Sermon for Sunday,  September 18, 2005  

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR YOU PART 1
10th in a series on Following Jesus Through the Gospel of Mark

by

Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz

Scripture – Mark 10:1-45

¹ He left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them. ² Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" ³ He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" ⁴ They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." ⁵ But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, "God made them male and female.' ⁷ "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." ¹⁰ Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹ He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹² and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."  ¹³ People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." ¹⁶ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.  ¹⁷ As he 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?" ¹⁸ Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹ 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.'" ²⁰ He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." ²¹ 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." ²² When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. ²³ 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!" ²⁴ 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! ²⁵ 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." ²⁶ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." ²⁹ 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, ³⁰ 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. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." ³² They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; ³⁴ they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again." ³⁵ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." ³⁶ And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" ³⁷ And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." ³⁸ But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" ³⁹ They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." ⁴¹ When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴² So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³ But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

It has been about a year ago now that we received a very sad phone call on a Sunday morning in our office-one of the saddest phone calls I can remember. Worship services were going on and a woman called to find out the times of the services because she wanted to come and try our church. But at the end of the conversation, she asked the volunteer receptionist if she would be welcomed in our church even though she is divorced. The receptionist said that of course she was welcome. She probably said some other things as well. What would you have said if you had taken that phone call or if you have a friend who wanted to give our church a try?? Would you say something about our rubric about open hearts and open minds and open doors is something we really try to practice?

I don’t know if the woman has ever come to church here-I hope she has, but I was just so saddened that she even had to ask that question. I believe that anyone and everyone is welcome and that God never turns us away (Jesus did not, as we have been reading about him) and that if we want a relationship with God, God has wanted that before we ever thought about it.

The story in Mark 10, however can cause us to think about divorce and about whether anything we do can cut us off from God. Let’s look at the setting. Jesus is going now from the Galilee area south toward Jerusalem where he will be killed for treason. He is on the way. While he is traveling, he is confronted by the legalists of his time, the Pharisees. They ask him a question that is not just an innocent question. These are the folks Jesus has offended by healing people on the Sabbath, by speaking for God in forgiving people, by eating with outcasts and misfits.

What they are trying to do with this question is the same thing they do a little later when he is in Jerusalem during holy week, they try to trap him with trick questions. In this question they want to find out how orthodox Jesus is. What do you think? By their standards, JESUS IS UNORTHODOX!!

Next month we will have a chance to hear one of the most respected progressive priests in all of the Roman Catholic Church, Father Richard McBrien who teaches at Notre Dame. He has been critical of the right wing orthodoxy in his tradition. There was a New Yorker Magazine article five months ago that quoted Father McBrien extensively. He would be considered “unorthodox” by some people though I believe he is truly very orthodox by historical standards.

Jesus was unorthodox. He was not conventionally religious. That is what led him into conflicts with people who were conventionally religious. We heard some people say to us in our New Member session last Sunday afternoon that they have had difficulty with organized religion from time to time. Have you? I have too. What is more important is that Jesus had his most bitter conflicts with people representing organized religion!!

That is such a key insight. And what Jesus tells us about divorce is not what you think it is. He is going back beyond the teachings of Moses to say what God intended at first is for people to live in a committed covenant relationship with each other. In the other gospels he talks about instances when divorce is permissible. In this chapter he is doing something very powerful: he is defending the rights of women!

In ancient times in Judaism, it was only the man who had any power to end the marriage. The exception was in the Roman culture, the woman could do that also, and that is why the last portion of this passage mentions women initiating divorce. But to the Jewish audience Jesus is speaking to, all a man had to do if he was displeased about anything his wife did or just wanted to find a younger woman, was to say three times before a witness that he was divorcing his wife and it would happen. Jesus, in his affirmation of the covenant of marriage, is taking away that casual attitude toward marriage and divorce and countering the idea that a woman was just property to be discarded on a whim.

He says that God’s intent for marriage is that it will last. We also know that Jesus is compassion personified and that God always wants a close relationship with each of us even when we have failed to live up to God’s intent for our lives. Has anyone here ever failed to live up to God’s intent for our lives? Of course we have, and that is why someone said that the church is not a museum for saints, it is a hospital for sinners and that we are here together so we can experience grace and encouragement and forgiveness and learn from Christ and learn from the times we have failed so we won’t make those same mistakes. We will just make some different mistakes but perhaps less of them.

Can I come to church there, the woman said, even if I am divorced? Can I come if I have a drinking problem or a drug problem, if I am a shopaholic, if I have a problem with materialism or greed or hatred or racism or insecurity or selfishness or hard heartedness-have I left anybody out yet? All are welcome, the hymn says, that we sang in our first ever worship service here in this building. All are welcome. You can come as you are but… if you try and stay that way it will be very difficult for you because the grace of Christ is going to be at work to change your heart. That is what we will look at with the case of a man who ran up to Jesus and was really trying to just stay the way he was.

Before we look at him, here is this famous story about people bringing children to Christ for him to touch them and bless them. So many people have misunderstood the language from the old King James translation of scripture: remember what that says? “Suffer the little children to come to me” That was the old English way of saying, “let the children come to me.” It was not about suffering! That was a way of saying; permit the children to come here.

Jesus says something else that we quote whenever we baptize a child: he says, if anyone does not receive the reign of God, this new relationship with God like a child will not get it. The kingdom of God, the gift of being in God’s community is a GIFT! It is something Christ is offering for us free. We need to receive it and embrace it as a child receives a gift.

