Gospel text for Sunday 11 October 2015

Mark 10:17-31  

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."

Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

Reflection        Can you almost hear Jesus saying to the running man, “Do you believe you have done all of these things; following the Law of Moses by your own wit and your own will? Do you see that homeless person? that leper begging? But for the grace of God, that could be you. By the grace of God with you, you have been able to follow the law and now you need something more. You need to admit your absolute and utter dependence on God as I do.” “Of my own self, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear, … and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the One who has sent me. (John 5.30) 

Jesus insists that in all things he is utterly dependent on God. This is “with God life.” This is eternal life. Jesus puts his faith in his relationship with God rather than clinging to conventional, or even orthodox, programs for happiness. Our programs for happiness are all the things we do in an effort to feel safe, secure, esteemed, right, in control or powerful. Things like  amassing food, property, money, weapons or insurance policies; avoiding conflict, following rules (commandments), being dutiful or failing to speak our truth in order to be liked by everyone, demanding perfection of  ourselves or others, lording it over others or striving for position or success regardless of the cost to our integrity or to other people. 

For the most part we get away with cultivating our programs for happiness during the early years of our lives. But when the time comes that like the running man, we are looking for something more, there is every chance that Jesus will counsel us, “Go, sell all that you have…go sell every earthly thing in which you put your trust because all of your possessions, all of the people cow towing to you, all of your righteous behavior, all of the privilege and power in the world will not get you “with God life.” 

There is nothing wrong with material possessions, with being well liked, following rules or being successful. It is only when we have an inordinate attachment to these things, when we identify with these things, that they become stumbling blocks because they get between us and “with God life.” So go, sell everything you have that you cannot imagine living without to make room for “with God life.” 

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Gospel text for Sunday 1 June 2014

John 17:1-11       Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. “

Reflection       Hears, believes, has… this is all present tense. According to John’s gospel eternal life is not about delayed gratification. It is not about post mortem reward. Right here, right now, hearing the Word of God, believing the Word of God, and acting in accord with the Word of God, we have already “passed from death to life.” This new life is eternal life. 

The way it has generally been understood we might envision eternal life as an enormous circle (which of course it is not because it could not possibly have edges). In any case, at some location far below the circle of eternal life is the tiniest of circles. That would be me. Or you. In our relationship to the enormous circle our understanding of eternal life is as something far above and beyond us, and, given my track record, probably inaccessible to me. 

Imagine again the enormous circle of eternal life but this time put our tiny circles inside the circle of eternal life. Our relationship with eternal life is utterly transformed. We are not outside eternal life, bouncing up and down trying to break in. We are always and everywhere intimately part of eternal life. Any sense of separation we may experience is because we are not hearing the Word of God, believing the Word of God or acting in accord with the Word of God. 

When we hear, believe and choose to act in accord with the Word of God we realize that the work of our life is to disentangle ourselves from any concerns that block the flow of Divine Presence. Actions driven to accumulate power, comfort, wealth or any other selfish motive create a false sense of separation between us and God and one another (our little distinguishing circle). But, we can choose to “sell everything,” which is to say,  we can choose to surrender our natural inclination toward selfishness. When we “sell everything” that interferes with the flow of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity and self-control, the insubstantial membrane that seems to separate us from one another dissolves and we experience our lives as the unified whole that they are.  This is the answer to Jesus’ prayer.

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through (the disciples’) word, that they may all be one…  as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one…” (John 17.20,23)

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Image by Alex Grey