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Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 10
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is[b] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”


It is most often summarized as “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” (What is Murphy’s Law?)

In large organizations, “Employees tend rise to their level of incompetence and stay there.” (What is the Peter Principle?)

It has been noted that “behind every restructuring proposal is a personnel problem.” (This one is a little unfair, since I invented Michael’s First Law. See me after for Michael’s Second Law.)

Finally, one from the internet age: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." (What is Godwin’s Law, coined by Mike Godwin way back in 1990!)

And then, of course, there is Jesus’ Law: “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.”

Is this Jesus’ Law? I’ll come back to that question in a moment, but first, the reaction of the disciples. According to Mark, the disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” You almost expect them to start suggesting names, maybe rich people who were particularly good, or righteous.

Even in theology we ask this question, but usually in the reverse, and usually while proving Godwin’s Law. The conversation often goes something like this:

One: “Who then can be saved?”
Two: “God’s capacity to forgive is infinite.”
One: “Really, what about Hitler?”

And then the conversation ends. Except when the conversation is between Jesus and his disciples. Then the answer: “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Maybe this is Jesus’ Law: “With God all things are possible.” Certainly it lets the rich off the hook, which in this case, is everyone of us. Just now a smirking camel is looking at you (in your mind’s eye) while you do a wealth self-assessment. “Am I rich?” you ask yourself, thinking “I’m overdrawn at the bank, my cards are maxed out, I have a mortgage...I’m not rich. Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet: those guys should heed the smirking camel.”

Okay, that’s enough interior monologue—I’m trying to preach here. The answer to the question “Am I rich?” has already been answered, in Mark 10.26: “The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’” The disciples heard the law about the rich and camels and they imagined everyone they knew, including themselves.

Incredible, really. The disciples were mostly fishermen, the maritime equivalent of a subsistence farmer. They caught what they could to feed their families—maybe their extended clan—and if there was anything left over, it might be sold. Even St. Matthew, disciple and former tax collector may not have had money, since tax collectors depended on their ability to extort money in excess of what was owed to Rome. If you were a kindly tax collector, you may have starved.

According to the disciples then, we’re all rich. Not “you’re richer than you think,” like some bank slogan, but we’re all rich when we compare ourselves to the poorest of the poor. Globally, about 20% of people live in ‘absolute poverty,’ meaning they live on less that $1.25 per day. That’s a billion and a half people largely without basic human needs: food, water, healthcare, education, and proper shelter.

So when Jesus said ‘the poor you will always have with you,’ he meant those living in absolute poverty, present in the first-century and present today. Even in Canada, nearly a million children live in poverty, something the federal government pledged to solve way back in 1990. Twenty-five years on, and in the midst of a three-month election campaign, the topic goes unmentioned.

So while I’m trying to prove a point, I’m busy disproving a point. When the disciples said “Who then can be saved” they were not thinking of the latest numbers from UNICEF or the World Bank, they were thinking of themselves. Well off enough to wonder about getting through the eye of the needle and wise enough to avoid making excuses or comparisons. They understood that everyone with a dollar would rather have two and that everyone with two dollars is likely judging the person with only one.

So they ask: “Who then can be saved.” And the answer? Potentially everyone, because with God all things are possible. And why is this Jesus’ Law and not the one about the camel? Because “what Gods says to you in Jesus is this: You are forgiven. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the message Jesus spoke and lived.”*

You might argue that this law, this pronouncement that with God all things are possible is the moment of grace in the passage Barbara read, but I think this requires a deeper look. The passage is rife with it, even in the midst of this conversation about camels and needles.

It begins when a rich young man approaches Jesus, falls to his knees, and says “Good teacher—what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Without pausing Jesus replies “why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” So there it is, barely ten seconds into the conversation, and we receive grace: “No one is good—except God alone.” Stop your striving for perfection, stop your worry that somehow you are not good enough. Only God is good, allowing us to accept ourselves and accept others. We could spend the whole day on this conversational snippet alone, but the turkey is in the oven and there is more grace to find.

With this first lesson over, the Teacher continues: “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” I wish we had more time to explore this list, and what my learned partner would call “rewritten Bible.” I will note that Jesus only mentions five commandments and adds one of his own, meaning that a careless person might suddenly think it’s okay to take the Lord’s name in vain while you covet graven images of your neighbours other gods on the sabbath. Come on Jesus, be more precise!

Of course, the rich young man has kept these commandments since he was a boy, even the ones Jesus neglected to mention. And after he made this point, we get Mark’s description of the scene: “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ Jesus then said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

The rich young man couldn’t do this, of course, and I’m certain Jesus knew this already. With a God-like understanding of human nature, Jesus knew what we observed a moment ago: everyone with a dollar would rather have two and that everyone with two dollars is likely judging the person with only one.

But did you see what Mark observed, so subtle and so easily missed? Just before Jesus gave his prescription to this rich youngster, Mark said that Jesus “looked at him and loved him.” Let’s ponder that. What does that look like? If you ever begin to lose your faith in love, go to the arrivals section at Pearson. Watch as the opaque doors slide open and people emerge, and watch the reaction of the people who love them that are waiting on the outside. Now imagine Jesus loving this rich young person even when Jesus knew that he would cling to all he had—that’s grace.

This is not love based on the proper outcome—remember, only God is good. This is love based on the reality that Wm. Countryman so wonderfully described: “What Gods says to you in Jesus is this: You are forgiven. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the message Jesus spoke and lived.” Thanks be to God. Amen.


*Wm. Countryman, Good News of Jesus, p. 1.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 6:08 AM