Did you hear about the rich man who died? He wrote in his will to take all of his money and buy gold bars with it. Then he wanted to be buried with it. Some people told him this was foolish, because you can’t take it with you. He insisted, however, because he said he was a righteous man who earned his money honestly and he believed that God would let him take it. So one day the man died. His body was buried in a coffin with bars of gold. After he was buried mysteriously his soul was able to grab the gold, and when nobody was looking he took the gold up with him to heaven. St. Peter welcomed him at the pearly gates. Indeed the man’s name was written in the book of life, so the gates were opened and he was permitted to go in. As he got ready to walk into heaven St. Peter stopped him and said, “I’m curious. Why did you bring pavement with you?” The rich man was puzzled and then looked into heaven and saw that the streets were literally paved with gold!
You can’t take it with you. That’s one of the lessons we can get from this morning’s gospel reading from Mark 10 and a rich young ruler. He asks Jesus how to have eternal life and Jesus tells him to give away his wealth. This makes the young man sad. No doubt he has worked very hard for his wealth, and so giving it away doesn’t seem so appealing. Jesus takes the opportunity to turn this into a teachable moment. He tells us, the disciples, that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to get into heaven.
The disciples ask, “If this guy can’t do it, then who can?” They were perplexed and astounded. The disciples believed, as many still do today, that material wealth is a sign of God’s blessing. They believed that if you are a good person, and follow the rules, as the rich young ruler said he did, then God would shower you with…money! This is called the, “prosperity gospel.” Jesus flatly rejects this point of view. He turns it completely upside down. Rather than wealth being a sign of God’s blessing, Jesus says that it is a hindrance and roadblock from being able to go to heaven and be saved. But the question remains: why does Jesus have such a problem with wealth and success?
The answer is that the more successful a person is on earth the less they believe that they need God. The problem with having a lot of money is that the mind can be tricked into a false sense of security. The mind and the heart begin to put their trust not in God, but in…money. Money is not necessarily evil, but it can be a very tempting idol that people adore, worship, and dedicate their whole lives to. Even more sinister than the lure of money is the lure of “works righteousness.” This is our most deadly sin: the sin of believing that we are capable of saving ourselves, that we and not God, are the real person in charge of saving ourselves.
500 years ago brother Martin in Germany saw a very sad situation. Salvation was basically for sale in the church. One could buy indulgences, and pay for religious services that were advertised to be efficacious to get one into heaven. So basically the rich could buy their way into heaven, but the poor who could not do so were left feeling as if they could never be saved. It was implied that they were more sinful, it was implied falsely that poverty was the consequence of a moral failing. You still here that same kind of rhetoric today. And it is totally anathema to the gospel.
Luther discovered through his study of scripture that salvation was not a thing to be earned, but a gift to be received. You are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. The only thing one needs to have to be saved from sin, death, and devil is faith. Faith is the only thing you have to have. Therefore, if you have faith in Jesus, and if you believe that Jesus is your savior, and your protector, and your provider, then you don’t need a lot of money!
Jesus wasn’t just making a rhetorical point when he told the rich young ruler to give away his wealth. He was actually telling him to do it. Why? He wanted the young man to put his faith in God rather than himself. He wants you and me to do the same thing. Jesus wants you to give your money away.
I get paid every two weeks. When that happens my wife and I write a check that’s about 9% and we give it to God. Someday it is my goal to give at least a tithe, which would be 10% if not more. I know some people who give away more, much more, than 10% of their income. That is amazing and I hope that someday I can be that generous. We as a family get a lot of joy and satisfaction in giving money back to God. It is a liberating feeling.
Now here’s the thing. This is not an instruction to shame anyone. God gets no delight in shaming or guilting anyone. You have to start somewhere. I would invite you to consider the spiritual practice of giving as a way to strengthen your own faith in Jesus. There’s nothing wrong with starting at 1% if regular giving is new to you.
I’d be lying to you if I said that God will shower you with more material blessing when you start to give. That hasn’t been my experience. In fact, it is often the case that when people start to tithe regularly they feel the pinch. It means doing without some creature comforts. However, there are many strange and beautiful stories of people who practice tithing. Priorities begin to change, sources of joy begin to change, and your eyes begin to see God’s providence in new ways. Unseen and previously unknown sources of sustainability emerge and you become more resilient. And of course the greatest outcome of all from practicing generosity, is that one has to have faith in God to provide for our needs.
Jesus explained to the disciples that while it is impossible for a rich person to get into heaven, nothing is impossible for God. Nothing is impossible for God. It turns out that the camel and the eye of the needs is very likely and actual place. It is believed there was a gate into Jerusalem that was narrow and short. This gate was nick-named the eye of the needle. It was possible for a camel to walk through this gate, but only if this camel was completely unburdened. That is to say, both the rider and all cargo had to be unloaded to get through the gate. You can imagine caravans of camels, trains of camels being led by merchants and traders with these camels loaded with treasures, spices, gold, and all manner of precious goods. This was the BNSF train of antiquity. It must have felt pretty good for the camels who got to go in through the eye of the needle. After traversing the desert they finally were unburdened and got to rest, be watered, and cared for. This is what our loving savior does for us.
Jesus want to relieve your burdens. Not just physical burdens, but emotional and spiritual burdens. Jesus wants to lighten your load form the things that weigh on your mind and trouble you. It is written in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is our great high priest who connects us to God. We can approach Jesus’ throne of grace not in fear or shame but with confidence that Jesus will relieve us of our pains and anxieties. Jesus will put our troubled minds at ease. Jesus
Psalm 90 says that God will satisfy our needs and help us to feel blessed double for all the suffering we have endured. We are like burdened and weary camels traversing through the hot desert of this world, and it is God who gives us rest, blesses us, and satisfied our deep and burning thirst with the water of life.
It is the will and plan of God to satisfy the deepest thirst and longing of our hearts.
God will satisfy you, your family, and your friends.
God will satisfy all of the people in our town.
When we drive through the streets of our city and up and down our state and see homeless camps growing. The problem seems so impossible to solve. Nothing is impossible for God.
When we see literally billions of people all over the world existing barely, on the edge of survival earning less than one dollar a day, nothing is impossible for God.
When we hear and see that our planet that we call home is suffering because our whole way of existence seems to be dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. We ask ourselves how will we care for the earth and still drive to work, power our homes and cities, Nothing is impossible for God.
When we think of the church. Of the challenges that we face, to continue on to proclaim the word of God, how will we do it? How will we sustain? Nothing is impossible for God!
Amen.
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