Today we have met two wealthy men in our scripture lessons. Both have experienced prosperity and accumulated possessions. The difference between them is this:
- Job in our Old Testament Lesson has lost all of his wealth. He is like the investor who lost it all when the dot.com bubble burst or Enron went belly up. He is in despair over his loss.
- The rich man who came to Jesus in our Gospel Lesson still has his wealth. He is like the billionaire who has made his mint and now is searching for the meaning of life. After meeting Jesus he is in despair over the prospect of loss. We read in Mark 10:22: “He…went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”
Possessions. It’s great to have possessions. Karen and I love owning our own home ---- or at least part of it. When we moved here we filled it up with our possessions. In fact we had so many possessions that we had to rent storage space until we built a second garage. Accumulating possessions is the American way of life. If you are like I am, you love looking at the newest digital cameras with more pixels or the latest pair of skis with fewer grams. We think things will make us happy. But they do not. Even with our great buying power we cannot buy happiness. We cannot buy salvation. We cannot buy eternal life.
How different it is when we allow God’s Holy Spirit to possess us and rule over us instead to the constant lust for more possessions and more power which is so often common in our society. How different this world would be if we could live at peace with ourselves and not think that buying one more “thing” will make us happy.
How different this world would be if the politicians and rulers of this world would give up their lust for power and become true “public servants.” We are now entering the heat of the political campaign. It seems that whenever I open my mail or turn on the TV I am bombarded by sleaze and slime. Already the politicians are grasping for one more vote and willing to use any means necessary to gain it. How sad that they are possessed by a lust for power. Several years ago Alan Alda starred in a movie entitled “The Seduction of Joe Tynan.” No, the movie wasn’t about some sleazy sexual affair. It was about the seduction of power, which beckons to all politicians.
Possessions and Power. These are the gods of our age. How different is the world into which Jesus invites us. Jesus invites us to be possessed by the power of God. This is the message I receive from our scripture lessons this morning.
In our lesson from Hebrews this morning we hear about the “Word of God,” which is like a “two-edged sword.” Before this word each of us is stripped of our possessions. The word actually possesses us and becomes part of us. God’s holiness becomes part of our fabric and we instinctively follow in God’s way. We become so immersed in God’s holy word that we do not follow the Bible like some rule book or a compendium of questions and answers --- or an instruction manual. Rather through our encounter with God’s holiness we are reshaped from the inside out. Sometimes we speak of being “born again” or “born anew”. It is this radical sense of allowing God to possess us that I speak.
It was this radical step which Jesus invited the rich man who approached him that day on the road. The man wanted “to inherit eternal life.” Jesus lovingly looked him in the eye and told him how to “inherit eternal life.” Turn you life over to God. Let God possess you and then you will not worry about all of your possessions. You will be freed to use your possessions for the glory of God.
Today we will baptize Eli and Chloe with water poured over their heads. We pray that the water will not just run over their heads, but will also seep through their pores and become part of them ----- possessing them that they may be God’s possessions, glorifying God in all that they do and with all that they possess.
May Eli and Chloe be loved and know that they are part of God’s holy, eternal life. In this love may they, like each of us become instruments of God’s love for all God’s people. May they as God’s children learn to live the life of giving.
Today we heard our annual fall challenge to plan our giving for Christ’s church. We might think of this as a form of duty. I invite you to consider another way of giving ---- giving out of gratitude and love --- having a generosity born out of love, not duty.
Mark Wegener wrote:
“We may have many reasons for giving --- to pay the bills, to expand the church’s ministry, to make the world a better place --- but the best reason is simply because we need to give. Our generosity grows out of our gratitude, and we need to give in order to enrich our souls, to be truly human, and to respond to God’s goodness.”
Earlier I spoke of my cynicism. Sometimes when I watch the news I get more cynical. But this week a real piece of good news arrived at our door step when Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize. Muhammad Yunus is an economist in the very poor country of
In this movement I see a small sign of people using possessions in love. Most of these people are not Christian people. They are Muslims. However, I see Christ at work there and a Christ-like spirit. I believe Jesus is smiling and his words spoken at the end of our Gospel Lesson have become reality: “For many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Amen.
