child:
And Jesus looked at him and loved him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have – give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.”
Jesus looks right at this man and invites him to follow him in the way that leads to eternal life. “To live in fellowship with Christ” is the answer to his question about eternal life. To abandon everything and follow Christ is the one thing that matters.
When Jesus Christ calls you, you know it. His voice is unlike any other. His call comes from eternity, our true home. So it penetrates to the core of our being, to the essence of who we are. “Come home, come home. All who are weary, come home. Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling to you and to me.” We come from God – he has created us and chosen us from eternity – and we are on our way towards the kingdom of God – the Christian life is a pilgrimage toward our ultimate destiny in eternal glory. When Christ calls you, you will recognize his voice, because you already know him.
The call to follow Jesus Christ is also personal. He knows us through and through. He knows us better than we know ourselves. When Christ calls you, you discover that you are deeply known and loved by the living God. He looks at us, loves us, and invites us to be with him in the most important work in the world. The meaning of all the commandments and of our Christian duty is summed up in two little words: “Follow me.”
Mark tells us that when the man heard Jesus’ words, “His face fell, and he left – grieving, because he had many possessions.” The call of Christ is a call to unconditional obedience. This is why the Lord asks the man to sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and come follow him. When Christ calls us, he calls every part of us. He lays claim to everything – our allegiance, interests, relationships, passions, how we spend our time, and how we spend our money.
What would it take for you to pack up your job, sell your house, and give up everything which currently represents security? Jesus had this effect on the first disciples and he still does today. The call of Christ is compelling. It has power. When he calls, you realize: This is it. This is the one thing that promises to give meaning to life, to collect the scattered fragments of our lives and make us whole. Jesus Christ demands all, because he gives all.
To say Yes to the call means to go wherever he leads us. We do not know beforehand what kind of service he will ask of us. We are waiting for orders, to use military language. We are waiters, called to serve the word of God. The world teaches us the importance of leadership. Literature on leadership theory is a growth industry. It teaches us how to be good leaders in our jobs and families. But before Jesus Christ, we are all followers. There is only one leader, Jesus Christ. The school of Christ teaches us how to follow.
The risen Christ is here today with the power and authority to call. If anything in this service touches the core of you being, Christ may be calling you. If not today, his call will come at some point in the future. When he calls you, you will recognize his voice. He may call you to something quite specific. His call is never abstract. It is a call to follow in specific ways. If you feel remorse about the course your life has taken, or if you feel anxiety about your finitude, recognize in these feelings the call of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you responded to his call in the past, but over time, the sense of urgency that it once had for you has faded. Other things have become more important than the one thing. Let’s face it – none of us finds it natural or easy to will the one thing. We want options. We want choices. We are easily distracted. We are easily discouraged, when the way is confusing.
Kierkegaard recognized this struggle. He wrote Purity of the Heart is to Will One Thing as preparation for confession and the receiving of forgiveness, which is precisely why we are here. Because he recognized this struggle, he ends the meditation with the same prayer he offers at the beginning. And so I offer this prayer for all of us:
Father in heaven! . . . . So may Thou give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding: to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may Thou grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, Thou that giveth both the beginning and the completion, may Thou early, at the dawn of day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may Thou give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.[4]
[1] Here and throughout the sermon, I use my own translation.
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1976), 78. Bonhoeffer’s exposition of the passage occurs in chapter two, “The Call to Discipleship.” I am indebted to him for several of the insights in the sermon.
[3] Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing: Spiritual Preparation for the Office of Confession, trans., Douglas V. Steere (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956), 31.
[4] Purity of the Heart, 31.