Everything?

Scripture: Mark 10:17-31

Mark Twain, who can always be counted on for a good quip, once said “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”  If that was true in the 19th century when worldwide communication was a lot slower than it is now, then it is doubly true today.  Misinformation is certainly a problem today, but Mark Twain’s quote show that misinformation has always been a problem.  There might be a lot of misinformation and ill-informed conspiracy theories floating out there today, but history is full of misconceptions that have been accepted as truth.   For example, even to this day French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte is depicted as being short.   He was not though.  He was actually right at average height for the time, but British propaganda intentionally portrayed him as short.  This propaganda was so effective, that it still has influence two centuries later.

Then some misconceptions spread and propagate because the story is just too good not to repeat.  A good example of this that you might have heard is that famed physicist Albert Einstein once failed math while in school.  This is 100% not true.  In fact, this story started during Einstein’s lifetime, and he refuted it-pointing out in an interview he was doing advanced calculus at the age of fifteen.  This story originated from a Ripley’s Believe it or Not blurb.  It seems to be based off a half-truth that Einstein did fail an entrance exam for an elite French school.  However, this has more to do with the fact that Einstein took the exam two years earlier that was common, and the exam was in French-a language Einstein was not fluent in.  He scored high on the math portion of the test, but he did not get a high enough score on the parts that required reading and writing in French. The idea that arguably one of the smartest people in history struggled in school is a story we want to believe even if there is no truth to it.  However, because we want to believe what the story communicates it keeps getting shared.
 
This morning’s scripture is one that has a similar story that surrounds it.   In this story Jesus states, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”   There is a story that you might have heard that is told around this scripture.  The story goes that in Jerusalem there was a small and narrow gate referred to as the “eye of the needle”.  Due to the size of the gate it was difficult for a camel to get through, it required taking all of the bags off of the camel, getting the camel to kneel down, and scoot through the opening.  So, it is only with a level of intentionality, humility and guidance that a camel can pass through the eye of the needle. It is a good story, but it also likely not true.   

Archaeologists and biblical scholars feel fairly certain that there was never such a gate in Jerusalem.  Some historians have tried to trace down where this story originated, and it can be tracked all the way back to the 1200s in a work written by Thomas Aquinas.  Aquinas references that he got this from an English bishop, Anslem of Canterbury who died at the beginning of the 12th century.  This means that for around 900 years a story about a camel passing through a small gate has been shared even though it is not true.  This extra detail about the gate changes the teaching of Jesus from it is impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, to it requires effort for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.   This story about the non-existent gates softens Jesus words.  Like the story about Einstein, this story keeps getting shared because we want to believe what it communicates about being wealthy and following Jesus.  However, when we do not hide behind a fake story about a too small gate then this scripture this scripture can cause us to reflect on just what we are willing to give up when it comes to following Jesus and it ultimately reminds us that with God all things are possible. 

Scriptures like this morning, show us that Jesus message is not one that can be molded or crafted to whatever makes us feel comfortable.  We get the message right away, that Jesus is going to be direct and to the point.  The man starts off by trying to get on Jesus’ good side by flattering him and calling him good teacher, but Jesus isn’t really having it.   The man then wants to know how to inherit eternal life, and when Jesus tells him to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor, the man gives up.   I think what is worth paying attention to here is verse 24.   When Jesus says it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, the bible records the disciples are amazed.   Why would they not be? 

We live in a world of economic disparity today.  This is even true in the United States where the top 10% of families hold 70% of the country’s wealth while the bottom 50% hold only 2.5%.   The economic disparity the disciples knew would have been worse.  The first century Roman world was very much a world of the haves and the have nots.    There was no real concept of the middle class.  There was the rich and there was everyone else.  The disciples were in the “everyone else” category.   They were amazed at Jesus’ words because they believed that nothing was impossible for the wealthy.    It had been their experience that money can buy anything.   Yet, here they were learning without a shadow of a doubt that money could not buy salvation.   Jesus makes it as clear as he can that salvation is not for sale by saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  Jesus is not talking about a gate.  The camel was the largest creature in the Mideast and a needle the smallest opening.   The size disparity on display was 100% intentional here to illustrate the shear impossibility. 

