In the passage, we had read out this morning, there are two
symbols that speak of impossible missions, or mission impossible, to quote a
1970’s Tv show and movie series: the eye of the needle and the cross. The first
is a symbol that with man it really is impossible to enter the kingdom of God and
the other is that what is impossible for us it is possible for God.
Lately I understand more and more how the eye of the needle
can be a symbol of mission impossible. AS I’ve got older my eye sight has got
worse focusing on a needle to get the tread through it, has become mission
impossible.
Jesus uses it as a saying about entering the kingdom of God ‘that
it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich
person to enter the kingdom of God’. A saying that shocked Jesus disciples then
and now. A saying that possess questions about Jesus and wealth. A saying that begs the question who can be
saved?
The other symbol is the cross, as Jesus had talked about
entering the kingdom of God being impossible for human beings, he pulls his
disciples aside and tells them again of his coming suffering, death and
resurrection. Our hope is not in who we are or how much we do or do not have or
are willing to give up, but in who Jesus is and what he has done for us: God’s
mission impossible in Christ.
We are working our way through Jesus journey to Jerusalem in
Luke’s gospel, it’s a journey that takes up the middle third of Luke’s gospel,
and the narrative of that journey focuses on Jesus teaching about the kingdom
of God. It’s a journey that leads us into Easter as it is journey that leads
Jesus and us to the cross.
The last part of this journey focuses on how we enter God’s
kingdom and respond to Jesus. It started with a parable about two menwho went to the temple to pray. A Pharisee who thought he was righteous and
looked down on other people and a tax collector who knew his need for God’s
mercy, and Jesus said it was the tax collector who went home justified; put
right with God. Then we see that lived out in a series of four encounters with
Jesus, two that have a negative response, the disciples trying to stop
the children coming to Jesus, and the rich ruler, who starts by calling Jesus
good but then goes away sad. Then two positive examples; the blind
beggar and the short tax collector Zacchaeus. Then the whole journey is finished
with another parable to correct peoples thinking about the kingdom of God. (click)
Right in the middle of this Jesus pulls his disciples aside to tell them of his
immanent death and resurrection. In the middle is the central ingredient for
entering the kingdom of God. What Jesus has done for us, God’s mission
impossible in Christ.
Today we focus on Jesus encounter with a man whom Luke tells
us was a ruler, most likely a leader in the synagogue, and who we later
discover was very rich. In Matthew’s account his age is also mentioned as
Matthew tells us that he was a young
man. That why he often referred to as the rich young ruler.
He asks Jesus, “good teacher how may I inherit eternal life?”.
we need to unpack that, because we can
see it as simply asking about life after death. The word we translate eternal
can also be translated age, so he is asking how can he inherit the new age. In
How Jesus responds to this man we see that Jesus equates it with the kingdom of
God, that he had come to inaugurate. In
Jewish thinking this was a time that they equated with the prophecies in the
Old Testament about the reestablishment of Israel. As NT Wright summarises it ‘
a time when everything will be fresh and new, free from corruption, decay,
evil, bitterness, pain and fear. A time of new opportunities, new joys and
delights, because heaven and earth would be joined together and God and his
children would live together.’ It is the present-day hope of the rule of God,
which has an eternal element because it is lived in relationship with the
eternal God. Christian’s have the same hope best captured in the Lord’s prayer
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
In Jesus response, we see that he is more concerned with the
man calling him ‘Good’ this is a title that can only be used of God. Only God
is totally Good. There are many people who are willing to acknowledge Jesus as
a good teacher, a great ethical teacher, but that does not bring the
transformation and change Jesus calls for, it is only when we see Jesus as
God’s son and Lord, that we are enter God’s kingdom.
Jesus then goes on to talk about keeping five of the
commandments, don’t commit adultery, don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t bear false
witness, and honour your mother and father… they are not the commandment that
are about relating to God but are about how we relate to the people around us
in light of who God is, they put the Kingdom of God in terms of right
relationship to others. Remember for Luke how much we love God is shown in how
much we love other people. That is often shown in how deep that love reaches
into our pockets.
The commandments are about setting the boundaries of that
right relationship, they are there to limit evil and wrong and harm. Only the
middle one, don’t steal, deals with wealth.
The Rich young ruler can honestly tells Jesus he has kept those
commandments since he was a boy. He is talking about all his adult life since
he was thirteen and had his ‘bar mitzvah’, so became responsible for his own
actions.
Jesus then asks him to do one last thing. Sell all he has
and give it to the poor, because there is better treasure in heaven, and that
he should come and follow him. This is a gracious invitation to discipleship,
Jesus always offers a sincere invite to all, he spends so much time countering
the Pharisees because his hope is that they too may know God’s grace. In Mark’s
Gospel it tells us Jesus loved the rich young ruler.
