19th Sunday after Pentecost
"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 he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 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 and 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."
Last week, Jesus had words for us about living together in God’s covenant through marriage, and through our relationships with one another. This week, we continue with a follow-up to that passage, continuing the theme of God’s covenant with us that Jesus makes new.
We hear texts today about covenant economics texts that bring the realm of God’s covenantal relationship with us to a corner of our lives where God is so much more present than we realize—the realm of our possessions, our economy.
This is difficult stuff to get. Our economy is not something we so readily want God to take part in. Let’s look at the absence of covenantal economics in today’s texts to see how God in Christ actually does place us into a covenantal economy.
First there’s Amos who gives fire and brimstone indignation against the Israelites who “take bribes” (5:12), who do not care for the needy, who keep silent when needs are presented, who “trample on the poor.” (5:11) These are words that hit home for we who live in the “first world” “highly developed” part of the world—we who, at least on the surface, live at a higher standard of living than the majority of the rest of the world’s population. Amos’ words expose guilt about our wealth and its obstruction to bringing about God’s covenant economic kingdom. Amos tried this tactic for all of his 6 months of prophetic ministry—but that’s about how long it lasted before he was silenced. As one of my seminary professors said—be ready for Amos’ fate if you preach like he did!
Then we’ve got the rich man who comes to Jesus, trying to justify himself. But this inquisitor’s inability to let go of what he possessed to follow Jesus meant he could not get past seeing his own ownership of his land, and his family—his two primary sources of wealth. In Jesus’ day the only way for someone like this man to aquire wealth was to do so at the expense of others—there was no “working one’s way up the economic ladder” that we understand today. Becoming wealthy happened only through stealing from others’, through charging interest, through deceit. (Mk 10:17-22)
We hear texts today about covenant economics texts that bring the realm of God’s covenantal relationship with us to a corner of our lives where God is so much more present than we realize—the realm of our possessions, our economy.
This is difficult stuff to get. Our economy is not something we so readily want God to take part in. Let’s look at the absence of covenantal economics in today’s texts to see how God in Christ actually does place us into a covenantal economy.
First there’s Amos who gives fire and brimstone indignation against the Israelites who “take bribes” (5:12), who do not care for the needy, who keep silent when needs are presented, who “trample on the poor.” (5:11) These are words that hit home for we who live in the “first world” “highly developed” part of the world—we who, at least on the surface, live at a higher standard of living than the majority of the rest of the world’s population. Amos’ words expose guilt about our wealth and its obstruction to bringing about God’s covenant economic kingdom. Amos tried this tactic for all of his 6 months of prophetic ministry—but that’s about how long it lasted before he was silenced. As one of my seminary professors said—be ready for Amos’ fate if you preach like he did!
Then we’ve got the rich man who comes to Jesus, trying to justify himself. But this inquisitor’s inability to let go of what he possessed to follow Jesus meant he could not get past seeing his own ownership of his land, and his family—his two primary sources of wealth. In Jesus’ day the only way for someone like this man to aquire wealth was to do so at the expense of others—there was no “working one’s way up the economic ladder” that we understand today. Becoming wealthy happened only through stealing from others’, through charging interest, through deceit. (Mk 10:17-22)
And then there’s the disciples, who see Jesus’ words of the wealthy not entering the kingdom of God as limiting the scope of anyone being able to enter the kingdom of God. And then Peter, always looking to justify himself, tries to say, “Look, we have left everything, Lord. We have given it all up – so we’re in, right?” (Mk 10:23-27) Peter is trying to guarantee for himself and his others’ a place in the kingdom—as if it’s his own to guarantee through giving everything up.
In all these cases…there’s not an intrinsic problem with wealth, or even with poverty. But there is an absence of perspective about where our economy comes from.
In Jesus’ response to Peter, he tells the disciples, and us, that we cannot save ourselves by saving up our wealth; by accumulating for ourselves; or by the act of giving away absolutely everything we have. Jesus makes clear that it is he himself who is the gift that gives us the riches now. He says, “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 make sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age.”
Jesus makes clear that the economy of God’s covenant with us happens right now! It doesn’t happen in some far-off time, it doesn’t happen in something we try and guarantee for ourselves. The freeing and abundant sharing of what we have happens because all of us have already been made overwhelmingly rich—with the treasure of Jesus Christ himself. For Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of the good news, Jesus blesses us richly NOW with his very self—no questions asked! In Jesus we are turned into, what theologian and ethicist Miroslav Volf calls “more-than-enough” people. In God’s economic covenant with us—we have been given more than enough for our journey….we have been given the ultimate gift of God’s own Son, who makes us not rich to ourselves, or rich in our neighbor’s eyes….but who he himself makes us just and rich before God….NOW. In light of that gift, Jesus renews God’s covenant where everything we have is a gift from God. We can in the sharing and exchange of all God gives us, become a covenant community not just in our relationships with one another, not just in our time with one another, but in our economic sharing with one another.
