Trinity 20 2024

(Mark 10:17-31)

We hear some hard words in the Gospel reading this morning and hear of someone

who doesn’t want to hear what he needs to hear. The man who comes to Jesus is

sincere in his faith, sincere in wanting to live right. “What must I do to inherit eternal

life?” he asks Jesus, as if eternal life were just one more possession to add to those he

already has - the ultimate gift for the man who has everything. He’s wrong, though.

Eternal life isn’t a ticket to heaven when we die; it is something that grows in us as we

live in the way God calls us to now. If we live justly, lovingly and generously, our lives

will gradually become heaven-shaped, shot through with the justice, love and generosity

of God. That’s what eternal life is all about. But this man’s possessions are getting in the

way of him living like that. His hands are so full of them, that he can’t take hold of the life

God wants to give him now. He goes away grieving. He knows that what Jesus is

saying is right, but he can’t bear to let these words into his heart. They will cost him

more than he wants to pay.

Over the years I’ve heard many opinions about this passage and often they’ve included

some elaborate attempts to prove that it isn’t really saying what it sounds like it’s saying.

We want to find a loophole to excuse us from its demands. “It is easier for a camel to go

through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of

heaven” says Jesus. There’s a “loophole” explanation of that which says that there was

a gate in Jerusalem called the “eye of the needle” which was too small for camels to

enter unless their cargoes were unloaded first. There we go! Camels can get through

eyes of needles after all, so maybe riches aren’t always as much of an obstacle after all.

We just need to do some rearrangement. Unfortunately it is not true. There’s no

historical or archaeological evidence for such a gate; but I bet we’d like there to be.

Another “loophole” interpretation points out that Jesus didn’t call everyone to this way of

absolute poverty. His fishermen disciples didn’t actually sell their boats – we find them

going fishing from time to time.  Martha and Mary had a home to offer Jesus when he

needed it, and food for him and his disciples, and his mission was bankrolled by wealthy

supporters. That’s a relief isn’t it. If he didn’t call everyone to be poor, we’re off the hook!

If we find ourselves looking for loopholes, and relieved when we think we’ve found

them, we’ve probably missed the point. Our reluctance even to consider giving up our

possessions tells us that we are probably more attached to them than we should be,

and that they mean more to us than they should. Material things aren’t intrinsically

wrong; God made a material world full of riches and called all of it good. We need food

to eat and clothes to wear. But if our possessions are starting to possess us, if we look

to them to give us a sense of status and worth, we have a problem.

Jesus’ words feel challenging because we need to be challenged. And challenge can be

painful. As our first reading put it, “The word of God is …sharper than any two edged

sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow”. 

Sometimes we need radical surgery – that two edged sword – but if we can’t even bear

to hear God saying that, nothing will ever change in us. How can we find the courage to

keep listening to God even when it feels difficult?  What do we need to enable us to do

that?

Today’s Bible readings tell us that the key lies in relationship. The writer of the letter to

the Hebrews points us to an even deeper relationship – the relationship we have with

God through Christ. In Christ God has been where we are; he knows what it feels like to

be us. However terrifying it might feel when we know something is wrong, ultimately

God’s presence is the safest place for us to be, the place where we “receive mercy, and

find grace to help in times of need.”

If our ears are open to God’s voice, there will be times when he challenges us with

tough words that we’d rather not hear. They may come from the depth of our

consciences, or they may come through people we trust. They may come in the stillness

of prayer or in our worship and Bible reading. But how do we really know if they are

God’s words or not?  Well one simple test is that God’s words aren’t just sharp, they are

also living, according to Hebrews. They bring life rather than destroying it.

But we often know all too well that we are doing something we shouldn’t, or not doing

something we should – we just can’t bear to acknowledge it. Like that rich man, it will

cost us more than we want to pay.

Today’s readings tell us that it is our relationship with God that is the key to helping us

through that reluctance.  Do we believe that God “looks at us and loves us” as Jesus did

to that rich young man, or not? And if not, why not? These are the questions we need to

ask ourselves, the place we need to start if we want to let go of the junk that clutters our

lives – material, emotional or spiritual - and let the kingdom of God take root in us. Let’s

not “go away grieving” today, but come to God, in whose hands we are safe forever.

Amen