The Eye of the Needle

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

October 15, 2006

Mark 10:17-31

There is a saying that our soul looks out at God through our eyes, and God sees into our souls through our eyes. We may have experienced someone looking into our eyes and seeing us “real” in a way that others have not. This is such a story.

THE RICH MAN

The rich man looks for and finds Jesus. As a sign of great respect or reverence, the man runs up, interrupts Jesus, kneels and asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

If we were standing by, as the disciples were, we would see by his clothes that he is a rarity: one of the 1-2% wealthy, urban elite. We can also hear by his speech that he is educated---- again, extremely rare: most people were illiterate. We would be surprised that this cultured, affluent man would be asking something of an itinerant rabbi of no apparent sophistication.  They might also have assumed that, with his privileged status, the rich man would not need much of anything, especially along the lines of religious advice. The religiously rich had the time and the means to do all that was spiritually required of them. The disciples would look at the rich man and they would see him for what and who he was: someone who had it all—wealth, education, respect, power.

So THE QUESTION the rich man asks Jesus must have surprised them even more! (Being a follower of Jesus was to be in a rather continuous state of surprise.) Why would this kind of man be asking this kind of teacher this kind of question? They would look to see what happens next.

Jesus first sets him right about throwing around the word “good.” Jesus knows that his heavenly Father is the only one worthy to called good, if you even used any word to describe the Most High. (Was the rich man trying to flatter Jesus in order to trap him? Others had done so.) But Jesus does a quick review of some of the commandments, enumerating those which speak to relationships with other people. The rich man replies. (Notice that he has dropped the word “good”): “Teacher, I have kept these from my youth up.”

The disciples are listening intently by now. Just what they expected: a righteous man, and one more than a little proud of his accomplishments. They are watching and listening now, for they may expect Jesus to lower the hammer on this fellow. Were they also wondering how this rich man would fit in with their low class little circle of friends? Didn’t Jesus know that people in this man’s economic class were not friends of his teaching; that it was the religious elite which had it in for him?

To their astonishment, they see Jesus looking intently at the rich man, in a way, perhaps, that he looked at them when he called them to follow.
The look was one of love. “Jesus, looking at him intently, loved him.” We do not know what Jesus saw in him. But he looked into the man’s eyes and he saw into his soul. And he loved the man. He saw into the man, deeper than his appearance and accent, deeper than his religiosity. Jesus loved him, not because he was rich, not because he was powerful, not because he was religious. Perhaps he saw in the rich man that which the rich man did not even know about himself----his depth, his need, his potential as a disciple, his heart? We can only surmise.

JESUS’ RESPONSE

Jesus’ next words most assuredly did shock everyone who was listening:

“You lack one thing. Go, sell, give, come, follow.”

The Scriptures say that the man’s face fell. Like, to the floor. I can picture his eyes getting big and his mouth wide open---as if to say, “Are you kidding me?” This was not the way he had learned the rules of the game.

C.S. Lewis wrote that, in approaching a literary work, there are two ways to go: you can simply receive the work or you can decide you are going to use the work. Similarly, the rich ruler was using religion to gain what he wanted; but he was being asked to receive the kingdom as a gift and a way of life.

The rich man walks off, sorrowful, “grieving,” as if he had just lost something, someone priceless. (Note: it does not say that he walked away angry or insulted or horrified. Maybe he thought it over and came back. We do not know.)

 He walks away grieving, perhaps because he really wanted to follow Jesus, the one he revered and wanted to learn from; the one who had the answers to his profound questions about life and death, faith and hope. To grieve is to miss someone or something. The rich man was already missing the one whose invitation he had rejected.

It is the only time in the gospels when anyone declines Jesus’ invitation to follow him.

But note: Jesus does not run after him, maybe offering further explanation, as I might have done: “Wait, fellow; I was only speaking metaphorically; how about giving away 50% instead of 100%? Bring that remaining 50% with you; we’ll find good use for it as we travel!” (“All to Jesus, I surrender, all to him I freely give.” Or “50% to Jesus I surrender, all to thee I freely give, I surrender 50 %..)

THE DISCIPLES’ RESPONSE

Well, the disciples’ eyes were probably wide open by this time. Perplexed. Astounded. They could not believe their eyes and ears. So Jesus turns toward them, looks around at them. Picture Jesus, as he watches the rich man walk away, turning sharply and walking over to the disciples and looking at them intently---as Jesus had looked at the rich man: “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Then, “Children [remember last week’s text about Jesus and the children?] how hard it is [for anyone] 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.” (Picture that camel with one or two humps trying to squeeze through!)

If we aren’t astonished with the disciples, then we are not listening carefully. They believed that wealth was a sign of God’s blessings; if they can’t enter God’s kingdom, who else would have any chance? It must be impossible?!

Exactly. They had stumbled into the gospel truth. “For mortals, it is impossible, but not for God; for all things are possible with God.”

JESUS LOVES THE DISCIPLES, TOO

Jesus must have loved his disciples, too. Peter (bless his heart) asks on behalf of his friends, “What about us; we have left everything to follow you?” True, Jesus says, and that which you have given up, you will have again, multiplied 100 times-----along with persecutions (whoops, a catch)---and in the age to come eternal life.

 I am really not sure what this means. Is this a transaction: give it up now to get so much more later? Quite a transaction?!

But I do remember that Jesus talks in another place of a different definition of family: Jesus’ brother, sisters and relatives are those who do the will of God. And I know of many people, having followed Jesus, are blessed with the joy of what they experience in his presence and in his service, and they can be at home anywhere, in whatever their circumstances may be.

US?

Through the centuries, faithful people  have heard this story and responded to it. Many--- notably in our memories, Mother Teresa and St. Francis-- have felt Jesus’ eyes looking deep within their hearts, and they have, quite literally, gone, sold, given to the poor and followed. Persons every day make this same decision. (In the toughest times of church history, when Christianity was being absorbed into the cultures surrounding them, some formed themselves into monastic communities in order to preserve the radical brand of faithful discipleship.)

I remember hearing about Harry Denman, a layman who worked for the national Board of Evangelism. He traveled around the country doing revivals and stirring things up. Once, when he came to Midland, Texas for services, he failed to show up on time. The pastor went to the bus station to find him. He did find him---cming out of a tavern nearby. Oh, my! What were they going to do? Come to find out, he had followed a fellow in there and was witnessing to as many as would listen about the good news of Jesus Christ.

Denman also said that any minister who had more than 2 suits was a hustler. (I can still remember when I bought my third suit!)

Others, like our founder John Wesley, lifted up an almost equally demanding application of this story: Earn all you can, save all you can, so that you can give all you can. (I have seen people emphasize the first two more than the third. It would be good to take a look at the qualifications he put on the first two of these admonitions sometime.) Wesley learned that he could live on very little; he required the early Methodists to do the same. Why? So that they would have more to give in ministry to the poor. As Wesley made more money, he still lived on the modest sum that he had originally, put a little away for security, and gave away the rest. Early Methodism was a kind of semi-monastic attempt to recover the spirit of the story at least, the radical invitation to costly discipleship.

What is God saying to us, now, through this story? How do we re-capture the surprise of the story and the call to radical discipleship?

 This much is surely true for us:

It is yet possible that Jesus is inviting people to give it all away and follow. Obviously, Jesus did not ask everyone who came to him to do this. Jesus was guest in many people’s homes for meals, presumably made possible by the labors of others---the labors of those who did not give everything away and go on the road with Jesus. We may have responsibilities which would make such decisions irresponsible on the face of it. But who am I to say that some are not called to this kind of radical departure from conventional life? Some may have gifts best expressed and lived out in just this way.

Some make radical changes in their life styles, for a season, or for the rest of their lives, in order to serve God.

Surely we can feel the “ouch” of Jesus’ words about wealth. There may be other things which can come between us and our Lord; but, for most of us, wealth is pretty near the top of the list.   As with the rich ruler who came to Jesus, we can be possessed by our possessions. It can be our god, that which shapes all our decisions. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” We know the power of money. Our possessions can blind us to the pearl of great price, the active, powerful, gracious and justice-seeking strong presence of God in our midst; and the joys of a life lived to God’s greater glory and for the advancement of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Even in the midst of sacrifice and persecutions. One man has called such a dramatic turn “the expulsive power of a new affection.”

We may be blinded by our wealth to the priceless value and satisfaction of friendships formed in the fellowship and ministries of the church. We may not be able to see the value of eternal life because we are so focused on embellishing this mortal life. Along with the rich ruler, we may see Jesus’ invitation as only grim renunciation, a “hair shirt” discipleship, instead of the “joyful obedience” that it can be.

I read about someone who said that she would be satisfied to land somewhere between Imedla Marcos and Mother Teresa.

Money abounds; but grace abounds more. We may be able to be wealthy and faithful disciples, but we should let our guard down. Jesus says that this is HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE. Only by receiving the kingdom as a child and then giving our lives over to the radical love of God and neighbor can we gain freedom from our possessions, so that we can use them for the poor, for God’s purposes. Otherwise, we will be grieving the life we have lost.

SUM

Remember the children who came to Jesus, and he welcomed them and blessed them? To “have eternal life” or to “enter the kingdom” is as easy as receiving the love that God gives, as simply as children received Jesus’ blessing. And eternal life “commences when it pleases the Father to reveal his Son in our hearts.” (Wesley)

Paradoxically, entering the kingdom and inheriting eternal life demands our all, our daily, obedient discipleship, not letting anything else come between.

 When you read the story and take time to listen, what is God saying to you about your life?

What does Jesus see when he looks into your eyes?
When you come seeking the Lord, and are asking the deepest questions about life and death, God in Jesus will see your sincerity and his heart will go out to you.

What does he say to you about your discipleship?  What will you say? What will you do?