In blessing us now, in the present age, Jesus equips us with an attitude, a disposition. Jesus makes us “more-than-enough” Christians who can operate as channels of reciprocal giving. And when God turns us into reciprocal givers we do not only give what is left over, we give back the “hundredfold” (10:30)—the best of what we have been given in this present age. Jesus turns our fists from being clenched, to being open hands that do not cling to what we have but open them up. God opens our hands to receive Christ’s gift in communion today. God opens our hands to extend those hands—full of what God gives us—out to others. And Jesus’ renews the covenant that turns us from an economy built on accumulation at the expense of the vulnerable, to a covenant community built not on stuff, but on God’s dignity given and received by all who have been blessed in the generosity of God’s graciousness in Jesus himself.
Our money, or our lack of money, our work, our lack of work--does not define us in God’s kingdom—it does not define us in the realm of God’s covenant with us. Jesus defines us as a people, a people gifted with a rich treasure RIGHT NOW! Not in some faraway place. Not in we who have a big savings or a credit line to bank on. Not in we who live as stingily as we possibly can so that we can save for some faraway time. In God’s economy, we have been given riches now that will last forever.
In this church… in our city… in these places where God has come down to covenant with us in Christ Jesus, God has created an economy where all have been made rich, and has thus turned our world upside down. God in Christ moves us through the eye of a needle to live in this kingdom in a generous way that channels what we’ve been given for the mutual up-building of each other—with both the last, and with the first, who are all our brothers and sisters in God’s covenant kingdom. Let us give back our best, and live out of that amazing gift of Christ….who comes not tomorrow….not in a week…..but now…today…here. Amen.
In all these cases…there’s not an intrinsic problem with wealth, or even with poverty. But there is an absence of perspective about where our economy comes from.
In Jesus’ response to Peter, he tells the disciples, and us, that we cannot save ourselves by saving up our wealth; by accumulating for ourselves; or by the act of giving away absolutely everything we have. Jesus makes clear that it is he himself who is the gift that gives us the riches now. He says, “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 make sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age.”
Jesus makes clear that the economy of God’s covenant with us happens right now! It doesn’t happen in some far-off time, it doesn’t happen in something we try and guarantee for ourselves. The freeing and abundant sharing of what we have happens because all of us have already been made overwhelmingly rich—with the treasure of Jesus Christ himself. For Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of the good news, Jesus blesses us richly NOW with his very self—no questions asked! In Jesus we are turned into, what theologian and ethicist Miroslav Volf calls “more-than-enough” people. In God’s economic covenant with us—we have been given more than enough for our journey….we have been given the ultimate gift of God’s own Son, who makes us not rich to ourselves, or rich in our neighbor’s eyes….but who he himself makes us just and rich before God….NOW. In light of that gift, Jesus renews God’s covenant where everything we have is a gift from God. We can in the sharing and exchange of all God gives us, become a covenant community not just in our relationships with one another, not just in our time with one another, but in our economic sharing with one another.
In blessing us now, in the present age, Jesus equips us with an attitude, a disposition. Jesus makes us “more-than-enough” Christians who can operate as channels of reciprocal giving. And when God turns us into reciprocal givers we do not only give what is left over, we give back the “hundredfold” (10:30)—the best of what we have been given in this present age. Jesus turns our fists from being clenched, to being open hands that do not cling to what we have but open them up. God opens our hands to receive Christ’s gift in communion today. God opens our hands to extend those hands—full of what God gives us—out to others. And Jesus’ renews the covenant that turns us from an economy built on accumulation at the expense of the vulnerable, to a covenant community built not on stuff, but on God’s dignity given and received by all who have been blessed in the generosity of God’s graciousness in Jesus himself.
Our money, or our lack of money, our work, our lack of work--does not define us in God’s kingdom—it does not define us in the realm of God’s covenant with us. Jesus defines us as a people, a people gifted with a rich treasure RIGHT NOW! Not in some faraway place. Not in we who have a big savings or a credit line to bank on. Not in we who live as stingily as we possibly can so that we can save for some faraway time. In God’s economy, we have been given riches now that will last forever.
In this church… in our city… in these places where God has come down to covenant with us in Christ Jesus, God has created an economy where all have been made rich, and has thus turned our world upside down. God in Christ moves us through the eye of a needle to live in this kingdom in a generous way that channels what we’ve been given for the mutual up-building of each other—with both the last, and with the first, who are all our brothers and sisters in God’s covenant kingdom. Let us give back our best, and live out of that amazing gift of Christ….who comes not tomorrow….not in a week…..but now…today…here. Amen.
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