You have been with children at birthday parties. How do they receive gifts? Joyfully! Enthusiastically! Unquestioning! Without reservation! Eagerly!

They tear the wrapping off and start to use the gift immediately. Maybe they even concentrate on it so much that they ignore the other gifts that are still waiting.

Jesus says, kids understand how to receive and how to receive something good and how to embrace it and enjoy it and treasure it.

Interestingly enough, Mark tells us next about a man who did not understand the gift Christ wanted to offer him and even refused it! As they set out again toward Jerusalem, a man came running to Jesus saying “Good teacher, what must I do to have eternal life, life at its best?”  He is not asking how to get to heaven, he is asking about how to have the best life now, the life God intends for you and me.

Jesus does several important things. He reminds us that God is bigger than Jesus. He says, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.” He subordinates himself to God.

Next, Jesus tells him that he is to obey all the commandments and then Jesus lists some of them: honor your father and mother; Don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie-and then Jesus does something unusual that I didn’t notice till last week: Jesus adds a commandment! Did you notice that? He adds to the list these words-do not defraud. Be honest, be forthright, do not deceive. Jesus is concerned about fraud and even seems to add this to the commandments!

You may have noticed that Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney are ending their four month marriage and the reason she gave in one paper I read was the reason of “fraud”. Being dishonest, deceptive, still has bad consequences in so many arenas.

Jesus tells the man that he will have a full and complete life if he follows God’s instructions in the ten commandments! How does the man respond? “I have been doing this since I was young.”

Jesus looks at him with love. This is important. Jesus has compassion and understanding for this man AND he also knows where his heart is; his heart is not yet into the question he asks. He wants to know Jesus’ answer but he does not really want to make the change the answer will require.

Jesus asks him to do something that Jesus never asks anyone else to do in all the four gospels. “Go and sell what you have and give the proceeds to the poor and then come follow me.”

The man goes away very sad-grieved, in fact, because he had a lot of things. He could not give up his things, his possessions, because that is where his heart really was invested-in his stuff, his Lexus, his vacation home, his brokerage account. Those had become his God: those gave meaning and security to his life. He is like us.

Jesus goes on to say something that just shocks the disciples out of their minds. “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to be part of my movement, my kingdom.” That was scandalous, because in Jesus’ time, those with wealth were seen to be favored by God, more blessed by God than anything else. That is just how the disciples would have seen this man, and they were astounded that Jesus would let him walk away!!

Why is it so difficult for anyone with means to follow Christ (this includes all of us here today compared to the rest of the world)? Because we tend to do what this man does, we tend to be controlled by our possessions instead of controlling them. We tend to worship and idolize our money instead of seeing it as a tool. The Bible does not say that money is evil. What does scripture say? “The love of money, the worship of money, is the root of all evil.” And so, Jesus has more to say about the seductive power of money and about greed and selfishness than he says about prayer because he knew that our wealth can and so often does come between us and God. We are to be detached enough from our stuff that we can use it as a tool and not worship it. Jesus wants to separate us from our money because he does not want anything-family, work, position and possessions-to come between us and God. This may be the number one temptation for American Christians, to be enough detached from our stuff so that we worship God and not what we have, so we worship God and not mammon.

Think with me for a second. We have had a chance to follow Christ for ten chapters now in the earliest Gospel. So you think there is any response that this wealthy man could have made that would have kept him from just walking away? Could he have said anything to Christ that might have made him able to join the group? I think good arguments can be made on several sides.

One more insight about this story: Jesus looked at the man with love, and he said, you only lack one thing. You only lack one thing. Put yourself in this man’s place. You are sincerely coming to Christ and wanting to know what to do now to make the next step in your faith. He looks back to you with love and compassion and he says your name and he says-You only lack one thing..”

What is it that he is telling you that you lack now? Think with me in silence for a moment about that.

Jesus and his friends turn toward Jerusalem again and Jesus is walking ahead of them and his friends are amazed and afraid. Why? Maybe because they are beginning to really grasp what they have gotten themselves into. Jesus is a revolutionary. He is turning upside down all of what they have cherished and believed all their lives!! He still does that to you and me!

He does it again when two of his closest disciples-we met them last week when we saw the three who went to the mountain top with Christ-James and John come to him with an idea as they travel to the city where Jesus will be executed. They say they have been thinking about all this and they want to know if when he becomes king, they can be his assistant king and secretary of state!!  Jesus says; you don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you drink the cup of suffering I am going to drink? When the other disciples hear about this they are really angry with James and John, and Jesus has to sit down with them again and talk about greatness as he did last week. The son of man came not to be served but to serve, and you have a lot to learn, he says, about being servants.

We looked at Rick Warren’s book last Tuesday morning in my class and saw again what he says about being a servant. "Our culture defines greatness by power, position, prestige and possessions. Jesus defines greatness by being a servant for God and others.” Warren has some other statements that I believe are off track but that one is right on track and tells us what it means to follow Christ. I invite you to join our group next Tuesday-pick up a book and read the first seven days worth and meet us at 7 AM Tuesday in the chapel.

You are here on this earth not to grab and grub for yourself. You are here to be a servant. I ask us again do think and pray about what it would mean this week for each of us to see ourselves as servant leaders.

  Sermon Library