Pentecost 22 (year B)- Mark 10:23-30- The Danger of Materialism

Last Sunday, the Gospel dealt with the story of the rich young man and his two main temptations: legalism and materialism. In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus follow up with His disciples. He discusses the temptation of possessions or wealth, that is, materialism. In Mark 10:25, we have Christ’s famous saying, “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”(ESV).

Notice how the disciples, Peter in particular, find this teaching hard to accept. If salvation is so difficult, they wonder how anyone can be saved. They have already made some sacrifices of worldly goods, social position, and human ties in order to be Jesus’ disciples. Are those sacrifices not enough? Is salvation impossible? So Jesus reassures them in their doubts.

Jesus tells the disciples that despite hardships, faithfulness to Him and His gospel does bring great rewards- in this world and the next. His point is in Mark 10:27 (ESV), “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 

At this time, the disciples are still legalists and materialists. They are still focused on tangible rewards. They tend to view eternal life as something they must earn by good deeds. They like to think that their sacrifices of things such as homes or jobs merit special divine consideration. Eventually, after the Resurrection, they do get the point. And they do trust God enough to move forward in faith and hope. They even put their very lives on the line to keep following Jesus.

Down through the centuries, we Christians still struggle with these types of issues. We prefer to ignore that God in Christ asks us human beings to put everything dear to us on the line in order to follow Him. Even our dearest earthly attachments are of less value than eternal life with God. And even our greatest worldly sacrifices are useless or impossible unless God is at work through them. Human obedience to the commandments and human good deeds are expected, but they cannot save us. Human deeds and human offerings are only valuable as expressions of our underlying faith in God and our surrender to Him. And such faith and surrender are themselves impossible unless even they are motivated by divine grace.

Some Christians say, “Well, I’m far from rich, so I don’t have to worry about giving up great possessions.” But again, that’s missing the point. The issue is not determined by dollar value. A person can be too attached to anything in this world. And almost everyone has one or more of these worldly or material attachments.

Looking at human frailty, no one deserves to enter the kingdom. Yet with God, all things are possible. By His grace, He can transform us. He can help us to move beyond earthly and material attachments and follow Christ. God can strengthen our faith in Christ and our service to Him. He can help us and use our feeble attempts at obedience for His purposes. God can take our small sacrifices and magnify them. And when we get too attached to the things of this world and hesitate (as we all are prone to do), He can forgive us and renew us by His grace.

Pentecost 21 (year B)- Mark 10:17-22- The Danger of Legalism

Yesterday’s Gospel, the story of the rich man, is a fascinating account about a seeker of holiness. From parallel accounts in Matthew and Luke, we learn that the man is both young and a Jewish leader. This man has made efforts to lead a good life. He also respects Jesus greatly and approaches Him humbly. He longs to inherit eternal life and comes to ask Jesus for guidance. Our Lord cares for this seeker, but He also knows what is lacking. He sees that the man is both a legalist and a materialist. 

First, this man assumes that he must do something to earn a place in God’s kingdom. He believes that he has fulfilled the Law. Still sensing that something isn’t quite right, he just wants Jesus to give him one more rule for salvation.

Secondly, the young man is too attached to his material goods. Despite spiritual longings, he is happy with his style of life. He has a good reputation and a social position associated with wealth. He isn’t expecting Jesus to disrupt all that.

Yet, Jesus sees that the man needs a radical change. So Jesus tells the man to give up his attachment to worldly treasure, give his wealth to the poor and seek heavenly treasure. With this advice, our Lord is trying to move the man beyond his complacency. The man can only make spiritual progress by trusting in God alone. But he cannot seem to change. He does not renounce his accomplishments, abandon his worldly possessions or follow with radical faith.The story of the rich young man applies to everyone who comes to Christ. All who seek to advance in spiritual matters must search out the two great human temptations of legalism and materialism. 

For now, let us focus on the issue of legalism and continue next week by looking more at materialism.

God in Christ asks people to put everything dear to us on the line in order to follow Him. That includes our religious and moral accomplishments. Of course, we should believe in and honor the basic commandments. We should strive to keep them from our youth up.

However, we must not fall into self-congratulation like the rich young man. Even if we manage to avoid certain obvious transgressions, we human beings are never truly good; we never keep the deeper implications of the Law perfectly. We can never earn our way into eternal life. Superficial legal compliance is not enough. Our striving must be done through dependence upon God and His help. Human obedience to the commandments and good deeds are expected, but they cannot save us. They are only valuable as expressions of our underlying faith in God and our surrender to Him. And such faith and surrender are impossible unless even they are accepted as divine gifts.

Human beings often alternate between lawlessness and legalism. Sometimes, we ignore what is good in the Law, either in theory or practice. Other times, we turn the Law into a simple checklist on external activities. Like the rich young man, we like to assume that we have done enough, or at least, almost enough. We like to imagine that if we just tweaked our performance a little, we could earn God’s approval.

The truth is that we cannot earn divine favor. Assuming that we can is works righteousness or legalism. The Law has several values but it cannot save us. The Law can point out divine standards and ideals. The Law can remind us that we are sinners who always fall short and need forgiveness and grace. But Christ asks us to look beyond the Law to the Gospel, to God’s work for our salvation.

As people who profess to follow Christ, we all face the same choices, not once only, but again and again throughout life. There are many good things that we ought to do. But there is one essential issue- we must trust in God, the God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. We can never be saved by following the commandments. We can’t even be saved by selling all we have and giving it to the poor. We can only be saved by living faith in divine grace in Christ.

Pentecost 20 (year B)- Mark 10:1-16- Marriage and Children

Today's well-known Gospel from Mark 10 deals with two basic subjects- marriage and children. Marriage between man and women and the presence of children are fundamentally good parts of earthly life, even for those who do not marry or have their own children. Because of the people around Christ- the Pharisees and the Disciples- both sections of our reading have a negative element. Yet, if we pay attention to the words of Jesus, the teachings are basically positive. Divorce is a concession to human weakness, but God intended marriage to be a good, positive and helpful aspect of earthly life. So human beings should repent of their selfishness and sin, and they should seek divine help as they honor marriage.

In a similar manner, some people (in this instance the Twelve) find children to be a bother or a burden. However, Jesus rebukes them and points out that children have great spiritual value. Sometimes, they are relatively innocent and enthusiastic, but even more basically, they are humble and open to God's work. Children are ready to receive the kingdom of God, and adults would do well to follow their pattern of humility and openness. We should bless children and be blessed by them.