Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“What must I do to inherit
eternal life?” I do believe the rich young man’s question is honest. I don’t
think he is trying to trick Jesus or trap him in some minutia of the Law. St.
Mark doesn’t give us any reason to think there is something hinky going on. I
think the question is an honest question, but it does give us some insight into
the man. Mark notes that he is rich. Maybe he’s a first century Wall Street
tycoon, used to making the big deals, getting his way, and negotiating his
opponent into submission. He gets it done. So, he brings that with him to the
conversation: “What do I have to do? It’s how the world works. What do I need
to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus?”
If you stop to think about it, we
ask “what do I have to do?” quite often in a lot of different settings. This is
part of the give-and-take of all sorts of relationships that we have in our
daily lives and vocations. “I’ll tell you what I want, you tell me what you
need, and let’s see if we can’t meet in the middle.” Students ask teachers,
“What do I have to do to get extra credit?” Teachers ask students, “What do I
have to do to get this into your heads?” Kids ask parents, “What do I have to
do to go spend the night at my friend’s house?” Parents ask, “What do I have to
do to get you to clean your room?” Teenage boys ask their buddies, “What do I
have to do to get her to like me?” Teenage girls ask their friends, “What do I
have to do to get him to leave me alone?” The salesman asks, “What do I have to
do to get you to buy this today?” The customer asks, “What do I have to do to
get out of here and go home?”
The focus is on the “I,” the
initial maker of the request. “What do I have to do?” It implies that I can bring something to the
conversation, that I have something to offer, something of value to persuade
you to move towards me.
Let’s go back to the rich man’s
question - what must I do to inherit eternal life? What does the rich man have
that he can offer? What can he bring to the table to negotiate with Jesus? He’s
prepared to offer his good life, his track record of commandment keeping. In
fact, I wonder if the question isn’t actually a base desire for affirmation,
making the question almost rhetorical: “What I’ve been doing….that’s how I
inherit eternal life, right?”
You notice that Jesus addresses
commandments four through ten. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Don’t take
your neighbor’s life or wife, don’t steal the neighbor’s belongings or their
good reputation, don’t manipulate someone in the business world, and don’t
forget to love your mom and dad.” The rich young man thinks he has this licked:
I imagine he is nodding at each commandment that Jesus mentions and thinking
he’s got this under control.
But then Jesus turns to the first
table of the Law. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul
and mind.” A god is anything you fear, love and trust. Jesus, who can see into
this man’s heart, knows that man’s god – lower case g – is his wealth. There’s
a powerful, small detail – Mark notes that Jesus loves the man – He doesn’t
want to see the young man perish into eternity by chasing after a false god. He
calls the man to an act of repentance, to stop worshipping the false god of his
wealth by ridding himself of it, making way in his heart to love the Lord your
God instead. “Go, sell all you have and give it to the poor and you will have
treasure in heaven.” It’s as if Jesus is asking, “What does your fear, love and
trust rest? Is it in me, or in your wealth?” The man’s actions serve as the sad
conclusion: “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had
great possessions.”
“What must I do?” It’s a loaded
question, one we must be very careful of asking. It’s one thing to ask your
spouse or your parent. It’s a whole ‘nother thing if we think we can approach
God with our grocery list of good deeds, as if we can somehow negotiate our way
into God’s good graces. We’re quick to make our suggestions: I gotta go to
church, I gotta give my offering, I gotta be a better parent, I gotta be a
better student, I gotta be better in my Bible reading, I gotta pray more, I
gotta…” Have you noticed that list always grows? There’s never an end. There’s
always something else we think we gotta do:
I gotta watch my mouth, I gotta keep my eyes from wandering, I gotta do
better, I gotta…” The list never ends; the list is never accomplished; the list
is never perfected. The list tells the tale.
In hopeless abandon, we cry out,
“What must I do?” You know what Jesus wants from you? Your sins. That’s all. He
doesn’t want your perfection, or your best of intentions. He wants your sins.
Rid your heart, your conscience, your life of anything else that gets in the
way of Jesus. That’s what He came for. He came to be your Savior. He came to
trade His perfection for your imperfection. Don’t put Jesus out of a job! He
came to take your sins from you. Instead of trying to do better, and then when
you fail try even harder – as if you could somehow attain perfection that way –
instead, confess your sins. Surrender them all to Jesus: all of the I gottas,
the I wouldas, the I couldas, the, shouldas turn them all over to Jesus and
trust that His once-for-all death on the cross pays for your sins. You do
nothing; Jesu does it all. You have nothing to negotiate with, so out of His
great love for you, Jesus speaks for you with His Father in heaven. Jesus says,
“My life for his; My life for hers.” The answer to “What must I do to inherit
eternal life” is found at the cross. At the cross, in His dying breath, Jesus
declares: There is nothing left for you to do. “It is finished.”
I started this sermon by saying
that the man’s question was an honest one. While it may have been an honest
one, it was a misguided question. Go back to the question with me one more
time: “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” What must I do to inherit?
Answer: you do nothing to inherit anything. Inheritance is something that is
given by the head/s of the household to those who in the family. You don’t earn
inheritance by something you do. Inheritance is a gift. You don’t buy it, you
don’t negotiate for it.
Inheritance is yours by nature of
who you are: a son or daughter. Inheritance is yours by nature of whose you
are: a son or daughter of the giver. Inheritance implies family.
This is what God has done for you
in Christ Jesus. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an
inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in
heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the
coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter
1:3-5).
So there is no doubt in your mind
of your adoption into the family of God through Christ, you are given Jesus’
name. You are called “Christian,” which means “Little Christ.” It’s not
something you negotiated with God. God declares it; you simply respond in
faith: Yes, Lord, I believe. There is no negotiation. There is simply
declaration: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Nothing: Christ has done
everything for you.
Amen.
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