Sermon - Pentecost 21 - Mark 10:2-16

 

One of those little aphorisms they taught us at seminary was something like this, “ministry happens in the interruptions.”  In other words, don’t be surprised when the most important things you do to serve people as a pastor are unplanned, and not part of the “normal” routines, not something that you think is important or necessary, but something that happens when some need arises or some question needs an answer.  It’s part of the reason I like to keep my office door open as much as possible – I’ve actually learned to appreciate the “interruptions.”

Well, today, as Jesus is setting out on a journey, he is interrupted.  A rich young man comes running up and kneels before Jesus in what appears to be quite a show.  He has, also, quite a question, and really an important one for him and for all people who would be saved.  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

From the outset we can see something is amiss with this young man.  He calls Jesus, “Good teacher” and Jesus pushes back on that.  “Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone.”  Now, of course, Jesus isn’t denying that he is good, OR that he is God.  But with his question he begins to unravel this man’s self-righteousness. The rich young man will go on to show that he doesn’t recognize true goodness, nor does he see in Jesus anything more than a “good teacher.”  If only he would see him as the Son of God, the Savior. 

Nonetheless, he engages the question.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  Jesus points him to the commandments.

We might notice that Jesus begins here with the second table of the law, those commandments that have to do with our love for our neighbor.  And we will get to those in a minute.  But what about the first table of the law?  Why not address that?  It seems Jesus has already done so, at least in part, by challenging the man’s understanding of who God is – no one is good but God alone.  No one is deserving of our fear, love and trust, but God alone.  No one’s name is to be holy, but God alone.  No one’s word is worth gathering around, week in and week out, but God alone.  There is no other source of good for us in life, but every good and perfect gift comes down from above, that is to say, from God.  And no one comes to the Father, except through the Son.

But to the point, Jesus says, “you know the commandments…” and then he summarizes the second table in loose fashion:

Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.

And now we see just how twisted up this young man is, for he claims, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

We know better, don’t we?  You may not have murdered someone, but you’ve hurt and harmed your neighbor, even if only in thoughts, but likely also in words and deeds. 

You might not have outwardly committed adultery, but what goes on in the darkness of your heart would be shameful even to mention. 

You can say you haven’t borne false witness, but that would be a false witness itself, as each of us drags our neighbor’s good name through the mud when it suits us. 

Honor your father and mother.  Yes, you probably love your parents, but that doesn’t mean you have always honored them, nor does it mean you always respect and honor the other authorities God places over you. 

In short, you, and I, and all people must admit, “all these I have broken from my youth.”  We must stand before Jesus and confess our sins, rather than rationalize our own goodness.  And he, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

How frustrated our Lord must have been when the man failed to see his sin in light of the commandments.  He doesn’t know what good is, and he doesn’t know God rightly.  He thinks he loves his neighbor, but he doesn’t.  And he worships another god, his wealth.  And so Jesus gives it one last shot.  He zeroes in on this man’s great idol, and aims for the very foundations.  “You lack one thing.  Sell all your stuff and give to the poor, then come follow me.”

Whatever you won’t give up to follow Jesus, that’s your idol.  That’s your god.  For many people it’s wealth, for others its power or pleasure or social standing.  But there’s only room enough for one God in the human heart, and no man can serve two masters – it’s God or money.  And this man went away sad, for he had great wealth.  It seems, at least at that moment, he couldn’t forsake his false god and follow the true God.

And though some might say it’s cruel to trouble people about their sins, notice that Mark says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”  He doesn’t rub his nose in the commandments out of hatred.  He doesn’t call him to repent of his idolatry out of malice.  The call to repent is a loving call to turn from the self-destruction of sin, and the deceit of self-righteousness, to turn to Christ and live.  For Jesus loved him.  And Jesus loves you, too.

Greater love has no one than this: that he would lay down his life for his friends.  Greater good has no one done than this:  that he gave up his life for us all.  The cross is the only answer the debt of sin that we’ve incurred, but Jesus spends everything he has to pay it – even his holy, precious blood. 

Jesus preaches some strong law today, to the rich young man and to all men and women, even to us.  But he’s also the bringer of the best good news, the salvations that comes through him and him alone. He looks at us, and loves us, too.

Christ, for his part, kept all these laws from his youth.  He always helped and supported his neighbor in bodily need.  He never committed adultery.  He never took what wasn’t his.  He always honored his father and mother.  He kept and fulfilled every law to every detail, like us in every way yet without sin.  He lived a life of perfect righteousness from conception to birth to adulthood.  In his work in his rest, on his own and with so many others.  He always, always, did right, did good, and never sinned.

And the one who alone is good, and who is himself God, gives that righteousness to us, as a gift, a blessing, yes, an inheritance.  Not to be earned, not to be won by great effort or willpower.  Only by pure grace.

What must I do to inherit eternal life?  Answer:  Nothing.  Believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.  Trust him who has done it all for you.  It’s an inheritance, after all, something you get when someone dies.  And the Good Teacher did just that.  He died for your inheritance, and he rose to pave the way for your eternal life.

