THE “WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?” QUIZ
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be rich? Do you fantasize about what you could do with a million dollars? I have some ideas of what I would do. Some of my ideas require more than a mere million. What would you do?
This week MSN posted the world’s richest people. When you see how much money they possess you have to wonder if there isn’t anything they can’t do. The richest person is Carlos Slim Helu, who made his money with Telecom – he’s worth 73 billion dollars. His income accounts for 7 % of Mexico’s GDP. That’s crazy.
Following Carlos are Bill Gates (67 billion), Amancio Ortega (57 billion), Warren Buffet (53.5 billion), and Larry Ellison (43 billion).
I was curious to see whether these men were men of faith, so I googled them. Carlos is a Lebanese Maronite Christian (a type of Catholicism), Bill Gates rejects the Sermon on the Mount and is not sure if there is a God, Ortega is a Catholic, Buffet is an agnostic, and Ellison is a Jew. I discovered that Evangelical Christians are not typically listed among the world’s wealthiest.
I don’t know what to conclude from this last discovery. Does the Evangelical worldview understand wealth differently than the Mainline church’s worldview of wealth? I can’t say.
If we consider what Jesus has to say about wealth and discipleship in Mark 10 we will indeed see a conflict. What is the relationship of wealth to following Jesus? That is the key question in this portion of scripture.
To explore this I want to present to you a quiz based on the disciples’ feature question: “Who then can be saved?” There are seven statements that require a “true” or “false” response. The nice thing about this quiz is that I will give you the answers from scripture, so you don’t have to guess. Then, in conclusion, I will reveal the final answer to the first question: What is the relationship of wealth to discipleship?
1. Strict adherence to the Ten Commandments can earn you eternal life. True or False?
True. But who is capable of keeping every commandment? James wrote, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it,” (Js 2:10).
A man runs up to Jesus and falls on his knees. We know this man is young and rich, but he asks for something he knows money can’t buy. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (17).
Jesus replies with the six behavioral commandments, how we should act, leaving out the ones about God. Jesus changes one commandment, “Do not covet,” and instead says, “you shall not defraud.” This is fitting for someone who is rich since coveting is not a problem but defrauding might be.
There is a hint here that something more is coming. Jesus is getting ready to say something about wealth since the issue is not simply about keeping the law. Observing some commandments was not enough: being rich was to be part of a great social injustice in those days. The rich almost always oppressed the poor in first century Palestine.[i]
The rich young man is sincere in his desire to gain eternal life. He has realized that there is an emptiness in his present life that will affect him in the life to come. Given the right circumstances this man would follow Jesus.
2. Wealth is a sign of God’s favor on Godly people. True or False?
False, though this was the understanding at the time. Even the disciples thought so, as we will see later.
The young man replied to Jesus, concerning the commandments, “Teacher…all these I have kept since I was a boy,” (10:20). The common conviction of pious first-century Jews was that the wealth of the people who kept the law was actually a sign of God’s favor. This man was, in his own estimation, an example of that piety.
There is irony in this picture. As the young man insists that he has kept the law since he was a boy, he casts himself in the role of a child who wants to receive the kingdom. He must have heard Jesus speaking about receiving the kingdom like a little child moments before (10:14-15).
However, the requirement in Jesus’ words for receiving the kingdom is not obedience but attitude. Here is where the rich man stumbles. What is a little child like? Most children don’t worry about money, mortgages, or RRSPs. They have no concern for the cost of gas, food, or living expenses. The other day I mentioned to Sharon that gas had jumped to 1.29 – Ethan thought that sounded reasonable. Sharon replied, “…a liter.” Sixty liters later…Children don’t worry about money and they have a keener attitude of trust about where food and other necessities come from.
The young man would have trouble adopting an attitude like that. On the contrary, even though the young man was pious in keeping the law, there was a good chance he would become an oppressor of the poor eventually. It was inevitable actually.
Attaining wealth in 1st century Palestine is different than what we understand in 21st century North America. In our context there is an unlimited amount of goods and resources available to any member of society who is willing to work. In 1st century Palestine there was a limit to what a person could attain. If someone was a “have” there had to be a “have not.” (see chart). In order for the rich to be rich, they had to oppress the poor in Jesus’ day.[ii]
While some believed that the pious were favored by God for their obedience, there was another tradition that disagreed. Psalm 73 bemoans the prosperity of the wicked. Jeremiah (12:1) also wailed that the wicked prospered at the expense of the righteous. Jesus taught in this tradition when he said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” (Mt 6:24).
Jesus therefore taught that the tradition that pious or religious people were rewarded with wealth was wrong. In fact, he rejects this thinking very strongly.
3. Jesus was speaking specifically to the rich man’s weakness and not in a general way for all disciples. True or False.
False, though we like to think it is true. We have all heard sermons that excuse our present indulgence into the finer things of life by suggesting that this commandment was particular to the rich young man’s own obstacle to discipleship. But there is no escape clause.
Jesus said to the young man, “One thing you lack…Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me,” (10:21).
How do we know that this is for us and not just for those who struggle to possess “things” and obsess over the newest and the best? For starters, Peter, a poor fisherman, along with the other low class disciples, declares this, “We have left everything to follow you!” (10:28). Remember when Jesus called them to follow – the fishermen left their boats, their livelihood, the only means they had of ensuring they would eat tonight, and followed Jesus.
Secondly, at the end of this chapter, a blind man is healed. Blind Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is going by and he cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (10:47). He is rebuffed by everyone but he persists and Jesus calls him to come. This is what happened, “Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus,” (10:50). This is no frivolous detail. Mark wants you to know that Bart threw his only possession aside to come to Jesus. Then Jesus says, “Go…your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road,” (10:52). Three things happened: Bart left his possessions….he received his sight (in Mark, that means something spiritual as well as physical), and he followed Jesus…to the cross.
That’s how we know that giving up everything for Jesus is a universal requirement for discipleship.
4. The “eye of the needle” is a gate in Old Jerusalem. True or False?
False! Some have believed the old trick of the devil that was invented over a hundred years ago.
You see, when Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything before following Jesus, we are told this, “He went away sad, because he had great wealth,” (10:22). This is ironic too: Isn’t wealth supposed to make us happy? He goes away sad because he had great wealth, and could not give it up to gain eternal life.
So Jesus responds saying, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God,” (10:24-25).
Someone conceived of a way out of this hard saying by inventing the idea that there was a small gate within a large double gate in the city wall. Without opening the large gate it was said a camel could go through, but only if it was stripped of its load and bending its knees. So if we humble ourselves we can keep our load – LOL. There is no historical support for any such gate.
What Jesus said, Jesus meant. The rich getting into the kingdom of God was like a real camel going through the miniscule eye of a real needle. It’s impossible.
5. Wealthy people will never enter the kingdom of God. True or False?
False, Jesus doesn’t say that. But Jesus just said it was impossible. The disciples were stunned since they believed that the wealthy were wealthy because of their faith. If their faith is not good enough, whose is? “Who then can be saved?”
“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God,” (10:27). Can you be saved by obeying the law? No. Can you be saved by giving away all your stuff? No. There is only one thing that can save you and that is the crucified Lord. Only God can save you; only Jesus makes it possible.
It is impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. But God delights in doing the impossible. However, we cannot ignore the teaching of Jesus regarding the wealthy. Earlier in Mark Jesus told the parable of the sower and explained the seeds thrown among thorns: they are like those who hear the word, “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful,” (4:19).
Jesus said wealth is deceitful. It tells you that you never have enough; it beckons you to find more; it tells you that the sacrifice is worth it, even if the sacrifice is friendship. Those are not kingdom values and that is why the rich cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6. Following Jesus is an easy road. True or False?
You know it’s false. Jesus called on the disciples to leave home, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children and property for the Christ and the gospel. That is not an easy thing to do. Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. The implications of this demand are greater than we realize. The demand to sell what one possesses is to part with what was dearest of all possible possessions: the family home and land. So if they young man sold his land, land that had been in his family’s ownership for generations, land that every Jew considered Holy because God gave it as an inheritance, the sacrifice was enormous. The rich young man would be breaking with home, family, tradition, and everything that defined him until that point. That is not an easy road to follow.
David Livingstone went to darkest Africa as a lone missionary. After some time his missions committee wrote to him saying, "Some people would like to join you. What’s the easiest road to get where you are?" He replied, "If they’re looking for the easiest road, tell them to stay in England. I want people who will come, even if there’s no road at all!" Sometimes the pathway of the Christian life appears to change from a smooth-surfaced road to a stony track or peter out altogether.
Following Jesus is not total loss – it is total gain. It is giving up the temporary to gain the eternal. C. S. Lewis commented that our desires are too shallow if we are satisfied with the pleasures of this world as opposed to the eternal joy of having Jesus forever. There is a kingdom principle embedded in the loss of worldly goods – the return of greater treasures.
7. You should always strive to be number one. True or False?
False of course. To be the best anything means that someone is second best, or third, or worst. To be the richest person in the world ultimately relegates others to poverty. To gain the upper hand means someone was oppressed, stepped on, belittled or humiliated.
Do you need to be the best? Do you need to be first? Do you need that promotion? If you win the lottery do you know how many people lost money so you could win?
Though we live in a society of unlimited goods someone is still being oppressed so that we can live comfortably. The principle stands, as it did in 1st century Palestine, that the only way to improve your social position or wealth is at the expense of others. So any improvement in someone’s position with respect to any good in life can be viewed as a threat to the entire community. Someone is being deprived somewhere in the global community, whether he or she knows it or not.
This is why Jesus said, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first,” (10:31). Following Jesus invites us to allow others to be first in everything so that we who have eternity to gain can be true servants.
What is the relationship of wealth to discipleship?
That is the original question we set out to explore. According to what we have heard Jesus say, wealth is a real obstacle to following Jesus. The call to follow Jesus involves turning our backs on worldly wealth to gain what is worth far more in the kingdom of God.
In the “real” world in which we live there are some obvious issues with these discipleship principles. We need food, clothing, a place to live and a place to worship. That requires money. We who have are privileged to be able to give to those who need, be it missions or other charities. So we need money it seems.
Something does not sit right in that word “need.” It sounds like we are dependent on money. That may be why we serve it so fiercely. The currency of our world is money. We don’t belong to this world, we belong to Christ. And his currency is love: love of God and love of others.
Really it comes down to allegiance. Following Jesus demands the allegiance of the disciple to Christ alone. This means not aligning ourselves with the world, Satan’s domain, which uses wealth as its currency. No one can serve two masters…
I cannot help but think of our need for a new sound mixer. What is the first thing we turn to in our need? Money. Fair enough. Did we ever turn to the Lord though and present him with our need? Not as a body. So we have relied upon our own devices to supply that which we need to worship God. Isn’t that ironic? Call me naïve, its okay. This is but one example of how we operate as disciples and it is not okay.
How shall we be saved? With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.
Do we believe this?
AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment