In today\u2019s Gospel, a man with many possessions encountered Jesus. His wealth of possessions is central to the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Possessions \u2013 are they good or bad? Blessings or hindrances? Deficits or potential assets?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like many aspects of life, it all depends. But, perhaps, the more important questions are: What is this Gospel story all about? How does Jesus use the possessions to teach his disciples about God? How can possessions or anything else make all the difference in our seeking ultimate answers about the meaning of our lives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man with many possessions started off with a question: \u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d He was looking for an inheritance \u2013 not a gift or a payment or an allowance or a reward \u2013 but an inheritance. The Greek word quoted by Mark seems to convey exactly what it does to us. Did the man with many possessions see himself as a child of God who was due a birthright like one might expect from a parent? Yet, the dialogue that followed his question seems more like an exercise in earning something rather than inheriting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever the case, he wanted Jesus to tell him how to secure the benefits of God\u2019s most fundamental values \u2013 and to find the key to a meaningful, contented, and fulfilling life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 initial response to \u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d is also quite interesting. Referring to the Ten Commandments, he offered a list of what the man had to do to qualify. But when the man with many possessions testified to his lifelong practice of following the commandments, Jesus sought to provoke in him, as he provokes in us, a whole new level of understanding about eternal life in God. With love for him, the Lord said, \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eternal life does not mean life until the end of time. It is not about quantity, but quality. Eternal life means a deep connection with the ageless and invincible values of the Kingdom of God. Eternal life describes the quality of relationship between human beings and Christ, bringing us into a present knowledge and experience with the loving and living spirit of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we consider our Lord\u2019s encounter with the man with many possessions, we can imagine Jesus\u2019 insight into his heart and soul. He had followed the specific, outward regulations that were spelled out in the Bible \u2013 but Jesus perceived that something still blocked him from total obedience to God \u2013 his many possessions. Material belongings stood in the way of his following Christ, because, having heard Jesus\u2019 opinion that he needed to give them up, he went away shocked and grieving, stunned and defeated \u2013 perhaps with a broken heart. He could not meet the ultimate measure of obedience to God. His love of possessions blocked him from totally loving God and following Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many scholars are quick to say that this is not necessarily a teaching by Jesus against a Christian\u2019s having material possessions, in whatever quantity. They remind us that the crisis for the man with many possessions was not how much he owned, but that the property owned him, blocking his way to unity with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thinking about such views is a necessary beginning for each of us to examine in our own lives the relevance of today\u2019s Gospel story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would Jesus have said to another person, \u201cOne thing you lack,\u201d and then listed something quite different from selling possessions and giving the income to the poor? What does Jesus say to you and to me \u2013 about the one thing more that we lack? What do we need to give up, to rid ourselves of, to put behind us, that would allow us completely to follow Christ? What can blind us and deafen us from connecting with God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the radical reorientation of our lives that will lead us to follow Christ? What is it that stands in the way of our becoming what God intends us to be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is almost certainly selfishness of one sort or another \u2013 because putting ourselves first puts God second or third. Because we do this, we become separated from the Holy Spirit\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is it that we need to give up in order to gain what is much more valuable? Is it greed or prejudice \u2013 ignorance or pride \u2013 anger or the need to control others, the inability to acknowledge our sins of hurting others or the \u201cthings we have left undone\u201d or something else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or is it, after all, a love of possessions that stand in our way of connecting with the eternal life that we can find only in God? It the fate of the man with many possessions at least in part potentially our fate? Is what stood in his way also at least in part what stands in our way, preventing us from totally connecting with God and following Christ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We live in a culture of materialism in which we measure too much in monetary terms. We are inundated day after day, hour after hour, by advertising that insists that if we buy one thing or another that we will be happier and better off. The push for more and more material possessions insinuates itself into our lives constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the majority of us who are not impoverished \u2013 for those who do not live with severely limited resources, this is a question we must examine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Anglican bishop from Africa once declared to an American audience that it was much easier for the Christians of his diocese to truly know God than for those living in the United States. This is so, he stated, because most in his diocese are very poor and that condition leads them to know the need for God in every way. This is so, because their prospects of becoming rich are so remote that they focus on deeper, more spiritual values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Americans in contrast, he suggested, have a chance to gain nearly every material possession they want. So, we often become convinced, at least subconsciously, that we can buy happiness and meaning. This delusion can leave us void of the lasting, deep-down joy that possessions cannot bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, it seems ironic that the man with many possessions asked about \u201cinheriting\u201d eternal life. The truth is, he had already inherited it \u2013 as a child of God. The God-within-him existed as a part of the created order \u2013 because he, like each of us, was created in the image and likeness of God. He had inherited God\u2019s spirit already \u2013 he just didn\u2019t know it. Jesus tried to open him to understanding that reality \u2013 to instruct him how to break through what blocked him from recognizing and utilizing the very spirit of God that he only had to put before all else in his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What must we do, what must we give up, in order to recognize and put to use the eternal life that each of us has inherited?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by the Rev. Ken Kesselus<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s Gospel, a man with many possessions encountered Jesus. His wealth of possessions is central to the message. Possessions \u2013 are they good or bad? Blessings or hindrances? Deficits or potential assets? Like many aspects of life, it all depends. But, perhaps, the more important questions are: What is this Gospel story all about?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,3],"tags":[354],"class_list":["post-512368","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-23b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":354,"label":"Proper 23B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3478531,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512368\/revisions\/3478531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}