What Must I do?

A sermon by Pastor Zill on Mark 10:17-22 at Alive in Christ Lutheran Church in Marana, AZ.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This man who came to Jesus was the trifecta of happiness. He was rich. Luke tells us that he was powerful, a ruler. Matthew tells us that he was young. Young, rich, and powerful. That’s what we want, right? That’s what our society tells us will make us happy, right? His wealth and position were likely inherited. In Jesus’ day, you didn’t ordinarily acquire wealth and power at a young age unless you inherited it. And so his question to Jesus makes sense: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He has everything you could want in this life – but there is an emptiness, a nagging lack, something he doesn’t have. It’s something money can’t buy and power can’t grab. It’s something elusive in this life, something that everyone sooner or later must come to grips with. Mortality. Death. The fact that you can’t take it with you - as well as the question, “Is this all there is?” And that’s what brought this rich, young ruler to his knees before Jesus.

Now this guy’s at least sincere. Not like the Pharisees who constantly test Jesus with their endless hypotheticals or the synagogue lawyers who were looking for ways to trap Jesus in His words. This rich young ruler wants to know, he needs to know, how the inheritance of eternal life comes. He’s not sure that he has it. Power and riches he’s quite sure of, but eternal life? It eludes him.  So how does he get in on that?

He has a notion. Do good. Do good and you will have eternal life. It’s there in the way he approaches Jesus. “Good teacher,” he says, not trying to flatter Jesus but recognizing that Jesus is one who does good. Yet Jesus throw the honor back. “No one is good save God alone.” There is no man who does unadulterated good. No one. Man is sinful, born corrupted by Sin, a condition he cannot shake and that makes every good sinful. Only God is good in himself. So you see, to call Jesus “good,” you must first call Him God.

But he wants to do good, and so he consults the “good Teacher.” What must I do to inherit eternal life? Now let’s parse the question. How do you inherit anything? Do you do something? Well, sometimes you do. You butter up that rich uncle or wealthy aunt. You work to get in their good graces so that when they die your name is in the will. But how does one actually inherit?

Some one dies and leaves you the goods. You may deserve it or not. It’s strictly the will of the one who dies. That’s likely how this young man became rich and powerful at such a young age. Someone likely died, presumably his father, and left him a fortune and a kingdom.

What must I do? Questions shape answers. Ask a Law question from Jesus, and you will get a Law answer from Jesus. You can’t make a Gospel out of Law. And so Jesus tells this rich young man precisely what he must do and gives him a quick tour of the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, don’t defraud, honor your father and mother. There is plenty to do in those.

Now did his answer really surprise you? “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Clearly, he hasn’t studied Luther’s Small Catechism. And he seems not to have heard Jesus’ sermon on the mount. If he’d had, he would know that we are guilty of all these things, even if we don’t act them out.

We might excuse this rich, young man. He was, after all, young. He hadn’t yet pondered the depths of his own sinfulness. He still thought in the ways of a child. Be good and you get a reward, be bad and you get punished. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work with God too? “All these I’ve kept since my youth.”

Jesus doesn’t argue the point. In fact, He looks on him and Mark tells us that “he loved him.” That’s important to note because what Jesus says to him, He says in love. “You lack one thing: Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” Jesus goes straight to the heart of this rich, young man whom he loves. He sees His heart the way only the Lord can see the heart, and He sees a heart consumed with wealth, held captive by the idolatry of greed. He may have kept all the commandments outwardly, and may have been what society calls a very good man, but his heart betrayed him.

As we confess in the words of the Catechism, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Luther saw this so clearly - all commandments begin in the heart. All sin is at its heart idolatry. And idolatry is diagnosed by what we fear the most, love the most, trust the most. Riches, power, beauty, health. When we have them, we’re at the top of the world. Things couldn’t be better. And when they’re taken away, it’s as though we’ve lost our god. And in a deep and profound way we have.

Anxiety is a good measure. Dr. Kenneth Korby, a former prof of mine, once wrote that anxiety is the liturgy we offer to our idols when they fail to deliver. We fear the loss of youth, we love our riches, we trust our power to control not only our lives but the lives of others too. But when those fail, we become anxious. It’s no secret that anxiety is on the rise today, maybe even in all of us, because as everything around us crumbles we also see that our false gods are failing us and they are consuming us.

 Now Jesus loved this young man. He wanted to give him the one thing he lacked. What he lacked was not poverty or humility. What he lacked was Jesus. What got in the way was his wealth and his power. And so Jesus says to him, give it all away. True treasure is in heaven. Divest yourself of your riches. Give the money to the poor who need it more than you do. And here’s the word that brings eternal life: “Come, follow me.”

Those are the disciple-making words. Follow me. Those words are the answer to the young man’s question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Follow me. Follow me through death and resurrection, trust in Me and what I am doing for you, join me in my death and I will give you eternal life.

The young man missed it, he missed the answer he was looking for. Follow me. Not that he didn’t hear it, but somehow all he heard was sell your stuff, give to the poor. He didn’t hear the rest. His possessions, which were great, clogged his hearing. And there’s the great danger, and that why it’s easier to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle than to squeeze a rich man and his riches into the kingdom of God.

And so this young man went away sad and sorrowful. We don’t know what happened to him. Did he go home and do it? Did he look at all his stuff and say, “Screw it, this isn’t worth it?” Did he eventually come and follow Jesus? Did he die in despair with all his stuff? We don’t know.

I’m actually glad we don’t know because it makes us take stock in the same way. You can’t serve God and money. Only one can be your Lord, and Money makes a lousy god.

Of course, following our text here, and as this account continues, this bothered Jesus’ disciples. They were utterly amazed at what they’d just seen and heard. So they asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” I mean, if this is what it takes to inherit eternal life, who can be saved? And Jesus says, “With man this is impossible.” As impossible as a young rich ruler divesting himself of his wealth to run after a carpenter rabbi from Nazareth. As impossible as trying to get a camel through the eye of a needle. And even more so, as impossible as a sinner being justified before God by his own commandment keeping.

My God, how I long for every young college age person to come to this knowledge about all others, and I pray the same for you. Because the opposite of anxiety is the liturgy of contentment, that sure and certain peace and hope that comes from understanding the proper order of things, and the relationship of the here and now to the transcendent and eternal.

For man it is impossible to attain eternal salvation, and nothing you can acquire during college or beyond will change that. But with God all things are possible, and eternal life is yours, not because of what you do, but because of what He has done for you in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is God in the flesh. He really is the Good Teacher because He is God who is Good. Jesus was rich but for our sakes became poor. He gave up all that He had as the Son of the Father. He divested Himself of His honor, His glory, His power and He became a servant who suffered and in humility became obedient to His own Law and died in poverty on a cross so that by His poverty and death you might “follow Him” and become rich as an heir of eternal life.

Dear loves ones, you can’t “do” an inheritance. An heir is what is done for you. An heir is what you are in Baptism. So to answer the rich young ruler’s question, “How does one inherit eternal life?” By becoming a child of God and being joined to Jesus in baptismal faith and dying and rising with Him. That’s how you inherit eternal life. And if anything gets in the way of that, get rid of it. It isn’t worth it. Not compared to the treasures in heaven. Just ask that rich, young ruler.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.