Pentecost 20 (Mark 10:2-16) “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”

He seemed to have it all; yet, he asked himself- is that all there is?

According to the standards of the day the man who fell at Jesus’ feet had it all. He was rich and because he was rich he was powerful. His wealth and power demonstrated his righteousness. And, because he was righteous he was approved by God and blessed by God. What more could he desire?  What could he possibly lack?

Lest we miss the point, Jesus asked the man to confirm his obedience to the Law of Moses. Jesus states the six moral aspects of the Ten Commandments, those commandments that deal with our interpersonal relationships with each other. The man acknowledges that he had indeed kept those six commandments since childhood. He was morally righteous. We was well respected by his peers and admired by all. What more could he desire? What could he possibly lack?

Despite his success in business and religion and society, the man knew he was missing something vitally important. He felt a deep and nebulous emptiness. This vague unease crystalized in his consciousness when he saw Jesus. Somehow, the personal presence of Jesus acted as a perfect mirror to the man’s soul. Suddenly, he recognized a fundamental and transcendent truth. He was lost.

Suddenly, his wealth and power were meaningless. Suddenly, his upright moral character appeared to be worthless. Suddenly, the essence of what Moses and the prophets taught emerged from the dim shadows of the past and became real and urgent.

Despite his apparent success in pleasing God to gain God’s favor and avoid God’s wrath, the man recognized he was in a state of separation from God. He asked a question even Jesus’ disciples had not thought to ask: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He was so close. He did what few of his generation did. He asked Jesus a genuine heartfelt honest question. And Jesus gave him a genuine heartfelt honest answer.

Mark comments at this point of the story that Jesus looked at the man and loved him. Jesus loved him because Jesus is the infinite and eternal love of God in human flesh. God just doesn’t have love, God is love. It is in the context of eternal love that Jesus answers the man’s question about eternal life.

The answer is both personal and individual.

The man had come to recognize there was an obstacle in his life that blocked his relationship with God. He asked Jesus to identify that obstacle. Jesus looked at the man with infinite love and compassion and answered his question. Sadly, the man did not like the answer Jesus gave him.

For that man at that time the obstacle was his attachment to wealth and power. Note that the wealth and power are not the problem. Other people who followed Jesus had wealth and power and used it wisely. The problem is not wealth. The problem is attachment to wealth. The problem lies in the choice the man made to ignore the priority of the first four of the Ten Commandments.

The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship with God. That is where the man was stuck. That is where the man and everyone in his generation was lost.

For that man at that time the solution was very simple. Divest. Detach. Liquidate your vast assets, give the money to the poor, and then enter into a personal relationship of worship and service with God himself in Jesus Christ. Place your relationship with God as the first priority in your life if you really want that relationship to be real and to be presentl.

This is what the man realized he needed. That is the one choice he could not make. He had great possessions. The test of faith revealed that he was indeed possessed by his possessions. He was enslaved to his wealth and dominated by his position of power.

Sadly, he could not take that last step in faith. He could not acknowledge to Jesus exactly how and where he was lost. When he heard the word of God from the Word of God he reacted in fear. And in fear he withdrew from Jesus into isolation. Had he acknowledged his fear, had he asked Jesus for help to overcome his attachment to wealth, Jesus would have healed him as he healed so many others.

But the man did not want to be healed. He did not want to change. He wanted God as an add on to his wealth and power. He knew there was a barrier to experiencing a personal relationship with God. Sadly, when Jesus identified the barrier as the man’s wealth the man walked away from Jesus, walking away from God, walking away from the personal relationship with God that is eternal life.

Jesus comments on the man’s tragic choice by saying: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”

The disciples are astonished and dismayed. There is a moment of stunned silence. They, as with everyone in their world, believed salvation, eternal life, was a reward for good deeds done. They believed the gift of God and the blessing of God was the wealth and power God granted the righteous in this life. It was inconceivable to them that you could do all of the right things and enjoy all of God’s blessings and still be lost.

They all thought of salvation in the accounting terms of debits and credits on a balance sheet. Jesus taught that salvation, eternal life, is a personal relationship with the personal God.

The relationship is the present reality of eternal life.

It isn’t just wealth that subverts the personal relationship that is eternal life. Any thing or any one that we choose to place first in our lives can take that role.

The rich man was so close. He even recognized he had a problem. He thought the solution might involve some religious practice he had missed or some charitable donation he could make. It never occurred to him that eternal life is the relationship with God that God revealed to Moses and the prophets and now offered him in Jesus Christ.

The rich man defined himself by his wealth. He was not willing to become a new person, he was not willing to be born again to acquire what he thought he wanted. In the end, he walked away from Jesus as he realized he did not want what Jesus offered. He did not want the personal relationship to define his life.

The disciples very accurately blurted out: then who can be saved? Who really places God first? Who really makes the Seventh Day of Real Presence their first priority and greatest passion in life?

Jesus agrees with this statement. Who indeed places God first? Who indeed can take that next step beyond the outward observance of the Law and embrace the Real Presence of God in the personal relationship God offers? Who is willing to forsake all others and pledge their loyalty to Jesus Christ regardless of the cost?

The answer of Moses and the prophets is: no one. The answer of the wealthy and powerful is: not us. The answer of the apostles is: this is impossible! The answer of God is: Jesus.

For the old way of being human, for the old way of being religious, righteous or rich, salvation is impossible. You cannot enter into the Kingdom of God whilst remaining attached to the kingdom of this world.

Your mind rejects the possibility as being absurd. Your heart is seduced by the promises of power, prestige, pleasure and pride. Your will is enslaved to the demands and expectations of society and culture.

What makes salvation possible is the new way of being human made manifest in the person of Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus is the way, the only way, to salvation. Salvation is not something we do or something we earn. Salvation is a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It is that relationship that produces a new life (eternal life) in our souls. It is that relationship that produces a new way of living.

The rich man was so close. His attachment to his wealth, not the wealth itself, seduced his heart, distorted his reason and enslaved his will. He not only missed his moment of grace, he made a conscious choice to reject his moment of grace. He said he wanted eternal life but when he discovered what eternal life is he walked away.

The lesson is clear. The warning is urgent. What keeps us from receiving the gift of reunification with the Father through the Son by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Who or what do we choose in place of the personal relationship with God in Christ? Where are we attempting to have the new life even as we are lost in the old way of living?

For some, it is money. And to those Jesus warns: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”