Sermon: What Do I Lack?

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Please be seated.

A former dean at Duke University wrote: Today's gospel reminds us that there are good, understandable, reasonable reasons for not following Jesus.  Jesus is too often presented by us, from the best of motives, as the solution to all our problems, the way to fix everything that's wrong in our lives.  But this story reminds us that Jesus is sometimes the beginning of problems we would never have had if we had not been met by Jesus!

So I want you to think back to the time when you were a child.  What was your most valued possession?  (Pause)  What made it so valuable to you?  (Pause) Do you still have it in your possession?  Has its value changed? (Pause)

Think about today.  What is your most valued possession now?  (Pause)  What makes it valuable to you?  Are you capable of selling it?

Now keeping in mind those things, think about what exactly Christ said to the man.  "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." 

What was it that the man lacked?

Think about what Christ said to his disciples in response to the question, "Then who can be saved?":  "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” 

We don't believe that we can get into heaven by "doing".  We believe that the only way we can get into heaven is by the grace of God.  Which, of course, doesn't mean that we shouldn't be doing all that a follower of Christ would do.  That phrase, "What would Jesus do?" should actually govern our actions, so that people know we are Christians by our actions, as well as our words.

One night, in a college dormitory Bible study, a priest presented this same story of Jesus and the rich man.  He then asked the gathered students, "What do you make of this story?"

"Had Jesus ever met this man before?" asked one of the students.

"Why do you ask?" the priest asked.

"Because Jesus seems to have lots of faith in him.  He demands something risky, something radical of him.  I wonder if Jesus knew this man had a gift for risky, radical response.  In my experience, a professor only demands the best from students that the professor thinks are the smartest, best students.  I wonder what there was about this man that made Jesus have so much faith he could really be a disciple."

Wow.  The priest hadn't thought about that.

Another student said thoughtfully, "I wish Jesus would ask something like this of me.  My parents totally control my life just because they are paying all my bills.  And I complain about them calling the shots, but I am so tied to all this stuff I don't think I could ever break free.  But maybe Jesus thinks otherwise."

Well, the priest was astounded. What he had been thinking about as severe, demanding BAD news, these students heard as gracious, GOOD news.

What was it that the man lacked?  He already followed the commandments.  He already believed in Christ, because he asked Jesus, what must I do to have eternal life.  What did he lack?

There's a story told that Clarence Jordan, that great Southern, social prophet, visited an integrated church in the Deep South.  Jordan was surprised to find a relatively large church so thoroughly integrated, not only black and white but also rich and poor; and this was in the early '60s.  Jordan asked the old country preacher, "How did you get the church this way?"

"What way?" the preacher asked.  Jordan went on to explain his surprise at finding a church so integrated, and in the South, too.

The preacher said, "Well, when our preacher left our small church, I went to the deacons and said, 'I'll be the preacher.'  The first Sunday as preacher, I opened the book and read, 'As many of you as has been baptized into Jesus has put on Jesus and there is no longer any Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, males or females, because you all is one in Jesus.'

Then I closed the book and I said, 'If you are one with Jesus, you are one with all kind of folks.  And if you ain't, well, you ain't.'"

Jordan asked what happened after that. "Well," the preacher said, "the deacons took me into the back room and they told me they didn't want to hear that kind of preaching no more."

Jordan asked what he did then. "I fired them deacons," the preacher roared.

"Then what happened?"

"Well," said the old hillbilly preacher, "I preached that church down to four.  Not long after that, it started growing.  And it grew.  And I found out that revival sometimes don't mean bringin' people in but gettin' people out that don't dare to love Jesus." (As told in Hauerwas and Willimon, Where Resident Aliens Live, Nashville: Abingdon, 1996, p. 103).

Jesus invites people to be his disciples:  to divest.  To break free! Let go of your stuff!  Follow me!  I believe you can do it!

What did the man lack? 

It wasn't poverty.  Christ doesn't ask us to live in poverty, and He certainly gives us more than enough to do with our money in order to benefit people. 

It wasn't a lack of ties – we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  We're supposed to build ties with the family of God. 

Could it be that what the man lacked was belief in himself, in his own work, and his own hands, capable of doing the work of God?  Of profiting the poor, the marginalized, the least, the lost, the outsiders.  Could it be that Christ believed more in the man and what he was capable of in following Him as a disciple?  Our Psalm ends today with "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!" 

Do you dare to love Jesus enough?  Amen.