Sermon - the price of change

Read: Mark 10:17-31

Sarah says there is a comedian called Eddie Izard who says it’s easy to get a camel through the eye of needle – all you need is a heavy duty blender and lot of patience…

Sarah also points out the ways that preachers try to side-step this one, including the “ecclesiastical urban legend” of the “eye of the needle gate”. So I am conscious that I have a big responsibility to speak of good news as well as carry over Jesus’ hard words without compromise.

Yup – this is one of those texts that is real hard to preach… I keep hearing Jesus saying, “Sell the bike; sell the bike.” Eina. Jesus said it – deal with it…

“Who is rich?” is the first question that springs to mind. An income of just over R1000 a month puts you in the top 18% of the world population. I am in the top 9% which is embarrassing and it hurts to think I am like the young man in the passage today.

But wealth is more than income, it is access. Some people, who earn R1000 a month, must share that with a large family. Others can keep it for themselves. Some must spend almost all their income on rent and transport alone, get a second job to pay for survival. I think access is a more appropriate measure of wealth – access to health care, access to human rights, access to democracy, access to security, and especially access to leisure.

Yesterday, I spent the whole day with friends and family having fun. That is a privilege very few people have in the world. I admit it, I am rich…

Why do the disciples then say, “Then who can be saved?” They came from relatively poor families and had effectively sold themselves into poverty for Jesus’ cause. And anyway, the obvious answer is that their question is that the poor are saved. But perhaps the disciples recognize that it isn’t about money in the pocket as much as money in the head. Everyone wants to be wealthy. From the poorest of the poor to the wealthiest person, everyone wants more. A radical redistribution of the world’s wealth will not leave everyone equal; it will simply reboot the system. It will not be long before poverty sets in again. The disciples recognize that Jesus is targeting the desire for wealth.

The problem with wealth, as Sarah has so rightly put it, is that it orders our relationships in ways that are unhealthy, not to mention sinful. These unhealthy relationships connect us to a web which is part of the global system that creates poverty.

Take charity for instance: out of the ten people who knock on my door asking for money or food, at least one is genuine. What do I do? Normally I give something. It costs me nothing and assuages my guilt to some extent. But it changes nothing. The person is still poor, and no matter how grateful for the gift, their situation confronts my apathy. The power imbalance is still there – I have the power to give life and death. Charity is not part of God’s Kingdom.

Should I give away all that I have – sell that motorbike? Yes, but carefully. As much as giving at the door does not change the system, so will giving all my wealth to a worthy cause not change anything. It is the system that must change. Part of that is the idea that I as an individual can change the system single handedly…

Jesus and his disciples lived in community, sharing everything with each other, largely supported by wealthy, independent women.

Notice that there is a journey of faith played out subtly in the characters of today’s story.

The young man has already worked hard at being good, only to be told that even Jesus is not good. That sucks. You slave away your whole life and realize the oke you’re trying to copy has been a bad boy. And Jesus was bad – healing on the Sabbath, chasing people out of church, getting people drunk at parties, fraternizing with prostitutes…

So, the young man has a revelation – it is not about being good. That is not to say, that you should be bad – unless you are going to be Jesus-bad. But being good doesn’t cure this young man of his deep spiritual longing for … for what?

Jesus looks at him and loves him. Wow. Before the man has answered, before he jumps through any more hoops – he is loved. This is enough for some people. Be good and know that God loves you. But if you long for more, then Jesus says sell all you have and follow him.

The young man can’t do this, but Peter is worried and says, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” You can almost hear him wondering about that secret stash of cash back home in the pantry. Peter is wondering whether he has made the cut.

And Jesus’ answer to Peter begins the same – love. “Look, Peter, you have given up much and you have in turn received so much. See your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers and children gained in this community because of your sacrificial service.” Jesus loves Peter and points to the gains he has. But there is more, “You will also receive persecution because of this choice of yours. You will suffer.” It is by no means easy.

I can imagine Peter saying, “Yes I get that – I’ll see about the persecution thing – but I get the new family thing. But have I made the cut?”

And then Jesus says something strange, “The first will be last and the last shall be first.” This is something you’d think he’d say to the rich young man, not to Peter. Unless it is Jesus being Buddhist again, constantly shifting the goal posts.

At the end of the day, there is nothing one can do to gain access to the Kingdom. Access describes wealth in the world, but access to the Kingdom cannot be attained by any amount of noble intention or action. The Kingdom constantly slips through our fingers like a bar of soap. Just when we think we have it – like the young man, or like Peter – it evades our definition, our ownership.

Eventually, when we give up trying to be good people, when we give up trying to be right people, when we cease in our desperate striving, we realize the Kingdom has been hear all along. When we fail, when we give up, we arrive. We are surrounded by brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, children and lands. We belong already.

“For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” says Jesus.

So, if you want to be good and know that you are loved then come to church, do the right thing – Jesus loves you. If that doesn’t satisfy, know that there is even more, salvation is secure. Peter, you belong. Your place is assured. God has forgiven you.

You can do all this and still not be satisfied. You can sell all your goods and realize that even that does not bring peace. None of this has anything to do with knowing Jesus. If you want to know Jesus; if you are interested in following him then take the next step. It will hurt, you will suffer, but it will never be boring. Bind yourself to Jesus’ friends, using your combined resources to change the world by living out in your relationships with each other the kind of Kingdom stuff Jesus talks about.

Start small:

Maybe I won’t sell my motorbike, or maybe I will, but I will definitely use it to help others enjoy the leisure I get from it.

And the woman who helps clean my house for a little more than a R1000 a month. Maybe I can help her get the education which could see her owning her own business one day.

And the next time someone who needs my help comes to the door, I’ll offer to go home with them and see where they live. In all likelihood the offer will be refused. But one day it will be accepted and I will need the grace to accept hospitality from someone I once saw as poor. Who knows where that will take us…

You never know, maybe we’ll change the world.