Gospel: Mark 10:17-31
Grace and Peace to you from God the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
“As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You 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.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” Mark 10:17-31
What a way to start a day. The man who seemingly kept all the commandments that pertained to everybody else, forgot that there were other people in the world. The man was singularly focused on himself, and what he had to do to go to heaven… that he forgot about everybody else. Jesus said he lacked one thing. Was it empathy? Was it selflessness? Proper stewardship of his resources? He clearly forgot to fill out his pledge card this year… That’s what was holding him back, right?
But seriously folks, the man lacked one thing. He had many possessions, and wept at the thought of losing them. He thought he had it made. Keeping all the commandments is hard, and he had all that he wanted. At the top of his game. He probably pulled himself up by his bootstraps and worked really hard to amass such a wealth. He probably pulled himself up by his bootstraps and kept all the commandments. He lacked one thing.
One thing. The one thing he lacked was the one thing everyone else needed. Life’s fickle that way. Life out here on the rolling prairie and lakes is fickle that way too. What is it that we lack out here in lake country? We have beautiful sunrises and sunsets over these pristine waters. We have a beautiful harvest season that has turned out quite nicely (overall) for the farmers. The last few Octobers we had our first snowfall by now. (That’s a silly thought on a day with 80 degree weather…) This fall is turning out to be quite nice out here. Our fall supper and other fundraisers went quite well. Even with tense conversation about the transition from committees to teams and the budget… the waters look pretty calm from here. Our pews have been full, the tables are fairly full after church… It’s a wonderful time to be here at Zion. What are we lacking? From the vantage point of this wonderful congregation on top of this hill, the look down on the rolling farm fields looks pretty good.
“Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You 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.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”
The view from atop this hill may look pretty good. The rest of rural Minnesota and the country may not look so rosy. In the book, Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, the authors point out that in contrast to our urban neighbors, “Rural residents tend to be poorer than urban residents. On the average, per capita income was $11,161 lower in rural areas than in urban areas in 2013, and rural Americans are more likely to live in poverty, and the rate of rural child poverty continues to increase as urban child poverty declines.” (p. 128)
What that looks like for Minnesota is that over 500,000 of our residents are living in poverty. Most of those impoverished live in rural areas. Why does this happen? Well, there are a number of factors, but the authors of this brand new book have a thought:
“In the past, miners and loggers and often farmers as well did not have high educational levels because they left school for work. However, this has changed. The interaction between educational level and type of jobs available has become a vicious cycle for many rural communities. Communities that invest heavily in education see the more educated young people leave because of lack of opportunity unless such communities work collectively to generate jobs they would like their children to have. Rural areas are losing their local schools to consolidation, which has hurt local economies without improving school effectiveness. (p. 147)
We’ve seen this cycle happen here. Right here in Amor, the school that was built only functioned as a school for a few years before the students were consolidated elsewhere. Farms are getting larger and larger, kicking smaller farms out. How many of you would consider yourself a farmer? How many of you descended from farmers? How many of you would say that your employment was impacted by farms?
Yeah. I don’t need to tell you that the world of rural America has changed in the last 50 years. Even in the last 10 years. Our families are smaller, our jobs are bigger, our commutes are longer. Rural America feels the same effects from the realities of urban areas; we just have a delay in figuring them out. This delay then causes people to get caught in the transition, and some people get left behind. The authors continue:
“Rural poverty continues to be higher than urban poverty in the United States. People living in rural areas have fewer opportunities and may have less education and poor health, which all contribute to poverty. Poverty in turn is related to poor health status. People in rural areas are somewhat more likely than those in urban areas to be subject to occupational situations detrimental to their health. Rural areas are also less likely to have the resources to invest in increasing human capital.” (p. 147)
It’s tough living out here for the impoverished. Poverty is an invisible ailment in the rural areas. There’s no one visibly living on our streets, but one doesn’t necessarily need to be homeless to be impoverished. Even if one is homeless, shelters are few and far between. So, people rely on churches and other organizations to get by. So, we respond to in kind and do what we can by donating tons of clothes to Richville, or food to the food shelves or whatever… We’re not lacking in donating. But the authors point out there at the end of that quote that we do indeed lack something. I don’t think we lack in our giving. We don’t lack in our ability to steward our resources. I think we lack the one thing that people already know we lack: ourselves. People.
Our communities and congregations thrived with the idea that there were people around to attend our schools; buy our goods; even show up to church. Our pews are full now, but other churches around us aren’t as fortunate. Our schools were larger. Our towns were larger. Our businesses were frequented more. We built knowing that there was a future for these communities. Look around. Our churches are an honest reflection of our communities.
The world is growing, but not out here. Sure, we get the influx of the summer folk out to the lakes. That sustains these lakes communities. But when a tornado tears apart a community and ruins the summer plans of resorts, how will they survive? The same is true for impoverished folks. Sure, they’re not on the streets now, but they’re living a paycheck away from having to be on the streets in some other town.
So Jesus tells a man to sell all his possessions to feed the poor. Later on in Mark, Jesus is anointed with a very expensive ointment of nard. The disciples protest and ask him why they don’t sell it to feed the poor, instead of dumping it on Jesus. Jesus then replies – and some of you may have heard this before – “For you always have the poor with you”… (Mark 14:7a NRSV). In one instance, Jesus tells a man to sell all his possessions and feed the poor, and then later on seemingly throws in the towel.
“You lack one thing”, Jesus tells us this morning. The rural impoverished are in an invisible reality with less opportunity for them than their urban neighbors in similar circumstance. We do what we can, to a point. Are we throwing in our own towel? I’m sure the quilts we make mean the world to the impoverished of Otter Tail County. They mean the difference between a cold night and a warmer night. The clothes we donate, the food we donate, all make a difference.
Perhaps it is people that we lack. What if, it’s not only people, but perhaps willingness for our communities as a whole to give up our possessions as a whole, for the betterment of people. We influence change – to a point. Jesus makes a bold statement that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven… The first shall be last and the last shall be first… When can we put aside our pride, our love for our own possessions… and put the last at the front of the line?
Remember what happens after Jesus tells him to sell his stuff? The man runs away crying because he had many possessions. It doesn’t say if he sells it or not. Jesus just tells us the metaphor of the camel and the needle and that the first shall be last and the last shall be first… Jesus, who fed the poor without asking if they deserved it; healed the sick without asking them to pay for it; died on the cross and rose again on the third day – to save us all – from ourselves. Our sin. Our greed. Our selfishness. Christ died on the cross and rose again to save us in spite of all of that.
We are merely human. The sin of the world is too big for us to handle. Christ handled it for us. But we can make a difference. How big that difference is, is up to us. Our daughters are sick. Our children our watching us. We are found lacking, but saved in spite of it. I don’t know what the solution is. We are the people running away crying because we have many possessions. We have it good. But I believe Christ saves us all in spite of it. It is up to us to figure out how to respond to this need, because what we’re doing can’t save us. Nothing we do saves our soul. Christ already died for us. Christ calls us to action, and there needs to come a time when we are no longer the people running away crying for our possessions, but collectively crying out for those without.
Amen.
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