Posted on 10/10/2009 5:11:25 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“A Twofold Idolatry and the One Thing Lacking” (Mark 10:17-22)
In today’s Gospel we meet a man who ran up to Jesus with great eagerness. At the end, though, he went away with great sadness. What happened? My friends, our text today is the story of “A Twofold Idolatry and the One Thing Lacking.” The man in this story had a twofold idolatry. It was a false god he worshiped, and it shows up in this story in two forms. And the one thing he lacked likewise was twofold, two sides of the same coin. Now let’s find out what this idolatry and this lacking thing were, and as we do, we may just recognize ourselves in this story and, by God’s grace, go away not sorrowful but joyful.
Our text begins: “As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” Well, what do we learn about this fellow right off the bat? First of all, he shows a strong religious interest. He runs up to Jesus and kneels before him. He addresses Jesus with a title of respect, “Good Teacher,” showing that he was looking to Jesus for some insight and wisdom. And he asks a question that deals with a most important question, namely, how to obtain eternal life. So at first glance, this man shows some promise, some eagerness worth emulating.
But as we look a little closer, we see some problems surfacing in his wrong understanding. The man addresses Jesus as “Good Teacher”--true enough as far as it goes, but perhaps revealing a “lowball” estimate of what the man was looking for and how he viewed Jesus. From what he had heard, the man did recognize Jesus as at least the latest religious teacher who seemed to have some new and interesting insights. But did his expectation go beyond that? Would he see in Jesus more than that? Or did he regard Jesus as just another rabbi, albeit one who might be the best one around at the moment?
There are many people in our culture today who are willing to acknowledge Jesus as a “good teacher.” Heck, even the Muslims do that much! How often do you hear people give faint praise to Jesus as a “good teacher” and “fine example,” even though they show a shallow understanding of what it was he taught. No, to call Jesus merely a “good teacher” is not good enough.
And the way this man then phrases his question about eternal life likewise betrays a wrong understanding: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Notice how the man’s question focuses on what he himself must do, in order to gain eternal life. By “what must I do to inherit eternal life” he really means “what must I do to merit eternal life.” The man is looking to his own works as the way to earn his way to heaven. And that is the natural opinion of all human beings. They--we--think that it is by our own goodness and good works, at least our relative goodness compared to other people, that we can work our way into heaven. But that way is a dead end, this notion of meriting eternal life by what we do.
Now the very fact that this man comes running and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life--that shows he must have felt some uncertainty, some lack in himself, that he had not done enough. He felt there was something missing, something just not right. And that is where you will always end up if you are looking to your own works for salvation. For you will never do enough. If you are certain you have done enough, then you are only deceiving yourself. So the fact that this man senses something is missing is a good sign. But the fact that he looks for something more to do of his own doing--that is his wrong premise.
And so now Jesus has to redirect the man’s wrong thinking. He wants to lead him to see that salvation by works isn’t going to work, that he will have to look elsewhere to find his salvation. So he begins by telling the man, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”
Jesus wants the man to think about the word “good” he used. The man approached Jesus as just another good teacher, who might be able to dispense some good advice on how to achieve salvation by works. But Jesus wants to dispel that notion. He wants to lift the man’s sights to look to God as the only source of our eternal good, God as the bestower of salvation. And if the man will continue in that direction, he will come to see Jesus as more than just another teacher but rather as the unique, God-sent agent of salvation--indeed, as God himself come in the flesh.
Now if this man is looking for works to do to earn his salvation, then he need not look to any super-secret formula that only the latest hot teacher has. No, if you’re going to go down the path of salvation by works of the Law, you need only look to the Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses long ago. So Jesus starts listing some of them: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” Notice that Jesus only mentions the commandments in what we call the Second Table of the Law, the ones that deal with how we treat our neighbor. Those are the commandments that we think we can get a handle on, that we think are a little easier to keep.
