Mark 10:23-31
Possible!
Just last week, we heard the story of the rich young man, how he asked Jesus how to attain eternal life. He was so confident, saying he had even kept all the commandments from his youth. However, he knew he was still missing something. He knew there was one more thing that he had to do to attain to the great prize. But that was where it all fell apart for him. “Sell all that you have and give to the poor,” Jesus said. Then you will have treasure in heaven. Then you will have eternal life. But the task Jesus had given him proved too impossible for him, “for he had great possessions.” Instead of joyfully following Jesus, he walks away. And you know, it’s always at this point of the story that I think many people don’t know what to think. Many want to say, “Yeah! You go Jesus! Way to teach that rich arrogant man! Way to bring him down a few pegs!” But you see, here is where we go wrong. Maybe more so our case, we’ve been so well catechized to know this man was wrong… and what the right answer is, that Jesus alone saves, that we don’t stop and think about the outcome for this man’s soul. I can tell you now, Jesus wasn’t happy or joyful to see this rich man walk away. Rather, it was a very painful moment. For so I can tell you, especially as a pastor, it pains me to see anyone walk away from the faith. To see someone “give up” on God and think He’s not listening to them, isn’t capable of helping them, or just all around, doesn’t care. And maybe many of us have become so calloused to this reality that it doesn’t faze us anymore… and that would be the real shame of this story.
For so this week, as we hear the rest of the story, Jesus tells us a very real truth that so many people are dying to hear. That despite the appearances of this world, of pain and misery, of evil and suffering, God is still there doing the one thing that only he can do. As we learn,
WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
I.
Of all the many reasons for someone to walk away from the faith, I think it’s all summed up in this… Christians fall away from faith when they believe that something is impossible… for them and for God. And the reason we’ve come to believe this is because we don’t understand how God works… or better yet, how God blesses us. This was the position of both the rich young man… and the disciples. It was a common belief back then, and even still is today, that the rich are the only ones blessed by God. That God shows his favor only in material things. A nice big house, a fancy car, a big family, wonderful friends, a good paying job, and a healthy bank account. And the flip side of such a belief is that if you don’t have these things, then clearly, you’ve done something wrong for which God is punishing you. Yet, Jesus challenges such a notion when he says, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” (Mark 10:24-26)
You know, we all have someone we look at and think… “He’s so smart. She’s so talented. They’re so good that they can do anything.” Yet, when we see those people fail or stumble, we think even more to ourselves, “If they can’t do it, than I definitely can’t.” That person in our story was the rich young man. He was the one people would consider the upstanding role model, the one truly blessed by God. If he couldn’t do it, then who could? Where is there hope for the rest of us lowly people if someone like him failed? In essence, who else would God bless with eternal life, if not him? This is why Jesus’ words were so startling for the disciples and the crowd. For it’s even this way with the Christian faith. We look to those upstanding Christians, you know, the ones who seem to have life together, who attend church regularly and have everything figured out. But so too, we see even these people fall. Pastors, teachers, various leaders of the church who were once our role models. And we think, if they can’t do it, what hope is there for me?
II.
Yet, this is why it should be so painful for us to see anyone walk away from faith. It should hurt to see someone “give up” on God, when we know that God hasn’t given up on them! As we read, Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God,” Mark 10:27). All things are POSSIBLE! When faced with difficult circumstances, even impossible for us, we trust in the mighty works of God. We know that He’s more than capable of “working all things for our good.” Indeed, when mountains stand in our way, we know that God can move them. When oceans separate us, we know God can part them. When health or wealth fail us, we know God is more than able to provide for our needs of body and soul. For our God is the God who does the impossible. Even now, he has already done the most impossible thing for you… giving you eternal life. He sent Jesus to take your sins, to face off against the devil, to even taste death for you… That when Jesus died on the cross for us, God might show us that there are no limits to his might. On the third day, God would raise Jesus from the dead to proclaim his victory over the power of this world.
For if God is able to bless us in this way, how much more possible is it for him to bless us a hundredfold in this life? So now, we must understand how God blesses us. As Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life,” Mark 10:29-30. God’s blessings are NOT a big house or a full bank account. God never promises us immense earthly riches or a cushy life. But that doesn’t mean we’re not blessed. Instead, God has given us something far more valuable than anything else on this earth. He’s given us the Church. He’s given us a new family. He’s given us brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters that care for us far more than anyone in this world. Indeed, we should count it the greatest blessing that God would so adopt us into this eternal family through Water and the Word.
Indeed, what greater blessings are there than this, that together as God’s people, we would receive mercy and forgiveness, and so be tied together in this life and the life to come. That God would give us his own Son who makes possible for us eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!