Sermon - Pentecost 20 - Mark 10:2-16

 

Our congregation has, for many years, observed an annual “life Sunday.”  Of course, we teach, as the Bible does, that life is precious and that from conception we are created in the image of God.  It’s a teaching that many reject today, an unpopular teaching in a culture of death where personal choice reigns supreme.

Perhaps, in a similar way, we need to start observing a “Marriage and Family Sunday.”   Our appointed readings today invite just such a thing. 

Jesus teaches us the importance of marriage, and warns against divorce and adultery.  He speaks this little axiomatic phrase, “What God has joined together, let man not separate” or “put asunder.”  And then he goes on to discuss children, indignant that the disciples tried to shoo the children away, and eager to give those little ones his blessing. 

Marriage and family are under duress in our culture.  But to some extent they always have been.  Adam and Eve didn’t even have the perfect marriage.  Adam failed to protect his wife from the lies of the serpent.  And Eve brought Adam into her sin by sharing the forbidden fruit.  Ever since then, all of Adam and Eve’s children have struggled with the effects of sin, yes, even in the family.  Even their own children saw it, when Cain murdered his brother Abel, and was sent into exile.

Today it’s not just divorce that troubles marriage, but marriage itself has been re-defined, and continues to evolve, at least in the minds of our unbelieving secular world.  No longer a life-long union of one man and one woman, no longer respected as holy and sacred as an institution established by God.  But more and more, marriage is seen as a self-serving, self-defined, completely customizable and entirely disposable human arrangement. 

No longer is it recognized that God makes us male and female, but now each person is free, we are told, to choose their orientation and their gender, in an ever swirling chaos of individual self-determination disconnected from nature, genetics, and reality.

But this is not just a sermon to make us feel good about how bad the culture is and how good we Christians are in contrast.  Sure, we must point out the depravity out there and reject it.  But let’s not pass over the depravity and sin in here, in each of our hearts, and expressed in our own sinful thoughts, words and deeds.  The truth is, we, too, dishonor marriage and family in many ways.  The truth is, we, too, must repent of our rejection and mismanagement of God’s gifts.

In Luther’s explanation to the 6^th commandment he not only reminds us that we should lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we do and say, but also that husband and wife should love and honor each other.  There’s a tall order, if you think about it!

Married people almost certainly sin against each other more than they do against anyone else, just because you share your day to day life, and we sin so much.  We do not love our spouses as we should, in thought, word or deed.  We do things that hurt them, and we don’t do everything we should to help them. 

In terms of Ephesians 5:  Husbands fail in their God-given leadership role, and do not love our wives like Christ loves his bride the church.  We do not, as we should, lay down our life for her. 

And wives often fail in their God-given role as helper, sometimes disrespecting the husband.  Sometimes rather acting as usurper, taking the headship that belongs to the husband, refusing to submit as Holy Scripture teaches.

Thanks be to God, that all of us have the forgiveness of Christ won at the cross, a forgiveness deep enough to cover even the smoking rubble of a failed marriage.  A forgiveness wide enough to cover the multitude of sins we commit in this and every area of life.  Christ is, after all, the True Bridegroom, who purifies his bride the Church, and presents her to himself holy and blameless.

And it is in this forgiveness that we live, as Christian husbands and wives, and as Christian single people.  And it is this forgiveness that we share and freely apply to those who sin against us.

He gives us the earthly gift of marriage, which stands as a reminder of the heavenly reality of the blessed union between Christ and the Church, between God and his people, and of his all-surpassing love for us.

And then, it seems no accident that right after he deals with marriage, our Lord makes some comments about children.  For that is his design, that children are a fruit of the marital union.  The two become one flesh, in a most literal way, when God blesses them with a new life, fruitful and multiplying.

But not everyone welcomes children.  Today we see declining birth rates, which must represent, at least in part, a growing self-centeredness of our culture.  Rather than seeing children as a blessing from God, some see children as a hindrance to career and financial well-being, expensive and inconvenient obstacles to living life to the fullest.  We could not disagree more.

One of the greatest blessings in life is to welcome a child into your family, and to bring that child to Jesus.  That’s a huge part of what we are about at Messiah, and why we go to the trouble and expense of operating a Christian school.  We want to honor Jesus’ words to the fullest, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” 

We want children, our children, and all children, to hear the Word of God, to learn the Word of God, to believe the Word of God, and to always grow in the Word of God.  We want what is best for them, and nothing could be better than bringing them, through God’s word, to Jesus.

Jesus has a special place for children, and he commends them as examples of faith.  “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child cannot enter it.”  And so in a sense we must all become like children, we must receive the kingdom as children.  A child-like faith, trusting, as children trust their parents.  A child-like faith, which comes without pride and arrogance, but knowing nothing and ready to be taught.  A child-like faith which receives, gratefully, what the Father provides.

Just as marriage serves as a picture for us of heavenly realities, and of God’s love for his people – so too do children remind us that in Christ we are made children of God, and heirs of a heavenly kingdom. 

Therefore, Christians, let us honor marriage, and receive children with thanksgiving.  Let us hold up these precious gifts of God for the blessing they are – and for the greater blessings they reflect.  Husbands love your wives.  Wives love your husbands.  Children, honor your father and mother.  And parents, love your children by bringing them to Jesus.  He will bless them, and you.