Here’s a fun fact.  There are 2,171 references in the Bible to possessions and giving, which is nearly ten times the number of references to believing. 1   This is one of those references.  As Jesus is setting off on a journey, a man runs up and kneels in front of him and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus says, “you know the commandments.”  The man replies that he has been careful about those commandments since he was a child.  Jesus, looking at him, loved him.  (Don’t miss that – that is a bit of good news!)  Jesus said, “spend some time figuring out how to sell your possessions, give the money to those who are poor, then come follow me in the life of a wandering beggar.” 2 (That’s the bad news.)

An Episcopal priest named Grant Gallup, writing from Nicaragua points out that “the Jesus we hear of in today’s Gospel could not get a job in the Church today…[the note] in his clergy deployment profile, under the category ‘budget and finance/mission support experience,’ would [have] the entry:  ‘turned away wealthy prospect.” Gallup offers the critique that “the Church, which has been eager for centuries to get along with the Ruling Class [in many cases is the ruling class], has frequently said about this story of Jesus and the Rich Young [man] that it really isn't about the wickedness of wealth and its corrupting influence; what it is really about, we are told, is "detachment." The upwardly mobile can get into heaven if only they would adopt an attitude like those of the "old wealth,"   those very rich who live Spartan and stingy lives, make wise investments and eat sensible salads…[where] the goal is to live on a spiritual plane somewhat above earthly things, and not be conspicuous about your consumption.”  But being detached or inconspicuous is not what Jesus is talking about here.  Jesus is demanding relief for those who are poor through the redistribution of wealth.

Now this is a very fundamental, literal interpretation of a scriptural command (and not one, I might add, that I ever hear Biblical literalists quoting or putting on signs at marches and rallies).  Jesus’ instructions are extreme – actually against rabbinical teaching of the time, which held that a man should not give away more than one fifth of his possessions during his lifetime lest he become a public charge. 3  This is still our concern about the risk of giving too much.  We don’t want to become public charges as a consequence of giving too much.

Was Jesus using hyperbole?  Or was he really serious?  If he was serious, does his instruction only apply to that rich young man?  to the very rich?  Can those of us who are not very rich relax?  Although we have a wide range of incomes at Emmanuel Church, I’m quite confident that I’m not preaching to the very rich.  Yet I know that the majority of us are rich by the world’s standards even if we are not by Boston’s Back Bay standards.

You know, the Bible is full of instructions and examples to follow – in fact, a lot of conflicting instructions and examples.  One has to be pretty chaos-tolerant to search the Bible for answers to questions about how to live an ethical life.  And one way to discern which instructions and examples are binding and which ones are not, is to look through the lens of the love ethic exemplified by Jesus.  If we look at this through the lens of the love ethic of Jesus to try to figure out if this is one of the commandments we should follow, what do we see?   Is it responsible, caring, mutual, non-exploitative, faithful, honest, with genuine concern for the best interests of the other and of society as a whole?  Well, yes, for the most part.

Here’s what I notice.  Mark tells us that Jesus loved this rich guy – and that when Jesus told him to sell all his stuff, give the money to poor people and then follow him, the guy walked away.  Mark tells us he was shocked and grieving because he had many possessions.  He didn’t respond, like the Syro-Phoenician woman, who thought that Jesus’ response to her question was inadequate. “Yes, Lord, but,” she argued – but he didn’t argue.  He just walked away, maybe ashamed, maybe angry – in any case, shocked and deeply sad.    

When I think about that, that Jesus loved him, and told him how to live more fully into God’s realm of eternal life, and the guy just walked away, then I hear what Jesus says next differently than I used to hear it.  I used to hear that part about the camel and the eye of a needle as a judgmental reproach kind of thing:  “how hard it will be for those who have wealth 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.”  I used to hear it as recrimination.  Now I hear it as a lament -- Jesus’ own grief – his own deep sadness that the rich man who he loved just walked away.   I have this sense that Jesus showed him the gates of heaven that are so wide that you can’t even see the sides of the opening – and all he had to do was put his stuff down and walk in, but he didn’t want to.  He didn’t even want to continue the conversation – and that made Jesus so sad.  Imagine that the gates are very wide, but they might as well be as narrow as the eye of a needle.  Whether it’s an actual sewing needle or the name of the smallest gate into the City of Jerusalem doesn’t matter.  To me it’s clear that Jesus was expressing his own grief.

What I think Jesus knew then, and what I know now, is that the more wealth we have, the less we tend to need God.  Oh I can worship God, do my best to follow the commandments, even give my life over to the priesthood – but I don’t need God the way someone who has nothing needs God. I don’t even need to believe in God the way someone who has nothing believes in God.   I see that every time I go to the prison or to common cathedral – I even experience it from time to time at Emmanuel – and I know it’s true.  In fact, I need to go to the prison every week to keep it in front of me – because I don’t really like thinking about it.

I also know that I am using far more than my share of the world’s resources by virtue of living in the United States.  I don’t like thinking about that either, but I know it’s true.  But I’ll tell you this – I’m not walking away.  I want to follow Jesus – I have inherited a strong sense of the love of God for me and for you because of Jesus, however rich we are by the world’s standards.  And I have been on an intentionally downwardly mobile path, because I do think Jesus was on to something.  I do want to participate in redistributing wealth.  I do want to alleviate poverty.

As So what does that mean?  It means for me, that my own giving is increasingly intentional, proportional and sacrificial.  I spend more time thinking and praying about my own access to resources – and figuring out how to use less and give away more.  My giving is increasingly proportional – that is, each year, I give away a higher proportion of my income.  Sometimes the increase is in baby steps – like a half a percent more than the year before.  Sometimes it’s a bigger step.  I’ve lived through the very humbling experience of taking big steps and then falling short – that is, making a pledge that represented some risk and not being able to meet it.  I can tell you, that’s not the end of the world.  And my giving is increasingly sacrificial.  What I mean by that is, if I can give away money and possessions and not even miss them, I’m sure that it wasn’t enough.  Giving should change one’s life.  It should matter.

I don’t know if I’m following Jesus yet.  I know I want to.  And I know I’m not walking away – arguing with him sometimes, but not walking away.  Furthermore, I know that as your priest, it’s my work to be concerned for your spiritual health which includes your financial giving, and it’s my work to encourage you to not walk away.  As your priest, I’ve got to tell you that I believe Jesus really meant it when he sadly observed how hard it is for how it will be for those who have many possessions to enter the realm of God.  But I don’t think it’s because the realm God doesn’t want or welcome us – I think rather, that the more we have – that is, the less needy we are, the less likely we are to want to enter the realm of God.  I also believe that Jesus really meant it when he said that for God, all things are possible.  And for today, that news is good enough for me.