OH NO!!!! Stewardship season is totally in full bloom when the pastor gives the Stewardship Sermons! Some ask if it is appropriate for the minister to speak about money from the pulpit…. but we all know that Jesus did. In fact Jesus talked about money more than anything else including loving God and neighbor.
Several years ago, I started off each of my stewardship sermons with a good or not so good stewardship joke and I have a few more to share with you this year.
So… Stewardship Joke #1
Two people were marooned on an island. One person paced back and forth worried and scared while the other sat back and was sun bathing. They first person said to the other person, ‘Aren’t you afraid that we are going to die?’ To which the second responded, ‘I make $10,000 a week and tithe faithfully to my church every week. It is stewardship month at my church and I know they will find me.
Well….. Its stewardship month here at Riviera too!
This morning’s lectionary text still finds us in the Gospel of Mark. In just the next chapter of this Gospel, Jesus will ride triumphantly into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday so what happens here in this text and what Jesus is reported to have said and taught, carry great weight. He is, in a sense running out of time to get God’s message across to the community. It is what we refer to in counseling as the doorknob therapy part of the Gospel.
Listen now for God’s message found in the Gospel of mark chapter 10:17-31.
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[a] 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[b] 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,[c] “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,[d] 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.” The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Oh yes…. It’s that old story of the camel and the needle again…. It really does come up every three years during the season of the year which most churches have their stewardship campaigns…. Just a coincidence??? What do you think? Personally, I really doubt it.
Does this passage make you uncomfortable? I believe it was meant to do just that. It is one of those hard lessons Jesus tells his followers and it was meant to make them examine their lives and priorities. A person approaches Jesus and asks what it takes to inherit eternal life…. In other words, what is the gold standard for making it in God’s eyes? And Jesus tells the seeker that even he does not consider himself good… as only God is all good. Then Jesus asks the person if they follows God’s commandments and the person says yes, they do and have since they were young. I believe there is truth and pride in the person’s answer.
And then Jesus says that he loves this person. Although Jesus loved them he then says that to follow him, you must give away all your possessions to the poor. The person was shocked and went away saddened as they owned many possessions.
And I want to stop here for a moment and talk about what happened. We actually don’t know if the person did then give everything away and follow Jesus but that isn’t the message… the message here is that somehow our possessions get in the way of what it takes for us to be what God wants us to be. And we love our possessions. We really do! At least I know I do. But the message here is that those things we feel we own might become our gods (with a small g) and objects of worship and adoration. Could it be that by loving them, we are in fact worshipping them and putting them in the place that we should place God? We need to ask ourselves, ‘Do our possessions own us or do we own them’. Truly, you cannot give away something that owns you, you can only give away the things that you own. The rich person was grieved, because giving up possessions felt impossible. Jesus had asked to reprioritize what they worshipped and adored.
Then Jesus said his famous line about it being harder for a rich person to get into heaven than it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. Several years ago when I preached on this passage I said that it used to be interpreted that it was hard to get into heaven. There was this story about this ancient gate that was so small it was referred to as the ‘eye of the needle’ and it was very, very hard, but not impossible, for camels to get through it. And, well, that is a nice story, but not true. It does make those of us with money living in a world where we are the few ‘haves’ and the fewer ‘have mores’ feel better. It allows us to think that although it might be hard, if we are really good, we don’t have to give up our stuff and we still can go to heaven. But….Jesus really is saying here that a camel can’t go through the eye of a needle and it is impossible for a rich person to get into heaven. Oh Darn! I really, really did not want him to say that!
But, this was an important message for Jesus to say. In Jesus’ day, just like ours, there was a theology of prosperity. (Really… Joel Osteen did not invent that happy clappy feel good religion… that has been around for a long time) In ancient Israel it was felt that God rewarded the good people with wealth and power and therefore if you were rich, it was thought you must be a really good person and one of God’s chosen ones. The rich land owners and the powerful leaders were seen as above the rest of the society and better in God’s eyes. Sounds a little like our society of the rich, the beautiful, and the famous today.
But Jesus says this just isn’t so. And the people ask, then who is it that can be saved? And Jesus says that none of us can be saved on our own merits. But through God, through grace, all things are possible. Poverty is not a divine judgment, punishment, or crime. Wealth is the problem. Without the power and grace of God, wealth could block the path to the kingdom or the realm of heaven.
At Columbia University in New York City where I received a Master of Science in Social Work we studied Freudian Psychology and Personality Development. Freud believed as are all born with as an ‘id’. The id is selfish and narcissistic and is only concerned with its own immediate needs… being fed and being comfortable and having personal needs met. There is no concern at all for the other. Somewhere, hopefully, the ego part of our personality develops where we can delay our gratification. And the outside world is taken in to account along with our personal needs and wants. But we do not develop selfless and charitable traits in our personality until our super-ego develops later and for some…. well, that developmental state never is reached. And for others, they are locked permanently in the first stage of needing immediate gratification and total control. If you buy this Freudian theory, our sinful nature that needs God to get into heaven is understandable. Only God is sinless. The rest of us are wrestling with personalities that make it impossible.
Peter then speaks up. He must be feeling pretty happy as he left his family and all his possessions to follow Jesus, so now he must have earned his ‘go to eternal life’ ticket like the ‘get out of jail ticket we covet in the Monopoly Game. And Jesus agrees with Peter to a certain extent but ends the lesson with a real zinger of a statement. Jesus says, ‘many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. You see…In the end, even Peter needs God’s love and grace to go to heaven. And this is the lesson for us… for the good church people who think we have it all together. You see, we feel our priorities are in their right place, we give a portion of our earnings to the church, and we volunteer to help those who are hungry, oppressed, and homeless. We try to live without prejudice and accept all as God’s children, our siblings and equally worthy in God’s eyes….. Following Jesus means seeing others, really seeing them when they are suffering often as a result of the privileges we take for granted. Following Jesus calls us to see others and ourselves as members of one body, hurting when any part of us hurts and rejoicing with whatever parts rejoices.
To follow Jesus is to realize that we are no more special than anyone else in God’s eyes. Just like the person who donates to the hospital or other charities and then expects special treatment and screams to see doctors immediately because of their donations, we cannot make special requests of God. All are equally loved in God’s eyes. Yes, being a follower of Jesus makes us live a certain way. It makes us see all the possessions we call ours as really God’s and being a follower of Jesus asks us to share them with others. But the good news is that God is available equally to the person who shares their wealth AND the person who benefits from the sharing. All are loved and equally God’s beloved child.
Amen.