The man answers without batting an eye: “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Here we see the man’s wrong understanding of the Law. He thinks he has kept those familiar old commandments, kept them perfectly, his whole life long. “No, Jesus, I was looking for something new and different to do. I’ve already mastered those Ten Commandments.” But the truth is, he hadn’t. None of us has.
Now on the surface, it may be possible, perhaps even likely, that this man had done a pretty good job of keeping those commandments in their outward sense. He probably had never actually murdered anyone, physically. He may have never cheated on his wife with another woman. He probably had never robbed a bank. Really, this guy may have lived a very respectable moral life, by human standards.
Maybe you have, too. But is that what you are banking on to get you into heaven? I’ve got news for you: It won’t work. For these commandments go deeper, far deeper, than just the outward surface observance that any old scribe or Pharisee could muster. The righteousness that God demands under the Law is a perfect righteousness, extending to every aspect of thought, word, and deed--reflected in the bad things we don’t do, think, or say, and in the good things we ought to do, think, and say. It shows, or does not show, in whether we truly love God with our whole heart and whether we truly love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. Fail in this perfect righteousness at any point, and this divine Law you were relying on for your salvation will turn around and be the prosecuting attorney against you in the courts of heaven on Judgment Day.
The Law always accuses. It cannot save you. Jesus wants this man to see this and look elsewhere for his salvation. But you see, this shows the first part of the man’s idolatry. It is an idolatry of works. The idolatry of works is the false belief that we can achieve our own salvation by our own goodness, that we can merit our way into heaven. That is idolatry. It is making yourself into your own god, your own savior. And you and I can’t do that. Neither can the man in our story.
As Jesus here is exposing and stripping away the man’s idolatry, he is doing so not because he wants to humiliate the man and condemn him. No, Jesus does this diagnostic work on us because he loves us. He wants us to realize our false gods, which cannot save us, precisely in order that we will leave those idols behind and turn to God and find our salvation solely in Christ. That’s why Jesus does this. He loves us! Just as he loved the man in our story. “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him,” our text says.
And so now Jesus will complete his diagnosis of the man’s twofold idolatry. The first thing he exposed was the man’s idolatry of works. Now he will pinpoint the second half of the man’s false worship, when he tells him: “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
The man had a twofold idolatry. The first part was his idolatry of works. Now we see his idolatry of wealth. He loved money. He was devoted to his possessions. That was his god, the thing he looked to for his good. It had become an idol for him, and Jesus pinpoints this precise thing, for this particular man, because it was that man’s god. Mammon, the love of money, is a very common idol, one of the most common in the world. But our own particular idols, our false gods, can come in other forms as well: power, prestige, pride, position, pleasure, and a passel of other “greatest goods” we worship most diligently. All these idols need to be cast down from their thrones. This is called repentance. It is a gift of God. Jesus is seeking this man’s repentance by these words. And he is seeking ours, as well, whether that means selling all your possessions literally or, at the very minimum, dethroning them from your worship.
“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Is that it, Jesus? Take a vow of poverty and run off to join a monastery, and then we get to go to heaven? No, that would just be another form of works-righteousness, salvation by what we do. No, as I said, Jesus gives this man this particular instruction because it was that man’s false god. And it was keeping him from discovering where true treasure could be found--namely, in Jesus himself, who was standing there talking to him, who was looking at him and loving him and calling him to repentance and faith. Notice what Jesus says along with the “sell your possessions” stuff. He adds the words--and this is really the key to the whole thing--Jesus adds these most crucial words, “and come, follow me.”
“Come, follow me.” Yes, this is where you will find your true treasure--in Christ. All the treasure of heaven, eternal life and all the riches that go with it--all this Christ gives us when he calls us to follow him in faith. For Jesus won those riches for us when he lived and died and rose again for us. His righteousness really is perfect, lacking nothing; he kept the commandments as they ought to be kept, the only one who ever has. And because he is the Son of God, his righteousness is sufficient to cover all our sins. His holy precious blood, shed for you on the cross, redeemed you from death and hell and gained for you eternal life. Jesus purchased your salvation and gives it to you as a free gift. Your works won’t do it; his works will. Your wealth will not last; moth and rust and thief and death will come and take it all away from you. But the riches Christ gives, the treasure he bestows--this is eternal and will never pass away.
That was the one thing lacking in the man in our story--following Jesus in repentance and faith. Those were the two sides of the one coin: repenting of idolatry and following Christ in faith. So it is for us. Leave your idols behind. Follow Jesus in faith. “Come, follow me,” Jesus says to you today. He is looking at you and loving you when he calls you from your idols and calls you to follow him. Your idolatry of works, your idolatry of wealth--leave those false gods behind and come, follow Jesus, the one true Savior.
The man in our story, when he heard Jesus’ words, was “disheartened,” it says. And “he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” In reality, his great possessions had him; they had control of him. But today, by God’s grace, Jesus’ words are penetrating your soul, calling you to repentance and faith. The Holy Spirit is doing his gracious work in your heart. And so today you will go away from here most joyful, for you know you have even greater possessions. You have eternal life, the riches of your inheritance in Christ. You have treasure in heaven, where your risen Savior is and where you also will be, with him and with all his saints in bliss and joy forevermore!
As [Jesus] was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
I’ve long thought that Socialism has Christian roots. I certainly do NOT mean that all Christians or Socialists or that all (or even any) Socialists are Christians.
But the root idea — that private property is wrong — can be seen to have roots in the Christian Religion.
[correcting my own type]
I’ve long thought that Socialism has Christian roots. I certainly do NOT mean that all Christians are Socialists or that all (or even any) Socialists are Christians.
But the root idea — that private property is wrong — can be seen to have roots in the Christian Religion.
Private property is not wrong. The Bible does not condemn it. In this particular man's case, though, his great possessions were his idol and were blocking him from following Jesus.
But wealth per se is not inherently wrong. Abraham was a rich man, and the Bible considers him to be the prime exemplar of faith.
Nor does the Bible teach socialism. There is a vast difference between voluntary, Christian, charitable giving (as we see it in the Book of Acts) and forced, governmental, wealth redistribution.
Great homily, and even more relevant during these economic hard times.
I could have added "recession" (and "Big Government") to this list of things that will take your wealth away: "Your wealth will not last; moth and rust and thief and death will come and take it all away from you."
But even Big Government cannot rob you of this: "But the riches Christ gives, the treasure he bestows--this is eternal and will never pass away.
Amen!
I disagree. This chapter is about greed. 4 chapters later in Mark the Pharisees rebuked that Mary she should have sold the annoiting perfume and the money given to the poor. Jesus told them No, Mary chose the right thing.
Jesus never said give your money to the government to take care of the poor. He told us to take care of the widows and the orphans and He said the poor will be with you always.
He said that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
He said he came not to do away with the law, but that the law might be fulfilled through him and God only asks for 10% and an offering 3 times a year(Malachi 3:10&11). God wants to bless us, and we get to choose the blessing or the cursing.
If Christ were a socialist, why would he have told the wealthy man to give his own money to the poor, rather than lobbying for the government to give other people's money to them?
If wealth were, in itself, evil, why would God let his beloved servant, Job, rebuild his vast wealth after Job passed Satan's test of his faith?
It is also a lesson for the “dispensationalists” (like Ann Coulter an BO’Rly and others) who believe that the Hebrews are saved by keeping the commandments (perfectionism).
He lacks Jesus, as the rest of the Jews did.
Not in the least. It is about Faith and how that active Faith is salvation. Even the homeless among us can say that they have kept the commandments yet, without Jesus, they are damned.
Which is why he was asking the wrong question "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
This is taken out of context by today's liberal / socialist movement. They use this and other verses to promote redistribution of wealth.
Come, follow me.
This is the part the left wants removed from the face of the earth.
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