Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

He was a good man - kind, faithful, honest, and religious. He was hard working and successful. He was the kind of man you would want your son to be - the kind of man you would want your daughter to marry. In many ways, he was the kind of man the nominating committee would ask to serve on the church council, the kind of man we would want to be a mentor for one of our Confirmation students.

This man, in spite of all that he has going for him, does not come off very well in the gospel story. In fact, when I see him running up to Jesus and falling down on his knees, I think to myself, "Oh, no. Not him again." For this guy shows up in all three of the synoptic Gospels, and when he does, we know what is coming. We know that we are about to hear those difficult words from Jesus' lips: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

I don't like this saying. I don't like this story. I don't like this rich young man, with his eager question and his pious answers. I don't like him because when I look into his eyes, I see right down into my very soul. When I hear this story, I am reminded of the Pogo cartoon that parodies the famous words of Admiral Perry: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." And it is for this very reason that I need to look this man in the eye. It is for this very reason that I need to hear his story over and over again. It is for this very reason that I need to preach on this Gospel lesson today.

It may be that this man comes to Jesus with his pious question because in spite of who he is and what he has and what he has accomplished, he senses that there is something missing in his life. It may be here we have a true seeker - a man who is on a spiritual quest for some holy grail that seems to have eluded his grasp. But I don't think so. I think that this is a man who thinks that he's got it all together. I don't think he was seeking an answer so much as he was looking for affirmation. I bet he thought he was a shoo-in. I bet he expected Jesus to tell him that he was already successful, that he had done it right, that he was all lined up to inherit eternal life. And the reason I think so is because of the way he responds to Jesus' answer.

Jesus' answer begins exactly where this young man expected it to begin - and he was ready. When Jesus says, "You know the commandments. You know what the law of Moses says." the rich man answers, "Yes. And I have kept these commandments all my life." But then Jesus goes someplace this man never expected. "Then there is only one thing you lack," Jesus says. "Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor." When he heard this, the rich man's face fell and he went away sad. He asked a leading question, but he did not like where the question led. This is why I really don't like this story. It does not have a happy ending.

In several ways, this man in our story looks a lot like the members of St. Luke's Lutheran Church. When I look around at this congregation I see good people - people who have not murdered, people who have not committed adultery, people who have not stolen from others, people who are honest and fair, people who honor and care for their parents. When I look around at this congregation I also see hard working, successful people who have great wealth - people who live the good life, with nice homes and new cars and fashionable clothes, people who have good-paying jobs with pensions and 401k's, people with incomes and assets that put them in the wealthy class. Yes, I said wealthy class.

I suppose that most of us think of ourselves as middle class, not wealthy. That's because we read things like Forbes magazine's list of the 400 wealthiest people in America. When we think of the wealthy class, we think of people like that - people with millions and billions of dollars. However, I ran across a web site that tells you how rich you are compared to the rest of the world. All you do is put in your annual income and it tells you how many people in the world earn more than you do and how many earn less. According to this web site, if you have an annual income of $25,000 you are in the top 10% of the world's wealthiest, and if your income is $44,000, then you are in the top two percent.

We are like this man not only because we are good people and because we have great wealth, we are also like him in our sense of self-confidence and in our desire to be in control of our own lives and our own destinies. The question that this man asked Jesus was pious, but misguided. He asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life." That question implies that our eternal life depends on something that we do. It assumes that eternal life is something that we achieve or acquire for ourselves. That is simply the wrong question. The rest of the story shows just how wrong it is.

Now, Jesus does not come right out and say, "You are asking the wrong question." Instead, Jesus draws him in and takes him to the heart of the matter. The heart of the matter is not that we have to sell everything we have and give it to the poor, the heart of the matter is that we cannot do anything to inherit eternal life. When Jesus' disciples finally get it, they say, "Then who in the world can ever be saved?" And Jesus answers, "With man this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible."

So the bad news is that it is impossible for us to do anything to inherit eternal life. But the good news is that we don't have to. What we are unable to do for ourselves, God has done for us.

Here is the bottom line - the real bottom line. It is not how good we are. It is not how much we have. It is not what we do or what we give. The real bottom line is that God loves us and that through Jesus' death and resurrection, we can inherit eternal life - not as something that we have earned, but as a gift. Eternal life is not an achievement or an entitlement, it is an inheritance. You know how inheritances work: we get an inheritance because of who we are not because of what we have done. But we do not get an inheritance until someone dies. It works the same way with eternal life. Our place in the kingdom of God is our inheritance because we are children of God. We already have this eternal life because someone has already died - and his name is Jesus.

Sermons and commentaries on this passage often focus on the saying about how hard it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. People have tried to make it more palatable by suggesting that what Jesus really said was how hard it is for a rope to go through the eye of a needle, because in Aramaic the word for camel and rope is the same thing. Others have suggested that the eye of the needle was really a small door in the larger gate to ancient cites. Such explanations are not necessary, and in fact they miss the point. The point is that Jesus is describing something that is impossible - impossible for us, but not for God.

This saying is really not the most important verse in this lesson. More important is the verse which says that Jesus looked at this man and loved him. Even though he asked the wrong question, Jesus loved him. Even though he was too caught up in his wealth, Jesus loved him. And far more important is the verse which says, "All things are possible with God."

What makes this story so sad is that the rich man left before he heard the important stuff. He left before he knew how much Jesus loved him. He left because he thought it all depended on him - and he knew it was more than he could do. He left before he heard what God could do, would do, and did do for him.

You may be like this rich man in many ways, but don't let your story end the way his did. Don't go away sad. Don't leave, because Jesus also loves you. Don't leave, because with God all things are possible. Stay and rejoice in the love and the grace of our God. Amen.

Oh, by the way. Don't think that Jesus and this Gospel lesson don't have something to say about what we should do with our money. They do, and I could have preached the whole sermon on that. But first and foremost, I wanted you to know that giving money to the poor would not gain us a place in the Kingdom of God; that there is nothing you can do to inherit eternal life. But once you have been given eternal life, God does have something to say about what you do with the resources and the responsibilities he has given you. That, however, is another sermon - one I will be preaching in November.