The Lutheran Hour
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"A Little Rich"
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Text: Mark 10:24-25
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The resurrection reality and the true riches of faith in the living Lord, is cause to rejoice. The Lord has arisen and calls His people to light, to power, to peace, and eternity. God grant we hear His call. Amen.
In July of this past year, St. Louis had a blackout. Pam and I weren’t in town when the storm that caused the disruption ripped through; but we heard about it. Diane, the wonderful lady who watches over our house when we’re gone, called us and told us all about what had happened. In a few minutes the storm snapped great trees, blew out windows, ripped off roofs, and shut off power to about a million people. She then told us how two predictions were making a bad situation worse. First, the power company was making no prediction as to when service might be restored and second, the weatherman was predicting a week of 100-degree days.
A whole bunch of things going wrong at the same time is usually a recipe for disaster. I’ve been in communities which became positively unglued when confronted by such a situation. Long, hot nights make for short, hot tempers. Amazingly, and I’m proud to say this, the people of St. Louis did quite well. Sure she had her complainers and there was more than one curmudgeon; but, as the days went by, and freezers started to thaw, most people made the best of things. More than one neighborhood brought out their barbecues and had a week of feasting and fellowship. People got together to talk about electricity, and heat, and how the blackout had touched them. At those gatherings, almost everyone laughed about their first reactions to the unexpected and unwelcomed change. They shared how they had gone outside, looked up and down the street to make sure they weren’t the only ones without electricity. As they looked, they saw a lot of neighbors who were doing the same thing. Then, having been brought together by inconvenience and irritation, and because there wasn’t much else they could do, they visited with those neighbors – neighbors that they had, for years, only waved at or smiled at.
Eventually, and without power being restored, darkness came. Everybody went into their homes to light one of the family emergency candles… you know, the candles which have worked their way to the bottom of a junk drawer in the kitchen. Every person with whom I’ve visited, with an embarrassed look on his face, has shared what happened next. Each of them, in order to make the retrieval of the candle a little easier, walked into a darkened kitchen and threw the light switch. It took a few moments of nothing happening before they realized the silliness of their action. They were standing in darkness, in the middle of a power outage, waiting for a light to come on so they could find their candles. Most confess they felt like idiots.
Now, the purpose of me telling you all this is not to have you think that people in St. Louis are not very bright. If you think that, wait until your power goes out. You’ll find yourself doing the same things we did. You’ll find out just how much you depend on electricity… how much it’s a part of your life. (Goodness, I’m starting to sound like a commercial for the utility company. Sorry.) No, I didn’t tell you this so you would think poorly of my friends and neighbors. I told you this because I wanted you to realize how rich you are. You may be real rich, or sort of rich, but you are rich. Now, I know you’re probably not as rich as Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet, or a Saudi Arabian prince. You may be the poorest member of your high school graduation class. Even so, you are rich. You probably have electricity; much of the world doesn’t. You have a kitchen, a freezer, a phone, a garage, a car to put in that garage, maybe an electric door opener for the garage in which your car is put. You’re rich. I know, I know, you want to argue with me… I know you want to protest. Relax. I’m not representing the IRS here. I’m not going to re-appraise your home; I don’t want a look at your bank accounts or stocks. I just want you to admit you’re rich.
Why? Well, because of the Bible reading we’re looking at today: the story of the rich, young ruler (see Mark 10:17-23). We call him the rich, young ruler because the Bible never got around to sharing his name. It just refers to him as the rich, young ruler and I think he, and we, have some things in common. His story begins with the rich, young ruler doing a very smart thing: he came to Jesus. Actually, the Bible says he ran to Jesus, respectfully knelt down, and asked Jesus, “How can I be saved?” How changed would be the eternity of sinful souls if every one of us would similarly kneel before the Christ and cry out the conscience-created question, “Lord, how can I be saved?” How joyful would be everlasting life, if everyone, like Peter, could confess: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). In truth, this world has never produced anyone better qualified to answer questions about salvation than the Christ. It was for our salvation that Jesus left heaven’s high throne and was born into this world. Foretold by thousands of years of prophecy, longed for by numerous generations, Jesus was born so that He, as God’s Son, might successfully do all that was necessary to procure our salvation; so that He, as one of us, might be qualified to take our place.
So that we might have our sins forgiven and have heaven as our home, Jesus lived a life of sacrifice. Without misstep or misadventure, He fulfilled all of God’s laws which we had broken. His life, from beginning to end, was a time of suffering as He was denied, discarded, and disavowed; as all of the transgressions of humanity’s history was laid upon Him. Jesus’ life was filled with murdered innocence, immoral injustice, and cruel crucifixion and death. So damnation might not be our destiny; so heaven might be substituted for hell; so death might be defeated; Jesus lived and died. So that you might know, beyond doubt, distrust, or disbelief that Jesus’ work has been completed and death and devil defeated, He rose from the dead on the third day. Jesus is not just the expert on eternal life, He is the giver of eternal life.
