October 12, 2003 (Jimmie Johnson)

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Then Job answered: "Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge. If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot hehold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; if only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!"

Mark 10:17-31

As 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?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You 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.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, 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." When the man heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many posssessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It 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." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus 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, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers, children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

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Who knows all the many reasons why a person suddenly turns red hot regarding religion, this person who runs to Jesus and kneels? What’s caused this? Did this day begin like any other day? You work hard. You follow the rules. You experience success. You wake up knowing you have the money, the job, the family, the church connection, the professional recognition.You wake up as you have been doing for years only on this day you know deep down something big is missing.

More than likely, this un-named guy in the story has successfully avoided the dull ache of emptiness for years. He’s been so focused on his goals, he’s noticed little else. But now having somewhat climbed the ladder of success, he gets a taste of his achievements, and it is a lot like eating cotton candy. You, like him, take a big bite and not much is there. Suddenly you register a soul-shaking quake down deep and it is, well, it is fearful. You are frightened for the first time, really frightened.

Call it a mid-life crisis, a dark night of the soul, depression, whatever—the feelings are those of fear and emptiness. It is emptiness because you have spent so much of yourself to get there and fear because you are becoming hollow. You are disappearing. You’ve properly followed the map that was supposed to tell you how to get to “happily ever after” only now you realize the map was wrong. You are lonelier than you have ever been, and suddenly the fatigue is almost unbearable.

The language he uses when he speaks to Jesus sounds different from the way I have presented his dilemma, but I think he is afraid and he is tired. He has come to Jesus with hope of relief. He calls it eternal life. Everyone who has ever been at the intersection of lonely and tired will tell you that you don’t want to end up there. That’s a dangerous place, a dangerous neighborhood for adults especially between the ages of 30-65. You can easily have your soul snatched at the intersection of lonely and tired.

A good, moral, devout person comes running to Jesus suddenly aware of his spiritual poverty. He needs the nourishment of the Holy. He wants to know God, if God exists. He’s at the point faith has to move beyond the theoretical. He kneels before Jesus. Good. That’s promising. He’s kneeling before Jesus. You can’t go wrong there, can you? He reaches out to Jesus, but Jesus can’t give him anything. Jesus can’t even give him his love because the man’s hands are too full to receive. He’s loaded, but sadly he’s loaded down. He is afraid to gamble it all on Jesus. His self-sufficiency has become a cage. He’s trapped within himself.

Jesus looks at him, looks at him with those loving X-ray eyes. Jesus sees so much need, so much potential for a godly life. Jesus sees all this. He sees the loneliness and the fatigue. This is the only place in the Bible where it says Jesus loved anyone and the result is still failure. The text says the un-named man went away “grieving.” Strangely, I bet the man’s whole family is grieving. They are all grieving. He’s disappearing, becoming hollow, invisible, but he won’t risk the gamble. Why? The fear of letting go of that self-sufficiency is simply greater than his known misery. He is miserable but not enough to become new. He simply cannot shed his arrogant load of self-reliance, bluster, noisy fear and fantasy.

A lot of people down through time have come to Jesus, knelt to hear the challenge of Jesus: “Go, sell, give it all away, and come and follow” and have done exactly that. St. Francis of Assisi and the Order he founded did it. Mother Teresa and her little sisters did it. Katharine Drexel, Philadelphia’s millionaire heiress who gave all her wealth to establish an order of sisters to minister to the poor, did it. Countless numbers have done such radical behavior. “Give away what you have and come and follow.”

This is what God did, isn’t it? Isn’t this challenge from Jesus the very gamble God undertook in Jesus and still undertakes, since the Incarnation of God in Jesus is still underway? The God who has everything, knows everything, can do everything, gives all this power up, and becomes weak, becomes poor, all to follow a mission. This mission brings God’s divinity to our humanity, experiencing on the Cross what it is to be godless and godforsaken. Isn’t the life of Jesus as we Christians understand it understood best as God’s great gamble? The same invitation Jesus issues to the man is the great gamble Jesus is living as the gospel story unfolds. God breaks out of heaven, races into poverty, embraces our godlessness and god forsakenness and keeps this identity among us. But, I am Jimmie, and there is no way I will ever do any behavior so radical as what Jesus calls for. It is impossible for me. Those disciples are right. “How can anyone like me be saved?”

But here is where you and I are different from the un-named man. He went away, but here we are still hanging around Jesus, still listening to his words. Here we are still gathered together on what we call the Lord’s Day. Here we are still confused, yes, frustrated, yes, fearful, yes, still shocked by his words. But we are still listening, singing, praying, all in response to what Jesus has to say, all in response to God’s great gamble in Jesus. And no one here is pretending to be any life that resembles exemplary Christ-like behavior. No one here is pretending our congregation is the epitome of God’s love. But we are still here, gathered around Jesus and all the signs of the invisible life he offers. If only the un-named man would have stayed around Jesus.

The good news of God is not about the man being able to give himself away, cashing in all his chips and writing a check payable to the Church Under the Bridge. Nor is the Good News of God about how our congregation scores on the selfishness vs. charity scale. No, the Good News is about the impossible. It is about God’s radical unselfishness, about God’s gift of Godself in Jesus Christ, leaving everything behind: God’s honor, God’s high standards, God’s status, giving all this away and following after us. This is the story of Christmas in a different format. And so is the story of the Cross. The Jesus giving us this challenge is the same one we will hear about at Christmas who will be lying in the manger with the messy diaper, the all- powerful, all-knowing God becoming weak and powerless and vulnerable, and stinky. The Good News is all for you and me and for all of us who have ever been or ever will be. The gospel, as it always is, is about a Holy Doing, not a human doing.

As quickly as the man came running, he vanishes. He disappears from the scene, from the story. Who is left in the story? Only Jesus and the disciples who are listening are. We are still in the story, aren’t we? We are still hearing the words of Jesus, and congregations like ours are still gathering to hear. These successful, affluent congregations like ours, “First Church” type congregations, on their best day know they are 9/10's fake when it comes to being totally devoted to Jesus. Who can be saved? Well, look what’s happening? Salvation, good news, rest, holy friendship are being offered all over the place. We are no longer at the intersection of lonely and weary.
We are here in this place gathered to hear the unbelievable news, the impossible news, that even followers like us will laugh with joy as we watch caravans of camels glide through the eye of a needle.

Until that day, let us follow Jesus, with no pretending of devoutness as though we could ever leave everything but let us with empty hands reach out as we are this day saying together: “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.” With God all things are possible, even you and me receiving eternal life and even before that perhaps learning how to give of ourselves to the mission and purpose of God’s Good News that God is more than willing
to leave all and give all in order to love you and me. With God all things are possible.