To Inherit? To Be Loved! Proper 23b: Mark 10:17-27 October 12, 2003 Elizabeth H. Wheatley Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Blessed Be the Name of God. Today's readings have been a real struggle for me. I have walked with them all week and spent most of yesterday wrestling to find words for a sermon, my last sermon here at Resurrection. But, for the most part, I was paralyzed -- paralyzed by my own pride and my own desire for approval and security: What can I say that will shed some light on the readings? What can I say that will make ears perk up and leave everyone with some sense of having heard a profound and provocative sermon? How can I make this one really stick out and send me out in a blaze of glory? How can I be assured that through my clever weaving of words and sentiments (and perhaps some real theology) I will be remembered fondly, that I have won your favor, not to mention God's favor? Mind you, I did not realize the source of the paralysis until I walked into the early service this morning with nothing more than a few pages of rambling notes and some highlighted portions of text. Then, when I listened to the text as I read it to the gathered community, I realized I was paralyzed because I was walking in the footsteps of the rich young man, who when he heard what Jesus had to say "was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions." I was shocked and grieving with the man. I was having a hard time hearing what Jesus had to say because I had hit a wall and perhaps I had built the wall that I was hitting. My own pride, my own sense of self-worth, my own possessions of time, talent and money were being challenged. Here I stood and here I stand, preparing to make a major move, to go to a new job in a new place, the proud owner of a new home (well, owner of a bathroom and bearer of a sizeable mortgage for the rest of my new house), gearing up to step into new and unfamiliar shoes and desiring in so many ways for the world - and perhaps even God - to assure me that I am doing a good thing, that I have worked hard to earn and to deserve all that I have, that I have achieved approval - goodness - security - salvation. I was paralyzed because I wanted to be able to dance down the aisle today after preaching a bang-up sermon, but instead for all of my studying, all of my knowledge, all of my quick wit and theological grounding, when it came down to it, I was shocked, I had failed, I was humiliated, and I went away grieving. ------- A man ran up and knelt before Jesus, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He ran up and knelt. There is that same sense of urgency, a sense of pleading in the man's question, as if to say, "I have done everything I know how to do: I have led a good life and followed the commandments. I am self-sufficient and need nothing from anyone. And, yet, I am still unhappy, unsatisfied and fearful about tomorrow. What am I missing? What is the secret to life? Tell me, please, tell me that I have passed the test, I have won your approval and I have earned my ticket to eternal life, God's favor and goodness in the life to come. What must I DO to INHERIT eternal life?" Urgency, pleading, fear, pride, possessions, security ---- POW! With one blow, the balloons of a false sense of security, self-assurance and self-sufficiency are popped. Jesus said, "You lack one thing…" The rest of what he said fell on deaf ears because all that was needed to deflate the man was "You lack…. You are incomplete… You are inadequate… You are not good enough…" And that is where I got stuck, too: lacking, incomplete, inadequate and grieving. What did Jesus mean? I didn't think this was supposed to be a matter of what I did or did not do, whether I was good enough or not. How dare Jesus add more things to my already too full "to do" list? Was he serious? Did he really want the man - or me - to go, sell what I own, give the money to the poor, and then, come and follow him? And what if I followed the instructions to the "T" (I am good at following instructions), would that give me security and assurance of God's favor and eternal life? Clearly, Jesus knew that the man would balk at what he had to say. I do not think his point was to set the man up for failure, but to prompt him to realize that the problem was not in the desire for eternal life or security but in the question: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" In truth, there was nothing HE could DO to inherit eternal life. And there is nothing I or any of us can "do" to inherit, to earn, to deserve, to win, to purchase or to achieve that sense of security for which we long. We miss the point when we ask the question. We miss the point when we strive so hard to achieve approval and security. We miss the point when we march through the reading and through our lives in pursuit of the truth, the answer, the key, that whatever it is that seems to be missing. The point that we keep missing - the rub - or the grace, as it were - is revealed in just the tiniest of phrases, right in the middle of the passage…. "Jesus, looking at him, loved him." For all of the urgency, all of the strivings, and even the shock and grief, the underlying and all-consuming truth of the matter was that Jesus loved him. Jesus loved him. And, although we may be shocked and grieving in one way or another, there is much reason for us to do a little dance, to add a little kick to our step because the underlying and all-consuming truth - the Economy of God's Grace - for us is the same, "Jesus, looking at us - in all that we are and all that we say and all that we do, however flawed and prideful and shocked - loves us." The impossible is made possible by God in the twinkling of an eye, in a simple glance that assures us, each of us, of the simplest and most profound awareness: "Jesus, looking at you, loves you." So…Let's dance! Blessed Be the Name of God.