All people are forever in God’s heart, and God needs to expand your heart to embrace that truth and live in it.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 28 B
Text: Mark 10:17-31
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
You are forever in God’s heart, and nothing can change that.
That’s where we ended last week, and it’s still your truth, your hope, your life. But today God’s Word asks you to understand that lots of people are forever in God’s heart. All people, in fact.
This man is. The heart of this story isn’t that he walked away grieving. It’s these words: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” Jesus loved him. Whatever led him to walk away, his core truth is that he is forever in God’s heart. Because this Gospel reading isn’t necessarily about what you think it’s about.
We get distracted in this reading by what’s not the central issue.
Jesus asks this man to sell everything he has and give it to the poor, and then follow. In doing that, Jesus says, he will know God’s eternal life, right then and there. Right now he’ll be living in God’s reign.
But the man walks away, Jesus says it’s really hard for wealthy people to live in God’s reign, and the shocked disciples quickly shift into virtue-signaling mode. We gave up a lot to follow you, didn’t we? We’re OK, aren’t we?
And we quickly move into anxiety, too. Surely Jesus isn’t asking all of us to sell all we have and give it away to the poor? How much is really required? Can we set a percentage? Everybody can’t sell everything – then all would be poor.
We’re missing the point. Entirely.
You see, Jesus needs this man to see beyond his own faith and life.
He’s a good guy. He wants to “inherit eternal life,” whatever he means by that. And when Jesus refers to living in the Commandments, because for Jesus eternal life can be lived here, the man says he’s followed them since he was a child. He’s a good guy.
And Jesus loves him. Holds him in God’s heart. But he also knows something’s missing. This man asks only about himself. How do I live in God’s reign? How do I inherit eternal life?
But Jesus wonders, how can you tolerate a world where you are blessed by God, while others God also loves struggle to live? How can you celebrate God’s deep love for you if others God also loves are poor? You can’t know God’s reign, God’s eternal life here, if that inequity exists, no matter how good you are. So he asks the young man to answer with his love – if he has it – that by selling everything.
Jesus’ call is to start with love, not with what you’re giving up.
Until I was in second grade we lived next door to Bev and Dale, marvelous people. Their son Michael was and still is my friend. Bev was a wonderful cook, did miracles in the kitchen, but for this first grader, the greatest miracle of all was her amazing apricot half-moon cookies. She knew I loved them, and one day she brought over a box of them, marked “for Joseph.” And I put them under my bed so only I could enjoy them. If you’d asked me to share, I’d have anxiously worried about how many I’d have to give away. This Gospel says Jesus would ask me if my love for my sisters was Ok with them being deprived of something I enjoyed. Well, I was a first grader. I’m pretty sure I was fine with that. That’s why they were under my bed.
When I was a recent college graduate one of my closest friends came out to me. At this point, I hadn’t done any homework on this, no theological reflection, no biblical work. I assumed the Bible was against it, in all ignorance. And I remember him saying that “hate the sin, love the sinner” wasn’t an option, because God made him this way, and our friendship couldn’t continue without that truth. I remain convinced that the Holy Spirit gave me a gift here, because I was not at all prepared for this, and I was kind of a judgy person. It was God who showed me that my love for my friend was the only thing that mattered. After that I knew I’d have to figure out my theology, especially if I was going to be a pastor, sort out the biblical stuff, let go of things I thought true. But God showed me my only real question was love.
Love is the central question of this Gospel reading. If you can live comfortably in God’s heart while others in God’s heart are suffering, that’s the problem. Then there’s no point in talking about how much to give up.
So our problem with wealth is only solved by starting with our love. Or lack of it.
Jesus consistently called us out for our need for money and security, our clinging to our possessions. Wealth gets in the way of our faithfulness, and Jesus speaks of it all the time. But Jesus’ deeper question is: can you tolerate a world where some of God’s beloved are suffering? Do you love them?
Once you know that your heart won’t allow that, then you look at what needs to change. It might be your ideas or decisions. It certainly might be your wealth, if Jesus has anything to say about it. What are you clinging to that prevents healing in this world or even is part of causing the pain and suffering? If God’s abundance is enough for all, and all do not have it, and that’s not acceptable to you, what does that mean for you? With how you give in this place to the ministry we share together, or how you free yourself from your ties to possessions and wealth in other ways?
If we start with Jesus’ love question, and answer it with love of our own, the details of every aspect of our lives in this world sort themselves out. Not because of some arbitrary formula but because that’s what your love leads you to.
I really hope this young man eventually came back.
We’ll never know. But Jesus loved him. Jesus loves you. And nothing can ever take that from you.
Now God needs to help you know in your heart that divine restlessness that isn’t satisfied with a world of suffering, so many people in need and in pain. God needs to grow your heart to include everyone who is already contained in God’s great heart. Because once you share God’s heart, what you need to do will become clear. What we need to do together will become clear.
Until everyone knows they are forever in God’s heart and nothing can change that.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen