Inheriting Eternal Life
October 11, 2009
Mark 10:17-22
17As [Jesus] was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, gGood Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?h 18And Jesus said to him, gWhy do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: eDo not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.fh 20And he said to him, gTeacher, all these I have kept from my youth.h 21And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, gYou 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.h 22Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
He must have been a very nice young man. Jesus liked him, and so I guess we would have too. He seems to have kept all the Commandments of the Second Table, gYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.hJesus did not argue with him when he said that he hadnft killed anyone, hadnft been unfaithful, hadnft stolen anything or gotten anything by fraud or dishonesty, and he respected his parents, too. He was a good man, and he enjoyed the good life, too. He was rich. But he felt that he lacked something. He lacked the assurance of salvation. He realized that just being good and ethical and moral was not good enough for salvation. And so he asked Jesus, gGood Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?h In that question we see his problem. He asked, gWhat must I DO?h He thought salvation was earned by what he would do. He felt that if he did good then he would have salvation. In order to lead him to true understanding, Jesus helped him to realize that salvation was not based on keeping the commandments. But the man seemed to realize that already. He said, gTeacher, all these I have kept from my youth.h And yet, he felt it was not enough.
And so Jesus had to help him understand that salvation was based on the First Tablet of the Commandments, gLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strengthh (Mark 12:30). The man loved something more than God. He loved his many possessions. If he had sold all his possessions like Jesus said, he would have to rely completely on God for life, both to stay alive and to live happily. But when he heard Jesusf words, he was disheartened, disappointed, sad and sorrowful. His riches were his life. His riches were what he trusted most. Those riches were his ggod.h Jesus did not say that poverty was the way to heaven, but that to follow riches rather than to follow Jesus was not the way to heaven.
Jesus did not say that poverty was the way to heaven, if you think that giving away all that you have will get you to heaven because it is something that YOU DO, then it is just another way of trying to earn salvation through works. When Jesus called his disciples and said gFollow me,h it was just like when he told the rich young man to follow him. But even the following of Jesus is not what saves us. If you think that following Jesus is something that you DO, then it will not save you. Salvation is found in the one whom we follow, in Jesus. It is Jesus who does the work of salvation. He is the one who suffered and died on the cross to forgive our sins. He is the one who descended into hell to conquer the devil. He is the one who rose on the third day to give us the promise of resurrection and eternal life. Jesus is the one who does everything.
Before the rich young man walked sadly away from Jesus, we are told that Jesus looked at him and loved him. We too are told to follow Jesus, and we can because Jesus loves us and he never walks away from us. When we learn that discipleship means following Jesus to his suffering and death, we might be tempted not to follow him. But Jesus never walks away from us. He loves us and wants us to be saved. This love of Jesus creates faith and trust in our hearts. We know that it is not earthly treasures that save us. And so we put our hope and trust in Jesus.
In the Gospel story, the man asked, gGood Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?h When we follow Jesus, our question changes to this, gGood Teacher, now that I am an inheritor of eternal life, what do I get to do?h It is no longer ghave to doh but gget to do.h It is no longer gmust doh or gshould do,h but rather, gcan doh and gmay doh and gwant to do.h gLord, would it be all right with you if I sold all I had and gave it to the poor?h And the Holy Spirit might answer, gUse wisely what you have in order to be in service to your neighbor and to the world.h That is following Jesus. We lack nothing. We have treasure in heaven. We have special treasure on earth because we are following Christ. This gives us hope. This gives us the joy of being gan inheritor of eternal life.h
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church