October 13, 2024 Sermon

Sermon title:  “Camels and Needles”

Scripture:  Mark 10: 7-31

(Other lectionary suggestions include Job 23:1-9 and 16-17, Psalm 22:1-15, and Hebrews 4:12-16.)

Mark 10:17-31

The Rich Man

17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’ “ 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” 28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

          The sermon title probably should have been “A Camel and a Needle” since Jesus mentions ONE camel and ONE needle, but I came up with “Camels and Needles” instead! That really is a famous saying from Jesus, and as we have said before, Jesus is once again using an over-the-top illustration to make a point. People did that a lot back then:  give over-the-top illustrations in order to emphasize a point. Also, as I have said before, you and I do that, too:  go way over the top in order to make a point.

          Also, some have tried to reduce the shock of what Jesus was saying by raising the possibility that there REALLY WAS a place called the Needle, a very narrow passageway through a door or gate into an ancient city. But that misses the point, which is that one must unload oneself of many things before one can see the kingdom of God.

          In previous sermons on this passage, I have not mentioned the order of the commandments Jesus gave, but I’ll do so now. Jesus starts out the list with 6 through 9 (don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, and don’t commit perjury). And then he throws in an extra one:  don’t defraud! Then he goes back to number 5:  honor your father and mother. Interesting, isn’t it, how Jesus leaves out commandments 1 through 4? Jesus’s basic demand “is for idols and covetousness to be thrown to the winds: sell up and give to the poor!” What does it mean for any of us to put God first? This is “a radical rethink on what putting God first, and not taking his name in vain, might mean,” to quote Biblical scholar N. T. Wright. “Jesus’ new movement is indeed a radical revision of what it meant to be God’s people, to follow the laws of Moses. Because he, Jesus, is here, a whole new world opens up:  the Age to Come is not now simply in the future....it is bursting through into the present.”

          There is something else about the question of “What must I do to inherit Eternal Life?” For one thing, the guy seems to think it’s about EARNING something. Eternal Life is God’s great GIFT. It is not something that you can “earn” for yourself. Also, to ask such a question betrays a bad attitude, in my opinion! He could have asked the question this way:  “What is the LEAST I can do to get into Heaven?” That REALLY IS a legalistic way of doing things. And there is no mention of love and compassion. What is the point of religion, ANY religion? To be compassionate. The Hebrew prophet Micah puts it pretty succinctly in Micah 6:  do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. The Apostle Paul gets it in I Corinthians 13:  even if I give away my body to be burned, if I have not love, I am nothing. There is the point:  be loving, show compassion. Look at Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan:  the religious folk passed by on the other side, but the hated Samaritan showed mercy. Again, the prophet Micah:  DO justice, LOVE mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

          Blake Rohrer is a Lutheran minister in Madison, Wisconsin, and he has served churches in Washington and California. He says the guy we heard about today in the scripture lesson had a problem with wealth. Usually, we think of having wealth as a blessing. “But Jesus sees the rich man’s wealth as a barrier. It keeps him from following Christ. Like a physician who examines a patient, recognizes what is causing his disease, and then seeks to remove it, Jesus tells the man to sell what he owns.” And then Pastor Blake goes on to say this:  “One of the main perils of wealth is that wealth isolates us. Humans, in order to be healthy, need to be in relationships with one another and with God. And wealth can isolate us from both. Wealth can give us a false sense of security, self-assurance, and self-sufficiency. If we have enough money, we can falsely come to believe that we don’t need anyone else. And we don’t need to thank anyone else either.”

          Speaking of thanking someone else......This guy has no sense of gratitude. “Gratitude is a key aspect of our life of faith,” says Rev. Rohrer. “Gratitude is the recognition that we are connected to God and to others and indebted to God and to others for the goodness we receive. In the verses prior to ours for today, Jesus commends the faith of children. In contrast to the wealthy, little children know they are dependent on another and have an inherent trust and gratitude that Jesus says all of us should emulate.”

{{Read “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley:}}

Out of the night that covers me,

  Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

     For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

   I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

     My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

     Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

All of the sermon thus far is NOT in the same spirit as this poem. I heard this poem recently and thought, “While I like some of the sentiment expressed, it really is antithetical to today’s sermon topic.” No acknowledgement of God or others.

          On a lighter note, I have heard this from at least one politician:  “I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor. Being rich is better!” Of course, having something is better than having nothing. And I always like to say that Jesus said what he said to only one person. Still, I hope we get the point. Finally, from the Rev. Blake Rohrer:  “Wealthy persons are always at risk of being further isolated from God and others because of the increasing gap between rich and poor, both physical and social. The rich are able to live in enclaves that keep them separate from the poor and allow them to avoid their needs and struggles. Jesus, however, consistently locates himself among the poor and outcasts.” Remember that near the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says that whenever you help the least of these my brethren, you are helping him. “God’s place is with the poor, the needy, and the vulnerable. When our wealth obscures this fact and when it separates us from those most in need, it threatens our health by threatening our relationship with God and others, and we need to be healed.”

          By the way, have you heard that to be SAVED also means to be HEALED? So, when we say, “God save us,” we are also saying, “God HEAL us.” “We cannot save ourselves. We cannot heal ourselves. But God...can heal us, can forgive us and restore us to a right relationship with God and others. Jesus can make us well, and he invites us to walk with him.” Amen. Any questions or comments?

Pastor Skip