Money Can't Buy Eternal Life
Homily
By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA
11
Oct.
2015 Proper
23 Year
B:
Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31
That
poor man. That poor, poor Rich Man.
What
a contrast the rich man is to Job. Job has lost everything, even his
health. Remember: in Job's time wealth & health were seen as
signs of God's approval, signs that a person was doing right, living
a godly life. This is the perspective we see in the poor Rich Man in
our Gospel & in the disciples' reaction to what Jesus says.
Notice:
The disciples are stuck in the perspective we see in Job's story.
Notice how Job remains faithful to God, a faithful follower of God, a
faithful disciple. Know this: the Rich Man comes to Jesus with a
sense of something missing in his life, & he is the only person
in the Gospels Jesus invites to follow him who rejects Jesus' direct
call.1
Our
scriptures today remind me of 2 songs I hear on the radio. The
1st
I heard says:
“I've got everything I need & nothing that I don't...It's the
weight that you carry from the things you think you want...I got
everything I need, nothing that I don't”.2
The
other song, “Buy me a boat,” says:
money can't buy happiness, it can't buy everything, “but it could
buy me a boat & a truck to pull it”.3
It goes on about stuff to buy & quotes from our Gospel today: “I
keep hearing money is the root of all evils / And you can't fit a
camel through the eye of a needle...”
To
fit a camel through the eye of a needle requires us to think how to
achieve this task. I use my needle threader to thread a needle. This
is my needle with the largest eye, the one I can thread without this
handy device. To thread it with thick crochet yarn requires the
needle threader. Is Jesus speaking literally or figuratively about
getting a camel through the eye of a needle?
Sources
I checked,
including Wikipedia,
say Jesus is speaking figuratively, perhaps echoing imagery Rabbis
used about threading an elephant through a needle. Some sources refer
to a small gate in a walled city that humans fit through but not a
camel. Others note the Greek word for camel
sounds like the Greek word for a ship's
rope.
Threading a ship's rope through the eye of the needle would be like
our trying to thread the St. John's bell rope through this big-eyed
needle.
Threading
our bell rope through this needle may help us see more sharply how
hard it is for the poor Rich Man to let go the false security he
clings to – that false security Jesus challenges & rejects “as
a claim to enter [God's] kingdom”4.
Salvation
is
beyond our capacity to achieve: it depends totally on God's goodness.
It is a gift.5
Like any gift, we can accept it or reject it. We see the poor Rich
Man reject this gift of life. He lacks freedom from his possessions.
He stands in stark contrast to Job, who remains faithful to God.
In
his darkest time, Job declares, as
the Jewish Study Bible translates our last verse:
God has not cut him off, God has concealed, hidden the thick gloom,
the thick darkness, from Job.6
God
is
in charge.
We
hear the echo of this in our reading from Hebrews. It tells us to be
confident because Jesus our Lord knows exactly what we humans are up
against. Jesus shows us how to give up everything & trust the
results to God. God sends the Holy Spirit to guide us as we let go &
trust God.
Jesus
is
near. Jesus is our Light. In our dark times, Jesus is
our Light. How do we shine the Light of Jesus so that others may find
their way to the Light? How do we remember to ask the Holy Spirit to
guide us in shining the Light of Jesus, in sharing the Good News: God
Loves you. No exceptions. All are welcome!
All
are
welcome in this happening community
where
we live God's love.
Bibliography
Barclay,
William. The
Gospel of Luke.
Revised Ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975. The
Gospel of Mark.
Revised Edition.Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975. The
Gospel of Matthew: Vol. 2 .
Revised Ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1971.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
The
New Oxford Annontated Bible With Apochrypha.
Eds: Herbert G. May. Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press. 1977.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary.
Accessed: 10 Oct. 2015.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/buy-me-a-boat-lyrics-chris-janson.html
Accessed: 10 Oct. 2015.
“Buy
Me a Boat”. Buy Me a Boat". Written by Chris Janson, Chris
Dubois.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_a_needle
Accessed: 10 Oct. 2015.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/buy-me-a-boat-lyrics-chris-janson.html
Acceessed: 10 Oct. 2015.
5
Ibid.
No comments:
Post a Comment