Sadly, the rich, young ruler didn’t look upon Jesus as His Savior on the day He knelt before his Redeemer. How do I know? Easy, Listen to what he says. He says, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He doesn’t call Jesus, “Savior,” or “Lord,” or “Redeemer.” No, he looks upon Jesus as a Teacher. Did he acknowledge Jesus as being wise? Certainly! Intelligent? Most assuredly. But there is nothing to indicate that the man saw Jesus as anyone more than a qualified instructor. On the contrary, his words, “What must I do,” show that the young man was hardly prepared to admit that he, on his own, was helpless, lost and alone, doomed and damned.
Now Jesus was used to having people misunderstand Him and His mission. He decided if this young fellow sees Me as a teacher, I’ll speak to him as a teacher. As a teacher, Jesus instructed, “If you want to be saved, keep God’s laws perfectly.” That should have stopped the rich, young ruler in his tracks. He should have realized nobody can keep God’s laws perfectly. Each day, each of us sins. Your thoughts this day have not all been exemplary, have they? Your actions, have they all been noble and nice? Of course not. Conscience commands, and honesty demands that we confess: we have all sinned and fallen short of the perfection God expects. The rich, young ruler, no doubt a fine fellow, well-behaved, well-dressed, well-connected, well-off, and well-thought of nodded his head and said, “Keep God’s laws perfectly? Yeah, I’ve done that.” And Jesus, knowing that He was dealing with a rich, young man who honestly didn’t get the point, looked at the man, and loved Him. Jesus didn’t say, “Idiot!” He didn’t slap the fellow upside the head and say, “Take another look, kiddo; you’re a serious sinner like all the rest of the transgressors here.” No, the Bible says, “Jesus loved him.” In spite of the rich, young ruler’s ignorance, and in spite of the fact he really believed what he was saying, Jesus loved him, just like He loves us.
Jesus, hoping to get some divine electricity to the darkened light-bulb over the rich, young ruler’s head, didn’t argue; He simply said: OK, if you want to earn eternal life, here’s one last thing for you to do. I want you to give away everything you’ve got and then, when you’ve done that, come and follow Me. The silence to that question had to be deafening. I don’t know what the rich, young ruler had expected, but he didn’t expect that. Maybe he thought Jesus would say give a tenth of what you’ve got to the church; or build God a great cathedral. Preachers say stuff like that sometimes. Today, if you spin the dial on your radio, surf the channels on TV, you’ll hear a lot of evangelists saying things like: Do you want the gifts God gives? If you want to get them flowing, you need to support this ministry. They promise: The Lord will pour out His blessings in abundance upon you. You’ll get to heaven; you’re have your bills paid; your kids won’t get sick; your house will get paid for; your cars will never see the inside of a mechanic’s shop; if you empty your bank account and give it to me. What baloney. God gives to us in spite of us, not because of us and what we give to Him.
I don’t know if the rich, young ruler expected Jesus to sound like one of those tele-evangelists. I do know Jesus had asked him to do something he wasn’t ready to do and the rich, young ruler ended up walking away. The rich, young ruler walked away sad, but he walked away. And Jesus let him go. Jesus didn’t call the lad back and start to negotiate and compromise. Jesus let the man walk away from the conversation; walk away from deliverance and toward eternal death and damnation. The rich, young ruler walked away and as Jesus watched him, He commented to His disciples: You know, guys, it’s easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than it is for rich folks to get into heaven.
Back when I was pastor of a parish, I remember preaching on this text. Would you like to know what happened? When I got to this part about a camel squeezing through a needle’s eye, I could see people visibly relax and hear them give an audible sigh of relief. They were happy because they knew Jesus wasn’t talking to them. They were pleased that Jesus was only talking about the really rich people of this world… and they weren’t really rich. Do you remember earlier in this message, when I was talking about how people in St. Louis did some stupid things during the power outage? Do you remember laughing at them and saying to yourself, “I would never do anything that stupid”? Well, my friends, and I mean what I’m going to say without insult or injury, “Welcome to their world.” If you feel you’re not rich… you’re wrong… really wrong. And before you start sputtering and stuttering your objections, let me continue.
