Broadway Christian Church · Columbia, Missouri
Morning Worship · October 11, 2009
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Litany of Praise and Invocation
From Psalm 22
When we feel forsaken, forgotten, and alone
Like God is far away from us and we are far from God
We cry, we plead, we search
but often find no rest for our souls.
Our ancestors trusted in you, they trusted and were delivered.
But we find no relief, no pause, and no break.
Remember people of God:
It was the Holy One who plucked you from the womb,
gave you a name and a destiny,
and poured praise into your mouths
like honey into willing hearts.
Let us pray:
May all the ends of the earth remember and be glad,
future generations sing of your deliverance
and say that you have done these things. Amen.
New Testament Lesson
Mark 10:17-27
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?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 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.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 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.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
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!” 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! 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.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Message
Go and Be Healed
Jacob Thorne
This morning, I want to begin by sharing with you a story taken from the preacher Barbara Brown Taylor. It is a troubling story, but a true story.
There was a woman whose life was falling apart at the seams. She was talking with her friends. Her friends said, “You really ought to go to this monastery that is nearby and enter into a silent retreat.”
It was something she had never done before, but she decided to go ahead and give it a try. She went to the monastery. She checked in. She received her room assignment. She had her suitcase in hand. She walked to the elevator. The doors opened up. She pressed the button for the fourth floor. Right when the doors were ready to close, a nun joined her – a nun, who in the words of Barbara Brown Taylor, was a short, plump nun. The nun pressed the button for the third floor. The doors closed. The nun leaned over and said to the woman on the retreat, “What brings you here, my dear?”
Before she could help herself, she let it all out. She said, “My mother just died. I’m afraid that my father may be an alcoholic. My marriage is falling apart. Every day I feel like I am going crazy.”
Before she could say another word, the elevator went, “Ding.” The doors opened up. The nun headed out. But before she did, she stopped, and she bent back over. She gave the woman this strange, little smile, and she said, “God must love you very much.” Then she walked off.
Now, isn’t that strange? Why would you say to someone whose life is falling apart, when nothing seems right, “God must love you very much”?
I don’t know why she said that, but I think… And Barbara Brown Taylor thinks, as well, that it has something to do with what that woman was about to experience on retreat, because if she wanted to, she had the opportunity to experience the breadth, the depth, and the grace of God’s love. If she wanted to, she had the opportunity to open her heart and to experience God’s healing touch.
At first glance, our Scripture lesson for this morning, taken from the gospel of Mark, does not seem to be a text about healing, but if we pay attention, it opens some new surprises. We know the story. We’ve heard it before. Here comes that man again. Now he is running up to Jesus. He has the question about eternal life. We know what Jesus is going to say, even before the man approaches. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Even before Mark tells us, we know that the rich man is going to turn away grieving, because he just cannot stand the thought of giving up everything that he owns. If we’re honest, some of us will grieve, as well, because for many of us, his choice would also be our choice.
In working with youth, I have talked about this Scripture passage many times. I can remember several years ago, we were gathered at my house. The youth were sitting on the floor of the living room. We were trying to dive more deeply into the stories of the gospel. We came to this passage. We read the story. We listened to the man in the story ask Jesus what he must do. We listened to the response. “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
As we listened to these words, “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor…” we knew every single one of us sitting in that room had everything we needed plus much, much more. We knew that while we agreed with this thought in principle, there was no way we would agree with it in practice. The conversation led us to a sobering but honest moment.
When I first read this story, I think about how the practice of giving away all of my money and possessions might be lived out. I think back to my history lessons, and I remember the Mendicants that began to come about in the middle of the 13th century. The Mendicants were individuals, who, in an effort to follow the teachings of Jesus as closely as possible, lived by begging. They took a vow of poverty in order that they might spend all of their time preaching and working with the poor. Some of the more famous Mendicants are St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Dominic.
The idea of being a Mendicant is simple and straightforward. All of your attention and all of your time is focused on your relationship with God. There is nothing to prevent you from serving God and others. Unencumbered by material possessions, the Mendicants were always on the move, preaching the gospel in humility and poverty. Their home was our home. Their community was whatever community in which they were present. Their poverty prepared a space in their lives for the presence of God.
For a more modern story of what it might be like not to be encumbered by possessions, I am reminded of a man named Derrick. Derrick is really, if you ever meet him, a very interesting character. The other day, I came across his blog. He had a post called “Our Tiny House Experiment.” Derrick and his family, which consists of his wife, two small children, and two cats, wanted to see, for six years, how simply they could live. They live in Colorado, and they looked at all the different options. Then it became clear. They decided to move into a small, 120-square-foot trailer on the meadow of their friend’s pasture in the mountains of Colorado. Now, 120-square-feet really isn’t very big for a family with two kids and two cats. To give you some idea, I stepped it off. All you have to do is start with Larry and walk across to Tom, and then you have within this area the size of their home for six years. [Editor’s note: Jacob was demonstrating the space between two chairs where elders were sitting across the aisle from one another on the front row of the sanctuary and to where he was standing in front of the communion table – certainly not much space.] No running water, no hot water, no electricity, using only candles and headlamps. Living a life as simply as possible, Derrick said they all learned the lesson of extreme patience with one another.
As I read this story the first time, I thought, “Oh, this sounds so romantic. You’re with your family. You are in this trailer. You really embrace the idea of what it means to live together.” That lasted for about 30 seconds, because it is not romantic. It is hard to do. It is an idea that you agree with in principle but not so much in practice.
There is no doubt that we are called to live simply. We have all seen the bumper sticker: “Live simply so that others may simply live.” But there is more than just this. There is more than just this in the story today.
When you read the gospel of Mark, Jesus has three main characteristics. He is a preacher, a teacher, and a healer. This morning, I want to spend just a few minutes talking about this idea of healing. To us, the idea of healing, especially within the context of religion, may seem a little strange. But when you open up the Bible, when you turn to the gospel of Mark, story after story after story is told of Jesus healing others.
What would it be like if you walked with Jesus through the gospel of Mark? You would start at the very beginning as Jesus calls his disciples. Then they bring to him a man with an unclean spirit and ask Jesus to heal him. Right after this, they go to Simon’s house, and Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law. Then the disciples bring to him all who were sick, all who were possessed and needed to be healed, and he does it. Then he cleanses a leper. Then he heals a man who had been paralyzed. Then they bring to him a woman who has had uncontrolled bleeding, and he heals her. Then he visits a man who has been living in a graveyard, bound by chains, and Jesus heals him. Then, as he is walking through the crowd, there is a woman who reaches out to touch his garment, and he heals her. Then there is the man with the withered hand, the servants of the Roman soldiers, the man who had been an invalid sitting beside the pool for 38 years. The list goes on and on. There is Jesus’ friend Lazarus. Throughout, we have these stories of healing. Jesus is constantly surrounded by people who need to be healed. He reaches out and touches them.
Now, this power of healing is something that I overlooked in the ministry of Jesus. For years, I saw the miracles of healing as just that – miracles. But now I have started to see that the acts of Jesus’ healing others lead to some of the most profound teachings and insights of the Bible. When he heals the man who has been blind but now sees, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” The healing of Lazarus leads to another great teaching moment, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Then we get to today’s Scripture lesson. A man comes to Jesus, kneeling before him and asking, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” If you read this verse too quickly, you miss the most important part. “A man kneeled before Jesus.” The gospel writer Mark would have assumed that when you heard the word “kneel,” you would associate this story with all of the other healing stories. The scene is set for the man to both request and receive healing. The rich man runs up and kneels just as all of those others have done. To kneel was a sign that the person’s request was authentic and in need of immediate help. But here’s the kicker. The most surprising act in all of the healing stories, the man rejects the healing that has been offered to him. He cannot surrender.
“Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” Matthew and Luke leave that line out. But Mark, the one gospel writer who is stingy with his words, who never says more than he has to, is sure to include that line. Jesus loves this man so much that he offers him the gift of healing. “You lack one thing,” says Jesus. “Go, sell what you own, and give your money to the poor.”
In the gospel of Mark, the word “go” is used exclusively in the healing stories. What this man lacks is the fact that he does not lack. He is so taken by his possessions; he refuses the invitation to be healed.
For us, it may not be possessions. But it is still there. Perhaps we refuse to let go of our hurts, or anxieties, or fears, or whatever else it is that prevents us from being healed. So, what do we make out of all of this?
First, I think, some healing is up to us. In this morning’s story, the man is offered the invitation to be healed and chooses to not say, “Yes.”
I am reminded of that old, old hymn:
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
There comes a point in our life when we realize that we just cannot do it all. Sometimes, the greatest struggle of the spiritual life is to make the connection between your head and your heart. You know, in your mind, the teachings of the Bible. And your heart knows what you yearn for. But it is so tough to take the leap of faith to connect the two and to ask God to heal us.
Second, we are all in need of healing.
The other week, I was on my final Bethany Fellowship retreat. We spent Tuesday afternoon at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. As I mentioned to some of you the other day, Glide has been made famous by the film Pursuit of Happiness, starring Will Smith. It was a film in which Will Smith, portraying a young investment banker trying to make it, spends night after night with his son in a homeless shelter. Glide is probably one of the premier churches in the San Francisco Bay area, if not the nation. Each Sunday, there are thousands of people in attendance. The rich worship with the poor. There is no discrimination based on your income. Even though there are over 90 different programs, with 150 staff members, there are only two preachers on staff.
One of the pastors is Rev. Donald Guest. Rev. Guest was in the ministry for 30 years before he went to serve Glide. After he had been there for only a short time, he realized that part of the DNA of Glide was recovery groups. His first response was, “Well, I don’t need anything like that. I do not need to be in a recovery group. I am doing just fine. Thank you.”
But as part of being the new minister in town, he went to all the meetings and gatherings. He sat there. He listened to people tell their stories. He listened to the power of the stories. He recognized that he did need to be in a recovery group. He needed to be in recovery for his anger, for the feelings he had as being an African-American preacher in a mostly-white world.
As I listened to him tell his story, I thought, at first, how strange this talk of recovery was. But then I listened some more. I began to reflect on how even though very few people want to admit it, there is a need for recovery, because God desires us to be healed and to be made whole. But on the way to being healed, there is this process of self-examination. It is a process that involves the breaking open of our hearts, the letting go of our clinched hands, the willingness to say, “Yes, please heal me.” This process, this transformation is painful, but it is the way that leads to life.
I remember how just several months ago, when my daughter Anna Belle was first born, her hands were clinched so tightly. In order to open her hands, you had to take your hand and gently massage the fingers one by one, encouraging her hand to open up. But over time, she began to open her fist on her own. Now, let me tell you, she grabs everything in sight, including my glasses. It’s terrible! But you see… she is always seeking out that next great adventure.
In a sense, the story of the rich man kneeling before Jesus is also all about letting go and opening wide our hands and our hearts. We are called to let the Spirit of the Living God heal us completely, not to be like the rich man who fails to open his hand and surrender. Trust and obey.
Remember the woman who stood on the elevator next to the nun? When she shared her story, when she talked about her grief over her mother’s death, the fear for her alcoholic father, the desperation for her marriage; the nun immediately recognized this reaching out, the opening of her heart. As she pushed that button, we too, have the opportunity to push open the button and let our hearts become open, because the message is the same: “God must love you very much.”
Through Christ, we all say together… “Amen.”
Benediction
God’s Blessing,
until we meet again,
and kneel at Jesus’ feet,
may you seek God’s presence.
Amen.
