SERMON
at
Christ Church, Watertown, Connecticut
Pentecost XIX
October 11, 2009
by
The Rev. Stanley C. Kemmerer, AHC

“Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.

Salvation sticker shock: A customer comes interested in salvation. He’s got a high credit score. He’s kept the Commandments. He’s pleasant about it, addressing the credit manager as “Good master.” He’s just making sure he’s dotted all the “I”s and crossed all the “t”s. Why is he not approved, ferevvinsakes??? We sympathize.

Even the disciples were “astounded” at Jesus’ commentary, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” To borrow from computer language, Peter utters his personal OMG: “What about us? We have left everything and followed you?” If a person of “quality”, like this rich, young ruler can’t make it, how can we poor slobs? Are we suckers, or what???

There’s a lot more here than meets the eye and the encounter is much more confrontational than it appears. Let’s take a closer look:

For one thing, though it appears the young man is cozying up by his greeting, he’s really being demanding and Jesus slaps him down.

In those days such a public compliment as “Good master” increased the reputation and, therefore, the honor of the recipient. It was expected the recipient would respond by granting a favor. Not to do so was not to be honorable. The transaction is less a matter of “Tell me what more I need to do to inherit eternal life and I’ll do it/You’re the pro/I know you know the way,” and more “I just honored you/Gimme eternal life!” Jesus knows to be “bought” like this would mortgage his ability to call the man to true righteousness.

So he isn’t having any: “Whaddya mean calling me ‘good.’ (I’m on to you!) No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments…”(He names several.)

Jesus, ever the teacher, uses the encounter to work with two concepts related to wealth as they apply to discipleship.

The first is that there are limited supplies of it so, for some to hog it, harms others. In Jesus’ day it took longer to produce goods and doing so was considerably more labor intensive than it is in ours. Most things---food, drinkable water, the material used to make clothing, land that could be farmed---were in limited supply. Those like the young man, who had a lot, had it at the expense of others.

Well, you know, the legal profession uses a phrase that applies here: nunc pro tunc, “now as then.” When we use limited resources, others suffer too. Some societies are more sensitive to that than others.

I noticed, travelling in Turkey, that the Turks cluster where they live; they don’t build on any land that can be farmed. And Turkey is one of but six countries, we were told, that produces more food than it consumes!

I drive a Prius. I don’t claim moral superiority for that because, I have to admit, ethical issues didn’t influence the choice nearly as much as saving money on gas. Well, maybe SOMEtimes I look down my nose a little at those who drive the trucks that pass for modes of transportation these days…BUT, travelling in France last year in the Prius I was careful to rent so I wouldn’t have to learn new dashboard arrangements, headlight functions and the like, I was brought up short. That Prius was one of the largest cars on the road and several of the French I met wondered why I was so proud of hogging resources by using a car that burned gasoline as opposed to less refined diesel!

We noted they use dual flush toilets to conserve on water. We saw wind farms producing their electricity. And we noticed you don’t get to leave the lights on in your room (We’ve found that to be true in other countries as well.). To activate them you have to put your room key in a receptacle. When you take it out to go out, all the lights go off! And the lights that go off? Lower wattage. Probably flourescent!

Based on this Gospel, I suspect Jesus would find it unconscionable the attitude our political leaders have displayed in the recent past toward international efforts to conserve resources and to reduce pollution. I doubt he’d be much moved by resistance based on preservation of jobs.

More likely, he’d be asking why decisionmakers, particularly Christian ones, aren’t turning their attention and financial resources to the creation of jobs that protect the environment, like the Danes who are making a bundle selling windmills to the French and the people of Prince Edward Island. The latter now derive 5% of their energy from their windfarms, 10% within a few years. And they’re well down the road to developing fuel cells that utilize hydrogen, an element in abundance!

The other concept related to wealth Jesus is addressing is the one that argues it’s a sign of divine favor, like the folk in the C street fraternity house in Washington inhabited by several of our legislators, argue.

Au contraire! It isn’t your possessions, your family, obeying rules, that brings eternal life. It takes God for that. It’s not about the letter of the Law; it’s about the spirit of the Law. Notice: All the commandments Jesus chooses to cite to the rich young ruler have to do with the treatment of one’s neighbor: “You must not kill; You must not commit adultery;You must not steal; You must not bring false witness: You must not defraud;Honor your father and your mother.”

HowEVER…entering God’s Kingdom, he tells them, may mean the loss of everything they thought important before. He refers to leaving “house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel” and promises repayment a hundred times over

We in our time have little concept, much as we trumpet “family values”, of how radical an expectation this was. In the ancient near east family was everything. It defined who you were, what you did for a living, how you were regarded. The individualism we practice would have been totally foreign to that culture. So, to abandon family meant leaving the family business shorthanded, losing your identity. It was the epitome of betrayal.

Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. To be a Christian in those days was to join a group of people who were held in low regard.

Well, guess what? Nunc pro tunc. Now as then. There are those who say we live in a post-Christian era. No small number wonder why a person would sacrifice sleeping in on Sunday, invest time and energy in religious activity, or take from funds available for other entertainments to give it away in an offering.

For inner peace maybe? To find in the worship and teaching practical ways to get through the week maybe? To put meaning in one’s life maybe? To gain the satisfaction of making a difference to someone else in his or her struggle maybe?

Because all the chasing after the toys of this world sure doesn’t seem to be getting it. Not as alone and frightened as so many feel. Not with the thirst for a spirituality so many claim. Else why would Bowling Alone or The Purpose Driven Life have sold so many copies.

What must we do to inherit eternal life? How may we experience the Kingdom without having to die first? Not as so many in our society are doing, apparently.

There is a way. Jesus reminds us of that way in this gospel lesson. It focuses on people, not things. It focuses on sharing, not hogging or taking advantage. It focuses on quality, not quantity.