"Stuff" (Sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

October 14, 2018

Scripture:  Mark 10:17-31

 

Looking at the reading from Mark this week, I couldn’t help but think that this story should make those of us with lots of “stuff” feel just a little bit uncomfortable.  That whole instruction about selling everything that you own and giving the money to the poor.

Speaking from my own experience, I tend to like my “stuff.”  I feel attached to it.  When I went out to BC to do my internship, the church there rented a furnished apartment for me, so I put my “stuff” into storage back in Nova Scotia.  Even though it was for a time limited period, I missed my “stuff.”  I missed my bed, and my piano, and my pots and pans, and my sofa.  And especially my books.  When I moved here, and the moving truck showed up, and when I was unpacking the boxes of books, it was like I was being re-united with my friends.  But these are all inanimate objects.  Why should I feel so attached to them?

A man with many possessions came to Jesus and asked him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?  What must I do to enter into God’s kingdom?  What must I do to be a part of the kinship, the community of God?”

Jesus looked at him.  Is this some sort of trick question?  You know what God wants you to do.  It’s all written down for you in scripture.  You must keep the rules that God has given to us.

But to the questioner, this answer wasn’t enough.  He had kept these rules his whole life, but he still felt like he was missing something.  So he pushed Jesus for more.  “What else must I do to be part of the abundant life that God gives?”

And this is where Jesus gives him the hard answer.  “You must sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.”

And the man heard this, he was shocked; and he was sorrowful, because he had much stuff.

And the questioner went away.  We don’t get to hear the rest of his story.  Jesus moves on to teach his disciples about wealth, and true wealth.  But the last that we hear of his questioner, he was shocked and sorrowful.

I wonder what the rest of his story looks like.

I wonder if he was so shocked at Jesus’ answer that he just stopped trying.  I wonder if he thought that since he couldn’t sell everything that he owned, maybe he should just stop trying.  Maybe he went away and stopped keeping the commandments that he had kept since he was young.

But maybe he didn’t change.  I wonder if he went away, sorrowful that he couldn’t sell everything that he owned, but figured that at least he was keeping the commandments, and that was better than nothing.  Maybe nothing in his life changed because of his encounter with Jesus, other than being a little bit sadder than before.

But I tend to be an optimist, and so I wonder if maybe he was changed by his encounter with Jesus.  I wonder if he was sorrowful because he knew that what Jesus was asking him to do was going to be hard – the most difficult thing that he had ever had to do.  But I wonder if he did go away, and sold everything that he had, just as Jesus had instructed him to do.  And once he had given all of the money to the poor, I wonder if he followed up on the invitation to come back and become a follower of Jesus.

We don’t have the end of this person’s story.  He isn’t named, and we don’t have any other references in scripture to this encounter.  But there, towards the end of Mark’s gospel, there is another unnamed man; a follower of Jesus who is with Jesus when he is arrested.  It’s a curious little incident, where this unnamed man witnesses Jesus’ arrest, and then runs off into the night, losing the linen cloth that was tied around his waist, leaving him naked.  This man who has literally nothing; I wonder if there is a connection to the man who was told by Jesus to get rid of his “stuff.”

I also wonder why Jesus told the man to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor.  I wonder what it was about this man and his belongings that made Jesus feel that he needed to unburden himself.  This isn’t something that Jesus told all of his followers to do.  They weren’t a rich group of travelers, Jesus and his disciples, but there is some evidence that their ministry was funded by some of his band of followers.  Somebody or somebodies fed them, and gave them places to stay; so not all of Jesus’ disciples had given away all of their possessions.

Maybe Jesus looked into the questioner’s heart, and saw that all of his possessions were separating him from God.  Maybe he had enough stuff, and was able to trust in his belongings to see him through life, rather than trusting God.  Or maybe the amount of his possessions made him blind to the needs of his neighbours.

I suspect that Jesus was able to see that his possessions were keeping this man from God.  And so Jesus, wanting to invite this man into the community of God, the kinship of God’s people, told the man that he would have to get rid of the thing that separated him.  And he was sorrowful, because this was going to be a hard thing to do.

I hear this story as an invitation to all of us – an invitation to examine our hearts and our lives to see what might be keeping us from God.  Maybe, like the questioner in the story, we are burdened by our belongings.  Maybe we don’t have to trust God completely since our stuff will see us through; maybe worrying about our possessions keeps us from worrying about our neighbours; or maybe our “stuff” numbs us to the needs in the world.

Or maybe we are separated from God by other things.  Maybe an addiction is controlling our lives; maybe a toxic or unhealthy relationship is controlling our lives; or maybe we are running from God as we try to ignore God’s call to do something specific in our lives.

Whatever might be in your life separating you from God, the first step towards making it right is always hard.  The man was shocked, and went away sorrowful because of what Jesus had asked him to do.

But the good news is that we don’t have to do it alone.  Remember that Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that even when something seems to be impossible, with God, all things are possible.  If God is calling you back into relationship with God and with God’s people, then God will make it possible, no matter how insurmountable the challenges may seem to be.

And the scripture tells us that Jesus loved the man who was questioning him, even as he was presenting a challenge.  Jesus loved him, and wanted him to be a disciple.

And God loves you too.  No matter what God is asking you to do to bring you closer to God; you are still God’s beloved child.  God wants you to be part of the family, part of the kinship of all of God’s people.  God isn’t about to let you go.

Let us pray:

Loving God –

            open our hearts to you.

Help us to hear your call to each one of us

            to follow you.

Help us to see the things that separate us from you,

            and give us the space to grieve their loss,

            and the confidence to know

                        that with you, all things are possible.

We pray this in the name of your incarnate love,

            Jesus Christ.

Amen.

"Follow Me"

Photo Credit:  Kate Jones