Christ & the Rich Man—Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost (October 13, 2024) (Proper 23, Year B)
Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost (October 13, 2024) at St.James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day.
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Transcript
(Sorry for the livestream/sound/recording issues this week, which affected our ability to transcribe accurately.)
In the gospels, what do people usually do when Jesus says, “Follow me?” I will give you a hint. Look at what Peter says: We have left everything and followed you. Jesus comes to people in the middle of their lives and says, Hey you, come with me. They do. They drop the fishing net, they leave their father in the boat and they go with him.
Except this guy, except this man. He's the only man in the gospels who when Jesus says, come follow me, goes away sad. He doesn't follow. And I've loved this story for such a, first of all, because it makes me squirm when I hear this. My brain starts rumbling. Well, I don't know if Jesus wants me to give away all my possessions. I'm not rich, but then I know compared to the rest of the world, most of the rest of the world, I have everything I need and most of the things I want and much more. I am rich. I'm rich. And so it terrifies me that Jesus might tell me to get rid of all my stuff to follow him. So I think that's one reason. But I think also because it's relatable, because this Peter and John to boat, leave your job, leave your home, leave your family. They all do! But this guy says wait, slow down. You want me to give all my possessions? I have quite a few! That's going to take me some time. Whoever’s done any kind of clean out of our own attics or basements, or our parents’… I think we get it, this man going away sad, for he has many possessions.
Now, this young man is different from other folks who approach Jesus in another way. He's the only person anywhere in the gospels to call Jesus “Good teacher.” I read, I think it was Bishop Glasspool's letter this week. She said he’s trying to be a bit of a teachers pet. He comes running up to Jesus. He kneels down. He says, Good teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus, like any exasperated teacher, says, Okay, are you calling me good? What is this really about? And then he goes on to say, You know the way that leads to life. You’ve got to follow these commandments. Love your father and your mother… He rattles off the ten commandments. But the young man says, well, I've done all of these! Which of course we know is impossible. No one can follow all these commandments to the letter. But this young man says, well, I've done it all. Something is still missing. What am I missing?
And this man, who so wants to ingratiate himself… there’s something underlying his question. He has been following the way that he was taught to the best of his ability. And yet he’s left with some feeling of emptiness. And I think this is a third reason I love this scripture so much. I think I can identify with that. I think I can identify with that sense of I am trying to follow Jesus, I'm trying to do right, I'm trying to grow closer to God. And yet, as a human being, I’m left with a sense of dissatisfaction at my own efforts. This young man, like so many of us, comes to church seeking, looking for something, looking for an answer.
And what's most beautiful about this passage is what happens next. Mark says: Jesus, looking at him loved him.
Jesus does that thing that he does. Where he looks at the person and he really looks and he sees, sees the question behind the question. He sees the yearning behind the eager-beaver saying, I've done all these things. He sees the yearning, he sees the person and he sees clearly what this person has been missing. He says, you lack only one thing. You sell everything you have, give it to the poor and come follow me.
And he has hit the nail right on the head because that young man cannot, will not, is not willing to let go of that one thing.
And it is that one thing—his stuff—that has kept him from following Jesus.
And it may be that if Jesus were to look at me and love me, he might say to me, sell everything you have. But he might see something else that’s my thing, that’s in my way. One other thing that is my thing that I cling to that makes me feel safe, secure. And it's that very thing that is in the way of knowing Jesus completely.
What's happening here is that Jesus truly looks at this person and when he truly looks at him, he sees the attachment, the thing that this guy can't let go. And the incredible thing is that Jesus sees that about every one of us too. He sees it even when we can't see it.
I was in my twenties, I think when I got a fortune cookie fortune that I still have in a drawer. It said, you will be free of the heavy burden you have been carrying. I wasn't a Christian when I got that fortune cookie. Now, looking back, I hear those words—the “comfortable words” in the Gospel of Matthew: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” But even then, that idea struck me so deeply. “You will be free of the heavy burden that you have been carrying.”
That sense that I might set my burden down, let go of whatever was holding me back, and look forward in freedom—it gave me so much hope. And now, I know that freedom is found in shouldering that burden together with the God who loves me, who looks at me, who looks at each us.
And when Jesus says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle… there's an old tradition that there is or was a gate in Jerusalem called the Needle Gate. As far as I can tell, the tradition is not true, there’s no evidence for it. But it’s a helpful image to help us understand what’s happening here.
The gate, it is said, was narrow and small. It was just big enough for a camel to walk through. But the camel had to be unburdened of what camels would usually be carrying, which is bags and baskets and boxes all piled up. In order for the camel to pass through the narrow gate, it would have to lay down all its burdens—let go. Then it was free to pass through the gate and be on its way. This links very closely to Jesus looking at this young man, loving him and saying, you need to put that down. You are the one who needs to let go of your possessions. You will be free of the heavy burden you are carrying. If only you can do that, then come follow me.
Our letter from Hebrews says, God looks upon each of us “laid bare.” “Jesus looking at him, loved him”—not for the burden he carried, not for what he thought he needed, not for what he was attached to, but for who he was and who he might be free to be. And letter from Hebrew says also that Jesus understands what it's like to be us because Jesus—God with us—came and lived this life. He was “tested in every way as we are.” That's why he can look at this guy and really love him. We know that often our own suffering, our own trial, it can create in us a well of compassion for people who have suffered in the same way. And just that is what Jesus, that is what God did in the life and ministry of Jesus. He knew how hard it is to let go, how we cling to our burdens.
It’s worth taking some time this week to say to God, what one thing do I lack? What would you have me let go of? What am I hanging onto that I don't need to hang onto? I'm afraid to let that thing go. I might not even know who I am without that thing. It might be a job, be a belief, it might be things. But chances are for all of us that if we can imagine Jesus looking at us with love, we have a feeling of what it is we might be invited to release. And Jesus was tested in every way as we are. He knows.
The last thing I want to say, knowing how hard it is to let go, but also knowing that so much of this life is simply practice in letting go, in surrendering to God, to releasing into God's hands the things that we clinging to most tightly. We are all going to release even our lives to God. Even our very life. When it comes time for us to draw our last breath, will we fight? Will we feel fear or will we have practiced the letting go, will we have practiced putting our whole trust in God's grace and love? To place our lives, even, into the hands of God.
I was at a funeral for a dear friend, and the opening hymn was All creatures of our God and King. This is a hymn written by St. Francis. The sixth verse goes: “And even you, most gentle death, waiting to hush our final breath—O praise him, Alleluia! You lead back home the child of God, for Christ our Lord that way hath trod. O, praise him.”
In laying down and in being led through the narrow gate where we lay all our burdens down, we are following the one who went there before us, the one who looked at us with love and who makes the path for us to follow and who meets us on the other side of the gate, the one who gave us the life we have. We'll receive it back again with gratitude and love for how we've cared for it.
So today, with gratitude and love, we get to practice. Lift up your hearts. Offer your life to God. You don't have to carry any burden. We offer this life to God, holds it together with us, looking at us with love, and we can enter deeply right now into that eternal joy. Eternal life is not just what happens after death. It is what we glimpse right now. Every moment we offer our lives to God.
Jesus looking at him, loved him. And loved you. And said, follow me.
Amen.