Back in Jesus’ day, the richest guy around was the Roman Emperor, Tiberius Caesar Augustus. You know, as rich as Tiberius Caesar Augustus was, he didn’t have air-conditioning. Tiberius didn’t have a car, either. He had chariots, but not a car. Rich, royal Tiberius wasn’t rich enough to have microwave popcorn, or a microwave. He didn’t have McDonald’s, either. He didn’t have a ballpoint pen, or e-mail. He didn’t have 24-hour news. Information from the farthest parts of his empire took days, if not weeks, to get back to Rome. Tiberius wasn’t rich enough to have an airplane to help him do his diplomacy. Tiberius could have emptied the royal Roman treasury, but he couldn’t have bought a shot of penicillin, a dose of polio vaccine, or a pair of eyeglasses. Tiberius never went to Starbucks, never ordered out of a Sears catalogue, never had a reliable weatherman. Do you want me to go on? Tiberius didn’t have a cell phone; he didn’t have electric lights, recorded music, video taped movies, television, or a radio, the home-shopping channel, Ebay, or a telescope. He didn’t have…
Well, I’m going to stop my list because of time, not because I’ve run out of ideas. I’m stopping here because I’ve got to make a point, and the point is this: the vast majority of listeners to The Lutheran Hour, as poor as they may be, are far richer than the richest Roman emperor who ever lived. You are certainly far richer than the rich, young ruler who came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to win eternal life?” You are rich, and because you are, Jesus is talking to you. He is saying to you, “Your riches may make you so self-secure, so self-assured, so overly self-confident that you may think you don’t need Me.” And in saying that, Jesus would be right. Most people need a major disruption in their lives, an illness, a problem, a tragedy, before they think about Him. Until that time comes, they coast on, thinking they’re doing pretty good. You need to realize when Jesus talks about camels and needles; he’s talking to you. What’s your reaction? Are you thinking, “Whoa, hold on a minute preacher-man, are you telling me I’ve got to give away everything I’ve got?”
Since I really don’t know you, the only answer I can give to this question is, “Maybe.” If money and stuff is keeping you away from Jesus, get rid of it. You know, Jesus didn’t tell every rich person He met to get rid of their money and stuff. He only said that to folks for whom money and stuff was a problem. If Jesus were talking to you today, He would say, “If your job is keeping you from Me, change jobs. If a romantic relationship is keeping you away from Me, get a new romantic relationship. If striving for success is keeping you away from Me…” You get His point? Don’t let anything get between you and faith in Jesus as your Savior. Your salvation was Jesus’ great motivation when He was in this world. Jesus was declared guilty so you might, on Judgment Day, be declared innocent; He was rejected so you might never be alone; He was hounded so you might have peace; He was without a home, so you could be adopted into God’s family; He suffered for your peace; He died for your eternal life. Jesus never allowed anything to sidetrack Him from His mission to save you. Don’t you let anything sidetrack you from being saved.
A number of centuries ago, the small country farmers of Scotland were very superstitious people. Living close to the forces of nature; dealing with unexpected droughts, floods, hail, and early frosts; they had a difficult time being full-fledged Christians. Yes, they knew what they were supposed to believe, but… They knew the Triune God was watching over them, but… They knew Jesus, as their Savior, had promised to be their friend, but… These farmers also believed that there were other forces, evil forces, powerful, devilish forces that loved to make a mess of a farmer’s field. That’s why, when it came time for planting, these men called in a priest to place a blessing upon their fields and their seed. But there was one corner, a small corner of every field which the farmers left uncultivated. The uncultivated corner was their way to pacify any demonic entity who might be patiently waiting to play a prank upon them. Give the devil his due, the farmers thought, and the devil won’t bother you. That was their theory. But what I’m going to tell you now is the reality. Year after year, those uncultivated corners produced a bumper crop of weeds. Year after year, the wind blew over those uncultivated corners and scattered that weed seed across the entire field. As the weeds grew, the farmers found their workload increasing and their harvest decreasing.
An uncultivated corner in his heart; that’s what money was for the rich, young ruler. That’s why Jesus said, “Get rid of your money. Plow it under.” He says the same thing today. He asks, believer and unbeliever: “Do you have an uncultivated corner in your heart? Is there an uncultivated corner which Satan will try to use to stop you from following your Savior; an uncultivated corner which stops you from bringing a harvest of faith to glorify your Lord’s name?” What is your uncultivated corner? Is it arrogance? Only last month a wife told me about her college-professor husband who believed everything about Jesus, except for the reality of the Lord’s resurrection. The man’s training wouldn’t allow him to go there. That man’s heart has an uncultivated corner… a corner which I have prayed will be turned over by the Lord. Do you have such an uncultivated corner? Do you think you can earn salvation? You can’t. Plow that idea under. Do you think you are, just as you are, good enough for heaven? Look again, you’re not that good. Plow it under. Do you have an uncultivated corner in your heart? I don’t have time to identify what that uncultivated corner might be. I do have time to say the devil will try to use the weed seed which springs up in that uncultivated corner to ruin the salvation which God so graciously gives. Do you have an uncultivated corner? Let the Holy Spirit plow it under and put in its place some furrows of faith. If you wish to know how God can bring this about, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for October 22, 2006
TOPIC: Why is everyone punished for the sins of Adam and Eve?ANNOUNCER: Why are we punished for the sins of Adam and Eve? I’m Mark Eischer and Pastor Ken Klaus is here to answer questions that come to us from the interactive workshop called Equipping To Share sponsored by Lutheran Hour Ministries.