               Verse 26 records “The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, “who then can be saved?”   Again, the experience of the disciples is that the rich had the means to do whatever they wish.   They always have the resources to meet their needs and every want.   The disciples, who were poor and had internalized themselves as poor, were frightened at this point because they were thinking if a rich person cannot make it into the kingdom of God, what chance do I possibly have?    The answer that gave the disciples hope, and the answer that should feel us with great hope is found in verse 27 “Jesus looked at them and said ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’ “   The wealthy cannot enter the kingdom of God, because it not based on our own merit.  It does not matter how righteous we are or how much we spend, we cannot save ourselves.   Salvation is an act of God through Christ.   We cannot buy our way into the kingdom of God, because God has already paid our entry fee with the blood of Jesus.   What is impossible for us, is possible for God.  

               Entrance into the kingdom of God is not for sale.  It is only possible by the grace and mercy of God.  It is a free gift offered to all, but it is a gift that we have to take some responsibility for after we accept it.   Peter named this in this morning’s scripture when he spoke up and said, “We have left everything to follow you.”  Following Jesus is an all or nothing proposition.  We either accept the gift of forgiveness and eternal life, and let the gift be the primary motivator and thing that shapes us or we do not.   Either we are all in or we are not in.  We either are willing to give everything or we are willing to give nothing. 

The man who approached Jesus in this scripture claims that he has kept all the Ten Commandments, but the reason why he could not inherit eternal life is because he refused to give up his wealth.  He could not inherit the kingdom of God because when push came to shove his wealth more important to him than eternal life.   For many people wealth controls their life.   This is true for those who horde more wealth than anyone could spend in their lifetime, but it can also be true for those who are barely getting by.  For instance, there are people below the poverty line spending more money than they should on lottery tickets each week in hopes to strike it rich.  Having enough money to cover our needs and some of our wants is important.  Yet if we are not careful, we can think money is the cure for all that ails us, but money is a false god.   All things are not possible with enough wealth.  All things are only possible with God.  If wealth is our primary concern in life, then there is not space in our hearts for the kingdom of God to be our main motivation and desire.

               I do believe that there is wisdom to saving and not just living paycheck to paycheck, but there is also a point where wise saving can cross over into accumulating more for the sake of having more. We might try to pass off a desire to horde wealth as a virtue, but our views on money can often have selfish motivations.   We are concerned about making sure that no one gets what we think should be ours, and we look around to make sure we are always getting enough.   An obsession with wealth is always “me” centered and always about what I can get.   Jesus though told the man to give everything to the poor, because the kingdom of God is “other” centered.

Our wealth is just resource that God has blessed with.  If we are all in on following Jesus then we should be willing to be all in with all that we have.  Our wealth as large or as meager as it might be gives us a means to help ensure our neighbors have enough.  TV preachers are quick to talk about God providing financial blessings.  However, when I read the bible, especially scriptures like this one, I believe that wealth is not a blessing but a responsibility.  Our wealth is a resource that God has allowed us to have, and we have responsibility to be good stewards of those resources. 

John Wesley, found of the Methodist movement, gave us a radical example of how we do that.  He once famously preached: “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”  The middle statement, “save all you can” is perhaps the most misunderstood one today.  Wesley was not advocating for building up an emergency fund in a bank account, but was rather warning people against excess and taking more than they needed.  John Wesley took seriously the idea of earn all you can and give all you can.  For him this was not an abstract concept, but one that he lived out.  John Wesley was an extremely pragmatic individual.  Fairly early in his professional life calculated what he needed as a livable income, and he donated excess to charitable causes.   John Wesley was very wise in how he used, saved, and invested money so his means grew.   However, he continued to live off what he calculated as his livable income.  At the height of Wesley’s career he earned what would equate to 1.4 million in a year.    He lived on 2% of that and gave the rest a way.   He tithed 98% of his income!  He used the rest to fund orphanages, missions, hospitals, and other projects that shared the love of God.   In short he used the vast majority of his earthly wealth as a resource to better fulfill the mission that he (and we) are stewards of.   John Wesley was extremely efficient in doing this to the point, that when he died his worldly wealth consisted of a few odd and end coins and two silver spoons, he had given away the rest. 
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               Our specific context is different than it was for John Wesley.  Giving away 98% of our income may not be what is required of us, but this morning’s scripture should cause us to question, would we be willing?   Are we willing to be all in and give everything to follow Jesus?   For the rich man in this morning’s scripture his answer was “no” and he went away sad.   May our answer be yes.  May we stop seeing our wealth, no matter how great or meager it is, as something only for ourselves but may we see it as a resource to bless and help others.  May we be willing to put others first, and use our resources to meet great needs.  In doing so may we make disciples, transform the world, and help bring about the kingdom of God on this earth.