“Follow Me”
Original sermon given October 13, 2024, written and delivered by Pastor Jeffrey Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
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“Follow Me”
Mark 10.17-31
Mark 10.17-31
In the name of the Living God and the risen Christ. Amen.
What is it in your life that you cling to with all your strength? What is that you feel is at the core of who you are? What is it, when, if you were asked to give it up, you would respond, “No, Lord, I’ll give you anything but this… you can have anything, only leave me this”?
A person, a job, your health, your knowledge, your future, your talents, your wealth … what is it you’d refuse to let go of, if God asked for it?
To ask ourselves this question is to ask ourselves which gods have taken the place of the one, true Living God. The rich young man in the gospel reading for today had placed possessions where the throne of God should have been in his heart. Jesus asks him to give them up, not because the man could “pay” for eternal life by giving them away, but because the Lord wanted to expose the hold his stuff had on him. For this man it was about his wealth. He was so possessed by his possessions that he could not follow the Lord. It’s not that he had possessions which was the problem. It’s that his possessions had him. The tough question which this gospel asks of us this morning is, “What’s got hold of you? What possesses you? What’s your camel which is trying to squeeze through the needle’s eye?”
We’re drawn to this story, and even to this particular person who encounters Jesus. Who was he? Where did he go when he couldn’t give it all up and follow the Lord? We’d love to meet up with him later and find out if he ever made it back to Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this incident, each giving it their own flavor. Matthew tells us he was “young.” Luke adds he was a “ruler” — a prominent figure in the Jewish community. Mark alone emphasizes Jesus’ intense love for him — before the young man’s face falls and he walks away — Jesus stares right at him and Agape’s him.
A particularly Lutheran reading of this text emphasized that this rich, young ruler — whoever he was — approaches Jesus by means of the law, and specifically the second table of the law: What must I DO? Perhaps we might speculate that he’s been quite a do-er in his life and work—and been fairly successful at it too. “I’ve kept it all; I’ve done enough. I’m all good here, Lord.” And when you try to justify yourself by means of the law — who you are and what you have done — the Lord will always up the ante. He’ll always give you more to do, more to give, more to sacrifice. By demanding from this young over-achiever his great wealth, Jesus exposes the total hold this false god had on him. The rich young ruler walks away clouded and grieving because he just can’t let go of these things and cling to Christ alone.
There’s a reason this account is inserted here. In Mark’s gospel there is this wonderfully surprising twist about who does get it in the end: not the rich, not the religious, not the pious, not the “great disciples”, not the powerful, but only those who stand before Jesus with nothing to offer but their emptiness. That’s the gentile half-bred Canaanite woman, begging under the table for crumbs. That’s the deaf and dumb man who can’t hear the music we do, or sing the songs we do, or spout off the theology we do. That’s the boy possessed by an evil spirit, who’s been enslaved by self-destruction and self-harm for years. That’s blind Bartimaeus, whose best efforts at prayer are “have mercy on me”, over and over again. And that’s the little children from last week, not much knowledge, even less money, lower than anyone else, but gathered into the arms of Jesus and blessed by him.
The blind, the unclean, the sinners, the children, the poor in body and spirit, the outcast beggars — these are the ones who come to Jesus with nothing to offer and nothing to say but “mercy”.
In reality, this is who we are, who we need to become, and how we need kneel before Jesus this morning. Faith is to know you got nothing to offer Jesus, but also to know he’s got everything for you. Faith is to trust in the God of the impossible, who great gift is himself, for you.
The great part of that rich young man’s story is that it doesn’t really end here in Mark 10. To be sure, we’re never told what ultimately happens to him. But we know that his story, and our story, ultimately needs to go through Golgotha. This same Jesus who loved him that day in Judea loved him again and gave up everything for him that Friday outside the walls of Jerusalem. Jesus gave up not just a pile of earthly possessions, but the One who was in the very nature God, took on the death and defeat of the cross, redeeming the whole world and also you and me. He gave up everything for us. This is enough. Nothing else matters. His righteousness, his perfect life, his perfect fulfilling of every iota of the law placed over us and in us — this is the only way to eternal life. Christ for us.
In this sacred meal this morning, the Jesus who confronted that young man does two things for us: forgives us our sins, and the idolatry of our hearts. While he also casts down by the power of the Spirit every false god enthroned in our hearts. Let’s leave them all behind, this morning—all the false gods. Let’s leave them all at the foot of the cross, and pass through the needle’s eye.
Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.