KLAUS: Apparently these are the kind of questions that keep people from following the Savior.
ANNOUNCER: And if it doesn’t keep them from the Savior, it certainly causes them some concerns.
KLAUS: And we hope our discussion today will help you as you share the Savior with others.
ANNOUNCER: So our question today is, why does God hold us accountable today for the sins of Adam and Eve that happened so long ago?
KLAUS: First, I can think of something very positive in that question, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: And what would that be?
KLAUS: These people actually know who Adam and Eve were and they know about the Garden of Eden and how our first parents disobeyed God. If they believe that, these people have been reading their Bibles. That’s great.
ANNOUNCER: But why should everybody continue to be punished for that first sin?
KLAUS: You know, since we’ve been dealing with these Equipping To Share questions, this is the only one that has made me smile.
ANNOUNCER: And why is that?
KLAUS: It takes me back to when I was in school. You know, those times when the teacher stepped out of the room and somebody did something they shouldn’t. The teacher came back, she knew somebody had done something, and she said, “All right! I want to know; who did this?” The teacher waited during this really loud, long silence. And, of course, nobody was going to admit to anything. The teacher said, “Well, I’m waiting. I expect whoever did this to be man or woman enough to confess.” We were just little kids and we weren’t going to confess. Finally the teacher resorted to, “Well, if this person isn’t going to be honest, I guess I’ll just have to punish the whole class. There will be no recess until I find out who did this.”
Well, that threat did the trick. It was unfair for all of us to be punished for the sin of somebody else. Now, we all knew we weren’t supposed to tattle-tail. But what did happen is that every head immediately turned, and every eye started to stare at the guilty party. All the teacher had to do was follow our eyes, and she knew she had the culprit. Back then, I thought it was unfair to be punished for what somebody else did… I still think it’s unfair.
ANNOUNCER: And, do you think it’s unfair that God holds us responsible for what Adam and Eve did?
KLAUS: Mark, if, in that question you’re asking, “Is Ken Klaus punished because Adam and Eve ate an apple, an orange, a pineapple, or some other special forbidden fruit, long ago, in the Garden of Eden, the answer is, “No.” No, I’m not being punished for that specific act.
ANNOUNCER: But aren’t we all sinners because of what happened that day?
KLAUS: Yes, but I’m not being punished because of a forbidden fruit. I’m not being punished because of an action… I’m a sinner because of that change that action brought into being. I’m punished because of what I’ve become, not because of what they did.
ANNOUNCER: Could you explain the difference for us?
KLAUS: Yes. Before the fall into sin, everything was good. God even said it was, “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Then Adam and Eve listened to the Satan-serpent and disobeyed God. They broke the one rule that God had asked them to keep.
ANNOUNCER: And that’s when sin entered the world.
KLAUS: That’s when sin changed the world. Before that event everything had been very good; after that event everything, and by that I mean everything, humans included, became very bad. Sin corrupted us. We didn’t just sin… we became sinners. It was part of us… sort of a sinful genetic code… touching every bit and fiber of who we are. We are punished because of what we have become.
It was impossible for us to change who we had become, to change back, to separate ourselves from what sin had done to us.
ANNOUNCER: But, the good news is that at that same time God promised that He would send His Son to defeat sin, death, and devil for us.
KLAUS: Exactly. He sent Jesus into the world to rescue us. Jesus’ blood, shed upon the cross, is the medicine that forgives, makes us well. With His resurrection, God began a transformation that begins in this world, and will be completed when Christ returns.
ANNOUNCER: When He returns then to establish the New Creation.
KLAUS: Exactly. It is God getting us back to what we once were, what He originally wanted us to be. All traces of sin will be removed and God will restore everything according to His original Garden of Eden blueprint.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“All Depends on Our Possessing” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“Let Us All with Gladsome Voice” from And My Mouth Will Declare Your Praise by the Children’s Choirs of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (© 1997 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Ft. Wayne, IN)
“Toccata on ‘Jesus ist kommen, Grund ewiger Freude’” by John Behnke. From Triumphant Lamb by the choirs of Concordia University-Wisconsin (© 1996 Concordia University-Wisconsin) Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Jesus, Death of My Death” by J.S. Bach.