Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, October 12, 2003 - Preaching helps: seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost—day of thanksgiving, Series B

Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

Psalm 90:12-17

Hebrews 4:12-16

Mark 10:17-31

First Reading

Amos came from southern Judah to prophesy in northern Israel in the eighth century B.C. He addressed Israel as God's people and expected them to respond. His overriding message concerned the polarization between the powerful few, who sought personal advantage without regard for the common good and the social consequences of their actions, and the rest of the population. Amos's accusations are pointed and specific. He scores oppression, financial pressure, and bribery. His verbs are most vivid and striking: cast down, hate, abhor, trample, afflict. They make clear what we in our global economy are discovering: no one gains without someone else's losing.

Hebrews 4:12-16 deals with the revealing capacity of God's Word. The "Word of God" is not the Bible but God's disclosing and judging activity. Nothing is immune to being exposed to God's Word. Thus, God's Word does not guarantee the church security, but insecurity. The church is therefore careful about when and how it appeals to God's Word, lest it fall into self-justification.

Though paralleled in Matthew and Luke, Mark's version of the man with many possessions is the strongest and most drastic. The man's posture and greeting are excessive; his question focuses on himself. Jesus changes the focus to God and all humanity. Jesus offers the practical and hard path of the commandments; the man replies that he has done these things since his youth. Accepting the Jewish notions that it is possible to keep the commandments, Jesus warns the man of the dangers of wealth. The man's accolades are replaced by shock, and he walks away. Jesus makes clear that human love of acquisitions excludes us from God's realm but that grace can change even the hearts of the rich.

Pastoral Reflection

In our best theological moments, we know that we are creatures. The God who made us, redeemed us, and continues to give us life is the One to whom we belong and the One to whom all creation belongs. God gave us Jesus who paid the ultimate price for us. God joined us to Jesus' death and resurrection and claimed us as God's own in baptism. God receives us and sustains us as God's own, even when we reject God. God owns us. But most days we live as though no one owns us. As Americans, we are free; we own what we own because we earn it. In reality, we are all owned by something--family, job, health, obligations, reputation. The question is whether we will be owned by God or by something else.

The man who wants to know the way to eternal life is not some malicious, greedy soul. He is simply struggling with possession--not demon possession, but the reality of the things he possesses and what it means to be possessed by God. In the final analysis, the things this man possesses own him; he is not owned by God.

Mark tells us, "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 he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions" (10:21-22).

We can try to kid ourselves into believing that following Jesus isn't such a difficult thing. Yet, if there is one thing that stands in our way of truly living as full members of the reign of God, it is our money and our possessions. Jesus is right. It is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the reign of God" (v. 25). For we treasure our riches above all else, including God. Our possessions own us; our possessions make us defensive before God and the world. "I deserve what I have," we say, "I've worked for everything I've got. I give what I can."

Instead of looking to God as the One who owns us and all that we own, we ask, "How much should we share? How much should we give back to God? What is enough?" We look for rules. "How much is everybody else giving? What's my fair share?" But when we live by rules, what we're really trying to do is to remake God's reign to fit our needs and desires. Instead of giving everything to the God to whom everything rightly belongs, we come up with formulas to calculate God's share. When our rules take over, our purposes and not God's are served. "I have kept all these since my youth," the man answers Jesus (v. 20). What he has not done is put God before the rules, and in so doing he becomes deaf to God's call.

And God is calling us to justice and mercy. Amos reminds us of the poor and the needy. Who owns them? Who do they belong to? They are God's own, just as we are. Therefore God's people have no excuse to "trample the poor" either by our own hoarding and greed or by allowing individuals or institutions to do the same. We cannot "push aside the needy at the gate" and feel justified because we have responsibilities of our own. God's priorities of justice and mercy are not changed or redefined by our economics, politics, or personal circumstances.