Pentecost 20

Pentecost 20 (Mark 10:17-31)

“Jesus looked at him and loved him.”

Love knows no law except the pattern of love.

Jesus once summarized the 616 Laws Moses wrote in one word: love. That love manifests in this world of duality, the world of choice, in three basic ways. Those three basic ways are worship, charity, transformation.

The rich young ruler apparently lived a righteous life according to the standards of religious law. He did not lie, cheat, steal or kill. He did not do bad things. In his society that meant he was righteous. Sadly, it was a righteousness of absence. He avoided certain behaviors. But, he felt an inner spiritual  void.

In the context of his religion and culture he was looking for something more or something different. He was looking for a law he might have missed. If he lived in our culture he might have thought in terms of a program he could buy- ten easy steps to the Kingdom of Heaven.

He was lost. Lost in separation from God. Sadly, one of the marks of being lost is the inability to recognize we are lost. He thought of eternal life as a reward for doing right and avoiding wrong. Jesus came to seek the lost who do not recognize they are lost. Jesus came to find the lost who do not want to be found.

Jesus came to help us understand that eternal life is a personal relationship with the pattern, plan and purpose of life. That pattern, plan and purpose is Jesus himself. It is not a law, a book, a ritual or a program. Those things have their place in the world to support the relationship. The reality of eternal life is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The rich young man knew he needed something. He came to Jesus looking for a law or a program. Jesus gave him something different. Jesus gave him a way.

Eternal life is not a reward; it is a gift. Eternal life is a personal relationship with God, the very source of life, in Jesus Christ. Jesus loved the rich man as Jesus loves all people regardless of who we are or what we have done or left undone. The man had asked Jesus- what must I do. Jesus looked into his soul and identified the barrier he had created. It was his attachment to his wealth.

The wealth was not the problem. There were other wealthy people who followed Jesus whom Jesus did not ask to give away their money and possessions. Jesus very personally answered the man’s question. What you specifically must do is to detach from your possessions. What you specifically must do is to divest of your material wealth. What you specifically must do is give your money to the poor. For you, not doing bad things is not enough. For you, doing a good thing is the first step into the Kingdom of Heaven, And the way to eternal life is Jesus. So, Jesus tells the man, once you do the things I have instructed you to do, come, follow me.

Giving to the poor is a gospel command. Giving to the poor is not eternal life. Jesus is eternal life. All people have created obstacles in our souls to keep Jesus out there. Jesus will help the lost identify the obstacle then send the Holy Spirit to assist the lost to permit themselves to be found. For all of their faults, the disciples had allowed themselves to be found. As we see in this account, the rich young man wanted the gift of eternal life as a reward for some law he could keep, some sin he could avoid.

He was unwilling to take an active positive step to receive eternal life as a gift. He was unwilling to surrender his belief in a rewards based righteousness for a grace based faith. He had called Jesus good and Jesus had questioned him on that. Only God is good, Jesus commented. Jesus is asking him: do just see me as one of many religious teachers or are you prepared to accept me for who I am. Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus and Jesus alone can offer eternal life as a gift because Jesus and Jesus alone is eternal life.

It was too much for the man to accept. He could not detach from his possessions long enough to consider who he was speaking to. He could not detach from his religious belief in rewards and punishments long enough to receive the gift of God standing before him. He felt shock and grief at what Jesus told him. He wanted a quick and easy fix. He wanted to be righteous based on not committing certain sins. He was not ready to receive the gift that God was offering to him. He chose to remain attached to his possessions. He chose to remain lost.

Jesus still loved him. Divine love is universal and unconditional. The problem is not that God is distant. God is as close to us as the beating of our heart and the intake of our next breath. The problem is not that we sometimes do bad things- that we commit sins. That is a consequence of the problem. The problem is that we are willfully and spitefully lost in pride and self-will. The problem is that we want the attributes of God, the knowledge and the power so that we can earn our own way to claim a reward. The problem is that we tend to define ourselves as righteous based on what we don’t do. The problem is that we want to stay separate from God and equal to God in order to maintain control.

The solution is to receive the gift that God offers us. The gift is Jesus Christ. Jesus and Jesus alone is the Way of new life, of eternal life. Jesus is the way of love that reunifies us to the Father and fills us with the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. It is a new way of thinking and a new way of behaving that can only come as we follow Jesus himself in the new way of living.

The rich young man wanted a quick fix. Jesus loved him and said there is no quick fix. There is only the way of love. Detach from the wealth that now defines you soul. Help the poor. And then, enter a new life and a new way of living in the way of universal unconditional and personal transforming love. If you want eternal life it is right here for you to receive. Come. Follow me.