Neither is Jesus
asking this man to do more than his other disciples, remember when he called
them they left their nets, boats and followed him. They had their livelihoods
and identity and even family responsibilities and relationship tangled in those
nets. Peter, as the spokesman for the twelve, responds to this encounter by
asking Jesus what about them haven’t they given everything to follow Jesus. And
Jesus assures him they will be rewarded in this life and the next. As we’ll see
next week when Zacchaeus meets with Jesus his spontaneous response to God’s
generous grace is to use his wealth to make amends for wrong doing and give the
other half to the poor.
The man we are told, becomes sad because he is very wealthy.
All the way through Luke’s gospel there is warning about the danger of wealth.
In the parable of the sower, the worries and concerns of this life are like
weeds that grow up and chock out the seed of faith. Jesus warns that you cannot serve two masters
God and money you will love one and hate the other. The rich young ruler finds
himself in that dilemma.
One of the dangers of wealth is that it can become more
important than the people round you. We saw that In Jesus parable of the rich
man and Lazarus. In the Old Testament, there are two traditions one is that
Wealth is a blessing from God. That G od allows people to become wealthy. The
other is the challenge of the prophets, like Amos, that God’s people are to
care for the poor and the needy. We are blessed to be a blessing to others, we
are blessed for the sake of all God’s people. It’s one of the big challenges in
the world today, where so much of the worlds wealth is in the hands of so few…
It’s a challenge to us Christians in the relatively rich west when we are
confronted by abject poverty in the developing world and that is entrenching
itself in our country and city and community.
IS Jesus anti wealth? Well I looked for an exciting
illustration to try and explain this passage, and I’m sorry but instead I ended
up on a government immigration website. I wanted to know if the New Zealand
government allowed dual citizenship, and the answer is yes it does. You can be
a citizen of New Zealand and a citizen of another country at the same time. A
foot in each camp. There are some countries however who will make you renounce
your New Zealand passport before you become a citizen of their country. The
rich young ruler wanted a dual citizenship, he had so much of his identity and
security and status invested in the kingdom of this world, in his wealth, that
he wasn’t prepared to give it up to become a citizen of the kingdom of God. To
trust solely in God, to have the faith of a child and know he was totally
dependent on God. There are a lot of things that can hold us back and turn us
away sad as well. What you could call minor idols that we might want to cling
on to. Our society is full of them. In an Alpha testimony that Nicki Gumble
shared, a young man who was an ardent atheist came to alpha to discredit those
unthinking Christians, he had confidence in his own belief system. He did the
alpha and when he finished Alpha he said he was captivated by Jesus. A few months later when he was baptised he
talked of now being free, ‘he had been a slave to his society, a slave to his
peers, but now he was free’. There are many things that can hold us back from
Following Jesus.
For the crowd round Jesus, this rich young ruler would have
been a definite candidate to be a follower of Jesus to make it into the kingdom
of God. When they hear him say ‘ its easier for a camel to fit through the eye
of a needle than a rich person get into the kingdom of God’ and that the rich
young ruler goes away sad they are
disturbed and shocked “who can be saved”. He kept he commandments, he was
blessed with wealth, he was a ruler in the synagogue, if he can’t and wealthy
people can’t then who can? It’s mission impossible.
Jesus response is that what is impossible with man is
possible with God’.
As I said before the disciples are worried and they ask
Jesus for reassurance as they had given up everything to follow Jesus. Jesus
assures them that anyone who gives up home and family for the sake of the
kingdom of God will receive many times as much in this age and in the age to
come, eternal life. the mention of giving up family and receiving that back
speaks to us of being a family together in Christ, that we are that family
together, we are there for each other in times of joy and in times of hardship.
As we’ve left our place for Jesus there is the promise that he will be with us
and welcome us back to his father’s place when our journey and mission are complete.
Finally, Jesus calls
his disciples apart and talks to them of what will happen to him when they go
to Jerusalem. Here is God’s mission impossible. Here is how people may be
saved. Here is how people may come into the kingdom of God. Here is God’s plan
for our salvation. Here is God’s plan
all along foretold in the prophets and scriptures that Jesus would go to
Jerusalem he would be handed over to the gentiles, he would suffer, be spat on
and insulted flogged and finally killed. But on the third day he would rise
again. It is impossible for us any of us to enter the kingdom of God. But the
good news is that it is possible with God.
That in Jesus death on the cross, our sins can be forgiven, he will take
the guilt and punishment for them. In Jesus rising from the grave we may find
new life, we will be find ourselves coming into the new age, finding eternal
life in Christ. God’s mission impossible in Christ.
In the passage, we had read out this morning, there are two
symbols that speak of mission impossible: the eye of the needle and the cross.
The first is a symbol that with man it really is impossible to enter the
kingdom of God and the other is that what is impossible for us is possible for
God.
We need to respond. We can stand trying to get our stuff,
whatever it is, through the eye of the needle or we can turn to Jesus and the
cross, knowing our need for him and with a childlike faith be prepared to give
it all up and follow him.
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