(Homily for Gayton Road Christian Church's Sunday Worship on Oct 11, 2015)
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Preface
Today’s scripture is like a ferocious lion that, over time, the church has domesticated into a tame house cat.[1] In what follows, I hope to release today’s story back into the wild where it can challenge us anew. If my reflection fails to reveal the sharp teeth and claws of this story…then I would strongly encourage you to read it again for yourself. And as you read it, try not to soften its message. Try not to rationalize the demands of Jesus. Try not to put a leash on the story. Rather, let it lead you….
On the Threshold
The young man was happy. He was the son of a wealthy merchant. He enjoyed the comforts of a safe and secure life. He was socially respected. He had friends. One day, a friend told him about a troupe of nomads traveling through the city. They were famous for their music and their large, ornate tents and their magic. The young man went to see them. He watched their shows, listened to their music, marveled at their magic. He had fun. That much he had expected. What he didn’t expect was that he would fall in love with one of the travelers. And like that, his world was turned upside down. He began to doubt his previous happiness. Suddenly the old comforts of his life seemed stale.
What a strange place to be. The young man unexpectedly found himself on the threshold of a great joy, and yet he was more deeply unsettled than ever. Because for the first time in his life, he was faced with a real decision. The troupe would be leaving soon, and so would his beloved. No matter how hard he tried, he could not convince her to stay in the city. She said life moved on and so would she.
The folk tale continues, but I'd like to stop here. Because I think that, in a peculiar way, this young man who is both more deeply happy and more deeply unsettled than he ever has been, is in the same place as the man whom we read about in today’s scripture.
The man who approaches Jesus is portrayed as a respectable, responsible, religious man. You could just as easily imagine an enthusiastic churchgoing professional here in the West End, someone who does things the right way, who doesn’t cut corners, who isn’t yet jaded by the cold calculation that runs much of the business world. He’s good and earnest. And he’s read enough of the Bible and seen enough spiritual transformation in the lives of others to know that there’s something in all the God talk that he hears. And this makes him more deeply happy than he could explain—to know that there is a Spirit drawing life out of what sometimes seems a cold and lifeless world. Yet it also makes him deeply unsettled. Because it means that there is more to life than simply doing nothing wrong and enjoying the comforts of a respectable living.
The man who approaches Jesus is like the son of the wealthy merchant. He must decide either to be faithful to the disturbance in his heart or to remain in the reasonable happiness of the present. He must decide either to expose himself to risk, to the possibility of change, or to remain in the controlled comfort of his current existence.
A “Holy” Lack
Have you ever heard of the idea that people don’t know what they’re missing until they meet it? This is commonly expressed in terms of relationships: psychologist Adam Phillips says, “[I]t is only when you meet [the person of your dreams] that you will start missing them.”[2] This gets at what the son of the wealthy merchant was feeling. Only once he fell in love did he become unsettled.
I think the man who approaches Jesus must know this feeling too. He’s caught a glimpse of God in the synagogue and in the lives of others. And now he knows what he’s been missing. This is precisely why he approaches Jesus. His heart has already been unsettled. He desires to know God more fully. He desires to hear more clearly the whisper in his heart, a whisper that runs deeper than all the rules and principles and doctrines he’s learned and followed. He knows there is more to life than what he has learned and done. Why else would he come to Jesus with his question?
And so when Jesus says, “You lack one thing,” I imagine that he’s nodding his head vigorously—yes, exactly! He already feels that something’s missing. He feels a lack. A “holy” lack, we might say. Because it’s a lack that leads him to Jesus. It’s not a lack that limits life but rather leads to life. It’s not a lack to be filled but to be followed.
“Follow me”
Which is exactly what Jesus tells the man. “Come, follow me” (10:21). Of course, following Jesus would require the man to leave behind all that’s he acquired. Jesus makes this explicit. And always keeping one eye out for the needy, Jesus tells the man to pass along any proceeds to the poor (10:21). And this is where the story takes its tragic turn. Despite having heard the call of God, despite having sensed the movement of the Spirit in his heart, the man ultimately cannot part with the security of his wealth. On the verge of life, the man ultimately shuffles back into the safety of what he knows.
It is no surprise that commentators have been trying to soften this passage for years. How difficult it is for people like us to hear, us who enjoy more comfort and security than much of the world could ever hope for.
The Impossible: Good and Difficult News
And how easy it is for us to join the disciples in their astonishment, to ask with them, “Then who can be saved?”
Listen to Jesus’ answer: “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” This news is as good as it is difficult. For us who cling so tightly to what we have and are afraid of losing it, we interpret this as a get-out-of-jail-free card. We take it to mean that even if we hold onto our wealth, even we keep living the exact same life that we’re living, God will wave a magic wand over us and we will be saved. But that misses the point that life happens in the here and now, salvation happens in the here and now. The impossible that God will do is not to save us despite ourselves but to save us by transforming us and renewing our world.
According to the world, “something’s missing” is a negative statement. It means a problem needs solving, an emptiness needs filling. But in the kingdom of God, “something’s missing” is a good thing. It means the Spirit is astir in our hearts. What’s missing is not the final piece to a puzzle but the next piece to the story. What’s missing is not a thing that will complete us but the next step of a relationship that will transform us. The feeling that something’s missing is a sign that God wants to do the impossible. It’s a notice that God is on the move. Which is good news, but difficult news too, because it means that we will be faced with a real decision. We will find ourselves on the cusp of deep happiness, of abundant life, but we will also be deeply unsettled, because it will require change.
Several years ago, Shawnee Community Christian Church in Kansas confronted the reality that they were devoting themselves—their money and their time and their energy—more and more to the upkeep of a building that was aging fast and less and less to the mission of God. Listen to their decision: “After a season of prayer and discernment we determined that ‘church’ was, above all things, supposed to be a people living the mission of love and mercy of Jesus- not a building or a piece of property. We chose to sell our property, relocate to a more sustainable rented space, invest more of ourselves in real mission, and start over as a new church, doing ministry in new ways…. We are alive [today] because [we] laid down…personal preferences and comforts in hope of greater things.”[3]
Shawnee Community felt that something was missing. The Spirit of God rustled within their hearts, and they followed the holy lack that would ultimately transform them. They sought the life God was calling them to, and in their case, God was calling them to leave behind a cherished place they had built and met in for over 30 years. God was calling them to step forward in the faith that Christ was doing something new.
Yesterday as we cleaned and spruced up around the church, perhaps more than ever, my eyes were opened to how beautiful this place is. And how much more beautiful, even, when God’s love and redemption are seen here, in the fellowship and support that happens in these buildings or in the play and imagination that runs outside. So in case you’re wondering, I’m not suggesting we sell our property like the good folks of Shawnee. But I would want to invite us to listen closely to the Spirit of God. Who knows where that would lead?
Jesus says to us the same thing he said to the rich man, the same thing he said to Shawnee Community: “You lack one thing…. Come, follow me.” Where is the holy lack in your heart leading you? Where is it leading us?
Prayer
O God whom we always lack, lead us—through the eye of a needle, through whatever impossible passage You have in mind. Where our hearts stubbornly cling to the desire for things of comfort and security, disturb us and make us aware of a deeper desire. Grant us a vision of Your kingdom, where love reaches the last and the littlest, the outcast and the stranger. Lead us to do the goodness You so desire. Amen.
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[1] See, e.g., the unfounded idea (told as early as the 9th century) that “the eye of the needle” refers to one of the gates to Jerusalem. Thus Jesus’ point of comparison—leading a camel through the eye of the needle—would not be an absurd impossibility but a qualifiable reality. In other words, Jesus would be saying that it is difficult but nonetheless possible for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
[2] https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/10/05/adam-phillips-missing-out-frustration-love/. Accessed Oct 8, 2015.
[3] http://shawneecommunity.org/about-us/who-we-are. Accessed on Oct 8, 2015.
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