this loving could save me

this love isn't crazy

A sermon on stewardship from the Gospel of Mark:

As far as I know, this is the only account of someone turning down Jesus’ invitation to follow him. For as surprising as this is, and it is surprising, it’s an even bigger surprise who it is that can’t answer Jesus’ call. Because this is a fellow who never met a challenge he can’t meet. He’s motivated, scrupulous, and he’s got plenty of resources behind him, too.

Picture the scene, Jesus is going along, minding his own business, when all of a sudden this man runs up to him and lays himself out before Jesus. Now, this kind of thing is not entirely uncommon where Jesus is concerned. However, this chap isn’t seeking healing or anything like that. Most people who throw themselves before Jesus are at the end of their rope. This man, however, is at the top of his game!

He’s got it all together. He’s managed to keep the finer points of the law. And as we learn later, he’s also managed to attain a degree of worldly righteousness, too! He’s built up enough of a stockpile to carve out a future for himself.

Yet, for all that, something’s awry! AND for his part, this man seems to know it, too. And more to his credit, he seems to suspect Jesus can help him set right what’s amiss in his life. 

To all outward appearances, this man looks like he’s got it all together. But inside, he’s coming apart. And after taking a good long look at the guy, Jesus can see it too. 

Jesus tells this man who never faced a challenge he couldn’t meet that there’s just one last thing he needs to do. And once he’s done that, insists Jesus, all the final piece of his life will finally fall into place. He needs to let it all fall apart! Sell everything he owns and give the proceeds to the poor.

With that, suddenly all this man’s success turns on him! Now, instead of being the launchpad from which he leaps into one achievement after another, all his success and the accruements thereof become the weight that holds him back!

We dealt with this last week, so we don’t need to belabor the point. Suffice it to say, our possessions can’t complete us. In fact, if anything, our possessions are more likely to possess us than fulfill us. And in this vignette of the rich man who yet doesn’t have enough to follow Jesus, we get a glimpse of how exactly this occurs.

As we noted at the top, this man is motivated, diligent, and affluent. In other words, he's someone who’s in control of every aspect of his life. For him, life is a series of ladders to climb. And he’s never met one he couldn’t make his way to the top of, either. Never, that is, until he meets Jesus and his cross-shaped ladder. 

The rich man can climb any ladder. But the one thing he can’t do is go down the ladder! He’s managed to bring every aspect of his life under his thumb. Every aspect, that is, except his need to have every aspect of his life under his thumb! The rich man is out of control in his need to be in control! 

And in the end, isn’t that all our finances are—the means by which we try to manage our own lives for ourselves? And, like the rich man, don’t we always get it wrong?! 

Where Jesus is concerned, it’s not a matter of making something out of yourself. It’s the miracle of his resurrection making everything out of your nothing! Nothing is everything Jesus needs for his best work!

Jesus meets you in your failures. NOT your success. Success is the place we fail to obey God. Because success fools us into thinking we can save ourselves. And Jesus didn’t come to help us, he came to save us. Success, finally, is nothing but the raw material for idolatry.

…Remember last week when I said churches get into trouble when we talk about stewardship as if all it is, is giving to the church? Well, churches also get into trouble when we don’t talk about stewardship. This is because stewardship, by its very nature, addresses an integral part of our lives, finances. 

Whether we like it or not, finances are an inherent part of life. And, whether we like it or not, Jesus intends to meddle with them! Jesus intends to fiddle with your bottom line because he doesn’t want you managing your own life for yourself. He loves you too much for that!

Just look at the rich man. Jesus could have left well enough alone. But he loved the poor soul too much for that! So instead of giving him one more attaboy like everyone else, Jesus gives him what he really needs. Jesus goes after that most fortified wall of own self-imprisonment, his self-reliance. All his possessions. 

It wasn’t that the poor needed the rich man’s money. That may have been the case. As far as Jesus was concerned, though, it’s the rich man who’s really in need. He needs to give away all his money far more than anyone else might need it.

In Lutheran churches, we call this Law and Gospel, in that order. Before God’s work in our lives is building up, it’s often dismantling. This is because God will not leave us to our own devices. God loves us too much for that! And so, if we will not disinvest ourselves of that volatile capital by which we’ve been trying to secure our own future, God will help us along. But in God’s cross-shaped way. 

God’s initial work in our lives often looks more like a recession than hitting the jackpot. But this rock bottom is really ground zero for the cross! When you have nothing of your own, you’re most ready to receive everything Jesus has to give! All your nothing is everything Jesus needs! Empty hands are the ones that are most ready to hold all Jesus has to give! 

As Luther once said, “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.” Jesus’ pierced hands are the place where all your nothing comes to something! All your losses are the raw material for the salvation Jesus has won on his cross!

The rich man may not have been able to walk away from all his wealth. But that’s precisely what Jesus has done for you! Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave! (Phil 2.6-7) Christ walked away from it all to give YOU everything! And it’s in all your nothing where he meets you. Draws closest TO you! Becomes GOD to you. God for you!

And it is there, and there alone, where you have enough. Are enough. And your future is carved out, to boot. Safely in the wounded hands of Jesus Christ, your savior. Your Lord. Your God.