These verses are difficult because they speak of giving up what we treasure. The ruler comes to Jesus and asks what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him if he knows the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, and so on. The man replies that that he has observed the commandments since he was a boy. Jesus tells him he lacks one thing. The ruler is to sell all that he has and give the money to the poor. The man becomes sad because he is rich. Jesus then speaks to him directly (In Mark, Jesus speaks to the disciples), and says "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For 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." When the ruler leaves, Peter indicates the he and the other disciples have left everything to follow Jesus. Jesus goes on to say that those who have left their house or wife or brothers or parents of children, for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive even more in this time and in the age to come.
These words are challenging. How can you give up everything for God? How can God make such a demand? How to you leave your spouse and children? These were the central question for the group on Wednesday. For us, part of the answer is found in verses 26-27. The truth is that we cannot give up what we treasure on our own. If that was the requirement, no one would be saved. However, what is impossible for us is possible with God. If the ruler had simply confessed that he could not give up his riches, that would have opened the door for God to act. It is human nature to present ourselves, even to God, in the best light. We find it difficult to admit our weakness and failings, but that it precisely when God in God's grace meets us. In the scriptures, Peter falls on his knees when he realizes who Jesus is and says, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man." And Jesus tells Peter to get up and he will make him a fisher of people. What is impossible for us is possible for God.
Another part of the answer is the seeming contradiction of giving something up in order to truly gain it. Scripture speaks of giving up your life in order to gain your life. We offer, by the grace of God, everything we have because God is the only center (and we always have something in the center of our life - our job, our children, our ambition, etc.) that does not consume us. By giving myself to God, I do not disappear. I am made a better spouse, a better parent, a better worker, and a better person. If my offering of myself, I have gained so much in return. I do not count my sacrifice as loss, but as gain. It is the mystery of baptism, of death and resurrection. From the outside, it makes no sense, but when it happens, when the grace of God intersects your life and you place you life in God's hands, and your life is given back to you transformed, it makes all the sense in the world. You can't explain the miracle to another. You can only witness to the wonder.
Peace,
Pastor Summer
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