Mark 10:17-31
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, suddenly a man ran up and kneeled down before him and said, “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.’” The man said to Jesus, “Teacher, I have kept all of these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said, “You lack one thing. Go and sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” When the man heard it, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus turned and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for someone who is wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were perplexed by these words and Jesus said, again, “How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. Truly I tell you, it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” And Jesus said to them, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God. For God all things are possible.”
Peter began to say to him, “Look, we’ve left everything and followed you.” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, mother and father, sister and brother, children and fields – for my sake and for the sake of the good news – who will not also 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. For many who are first will be last and the last will be first.”
Have you heard about “Squid Game,” yet? It’s the latest, hottest, hippest Netflix series all the kids are watching. (These are things you learn when you get locked-in with 20 teenagers, overnight on a Wednesday, which I did last week.) Anyway, the show is all about a contest where hundreds of players, from different walks of life, and each in their own kind of financial trouble, are kidnapped and carted off to an unknown location to play a set of children's games (like Red Light, Green Light), with the goal of winning billions South Korean dollars. (It takes place in South Korea.) The twist to this dark, titillating, horror/game show, is that losers get killed as part of each game and the prize money grows by millions of those South Korean dollars with each death that comes to pass.
I won’t recommend it – unless you want to know what your kids or grandkids may be watching – because I’ve only seen a few episodes. The vibe of it all is something like 1984 meets Mad Max meets Saw and War Games and Survivor.
It is SOOOO not for everyone – least of all the squeamish or faint of heart – for lots of reasons left best to the imagination here.
But it made me think about this morning’s Gospel because of how both – “Squid Games” and Jesus – make me wonder about the place and power of money in our lives. See, each of the contestants in Squid Games has been sought out for this deadly competition because of their debts and their desperation and their desire to “be saved” from their struggles in the world. Like the guy who approaches Jesus, you might say they’re looking for eternal life on this side of the grave and beyond – or at least they’re looking to save their own behinds and to survive another day. And like the contestants in the Netflix series, the guy who comes to Jesus has known the rules – and kept them – since his youth.
And the rules are as straight forward as a children’s game of “Red Light. Green Light.” ‘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.’ And Jesus’ new, wannabe friend dares to suggest that he’s followed all of these rules.
But Jesus gives him more to think about. He tells him there’s a big something he’s been missing all along. Jesus says, “Even if you have kept them all, you’ve dropped the ball on a big one. Sell all your stuff and share the profits with the poor. Give it all away and you’ll win the game. Give it all up and you’ll have treasure in heaven. Give it all away and you’ll know what it really means to follow me.”
It was a hard thing to hear. It was hard for the man who asked the question – he left with his tail between his legs, remember – shocked and grieving. It was hard for the disciples, too. It left them ‘perplexed’ and ‘greatly astounded.’ So what does it do for you and me, this command to give it all away?
It’s not news, I hope. We talk pretty faithfully about stewardship and possessions and sharing what we have around here. And I hope most of us have heard that bit about how hard it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. And about how the odds of a rich person entering the kingdom of God are even slimmer.
We’ve heard all that before. I’ve preached about it many times over the years. But it’s always something that challenges my faith and my life whenever I consider it. I hope it does yours, too. My first temptation is to prove how rich I’m not. But, even though there are plenty of people who make more money than me, statistically, the vast majority of people on the planet will never see the wealth of food and money and possessions that are mine – or yours – as we sit here today.
Another temptation is to pull out the tithing chart and my tax returns and do the math. If Jesus really wanted to know, I could show him the 12% or so of my family’s income that we give to Cross of Grace every year. (And, in case you think I’m bragging about that, please know that I’m quick to point out that that 12% isn’t anywhere close to the “all” that Jesus asks for this morning.)
But Jesus doesn’t want us to compare stuff or crunch numbers or run statistics. Jesus just wants us to give generously. It’s as simple as that. Jesus wants us to share what we have, to help our neighbor and to rid ourselves of the money and the things that threaten to keep us from a real relationship with God – and from real relationships with one another, too.
Think for a minute about how the world around us uses money to keep us from each other – the haves from the have nots; the rich from the poor from the middle-class; the Republicans from the Democrats and everyone’s pretend surprise and outrage over “the debt-ceiling”; and all the other ways we have of drawing lines of separation and building walls of division between one another just by crunching the numbers.
So the thing that always stands out for me about this story, is that moment when Jesus first responds to the man who kneels before him. When the man suggests that he’s done all there is to do in order to inherit eternal life – that checklist of commandments he’s kept since his youth? – Jesus looks at him, loves him and then tells him to give all of his possessions away to the poor. He looks at him, loves him, and then tells him what it will take to experience the kingdom of God – not then and there, but here and now.
All of his talk about giving away stuff and money and more for the sake of others, is said always and only out of love where Jesus is concerned, because he knows it will change everything for whoever believes it and for whoever has the faith and courage to give it a go.
What it means is that our contentedness won’t be tied to the things we own. What it means is that our joy won’t be determined by the stock market. It means our success won’t be measured by the standards of anyone but us and the God of our salvation. It means we won’t compete with or compare ourselves for one more minute to our neighbors, or to our co-workers, to our classmates, or to our cousins, either.
It means we’ll be liberated to be simply grateful for all that God has given to us. And if you’re sitting here now, in this place, at this time, in those clothes, having rolled out of whatever bed you woke up in and arrived in whatever vehicle sits in that parking lot – then you have more to be grateful for – and more to give away, too – than most people in this world, no matter what you, or the world, does to try to convince you otherwise.
And what Jesus says to the man in this morning’s story, Jesus says to every one of us, just the same: that our lives will be changed for the better; that our relationship with God will be magnified immeasurably; that the world around us will be transformed into something like the Kingdom of God – right here and now – when you and I stop measuring ourselves by the standards of this world and start imagining that we’re already citizens of another.
See, Jesus doesn’t need our money as much as our eyes need to see it at work in the world – helping the poor, building up the Church, serving others. The Church doesn’t need our commitments as much as we need to make them. God doesn’t need our gratitude as much as God wants our hearts to be transformed when we humble ourselves enough to offer it. And when we achieve that kind of generosity…that kind of service to others… when we break down the dividing walls of wealth and poverty, of winners and losers among us…we get a glimpse of the kingdom of God right where we live.
I don’t know how “Squid Game” will end. I’m not banking on a profound, life-changing epiphany to come from it all. But it’s always worth wondering about the power and place of wealth in our lives – something Jesus talked and taught about more than anything else, in all of Scripture. And it’s worth hearing, again, God’s call to use our resources – all of them or as much of them as we can manage – for the blessing and benefit of the world.
And mostly, it’s worth remembering that every bit of this calling comes from God’s love for us, God’s desire for us to share and to experience that kind of love for the sake of others, and God’s promise that eternal life has already been won, on our behalf so that, because we know how THIS story ends – with resurrection, grace, and good news – we can live differently – more generously, more courageously, more kindly, more full of hope, in the meantime.
Amen
