Hard Choices

The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

October 13, 2024

Mark 10:17-31

 “Hard Choices”

Sometimes in life, we are presented with hard choices that need to be made. Maybe we would prefer not to have to decide at all. Or we might want to reach some kind of compromise solution. But that’s not always an option. At times, we are forced to make that difficult decision because we can’t have it both ways. It’s one or the other. We have to make that hard choice. This is what we see in today’s Gospel lesson as a man comes up to Jesus with a question. That initial question he asks of Jesus takes him to a place he hadn’t really planned on going to. As a result, he is confronted with a hard choice – maybe the hardest choice that he would ever face in his life. From this, there emerges a teaching from Jesus about wealth and the kingdom of God. This becomes the basis for today’s sermon under the theme, “Hard Choices.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Today’s sermon includes a bit of alliteration using the letter “L.” As we look at today’s Gospel lesson, we’ll see that Jesus listens, Jesus loves, and Jesus leads. Let’s begin with how Jesus listens. You know how it is when you’re getting ready to go on a trip: you’ve got things to take care of and loose ends to wrap up before you head out the door. You don’t want someone who wants to engage in this big conversation with you. That’s how the Gospel lesson begins: “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Jesus might’ve brushed the man aside and said: “Look, I’m leaving on a trip and I really don’t have time to talk to you right now.” That may be how you and I would respond, but that’s not how Jesus responded. Jesus did the opposite: he stopped what he was doing and took the time to listen to what this man was saying. He was wrestling with deep things: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” We might wonder about that question: is there anything we can do on our own to inherit eternal life? The short answer is no. There’s nothing we can do, but this is what Jesus came to do for us. He came to live that sinless life of full obedience to the Father’s will that we could not (Jesus’ active obedience). He came to die the death we rightly deserve because of our sin and disobedience (Jesus’ passive obedience). All that Jesus has done becomes ours through faith as a gift. We don’t earn it, and we don’t deserve it, but God graciously gives it to us anyway. Jesus listens to the man and points him to the Ten Commandments, and amazingly, the man says: “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth” (Mark 10:20). There’s a lot of “I” talk going on here: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?... All these I have kept from my youth.” Despite the man’s confusion, Jesus listens, and he listens to us today in our confusion. When we think we’ve done everything God has asked us to do and fulfilled everything God has commanded us, Jesus listens to us in our confusion. And he listens because he loves.

That’s the second “L” word: Jesus loves. Unique to Mark’s account of this event is this little phrase: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him” (Mark 10:21a; see also Matthew 19:16-30). Behind all the confusion and mistaken thinking that the man had about himself is this blessed truth: Jesus loved him. And because Jesus loved him, Jesus asked him to make a hard choice: let go of your great possessions, give it away to the poor, and come follow me. At the heart of it all was a First Commandment issue: the man loved his riches, his wealth, his great possessions, more than he loved God. Because he loved him, Jesus invited him to receive something even greater; treasure where neither most nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. As Jesus tells us: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20-21). Like that man, we can get caught up in substituting other things for God like wealth or possessions or a host of other things. Whatever is holding us back from the kingdom of God, Jesus invites us to let it go, trusting that he has something far better in store for us. Just like he loved that man in the Gospel lesson, the good news is that Jesus also loves us. The love Jesus has for us moved him to go to the cross where he would suffer and die as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus loved us literally unto death. Trusting in this, there is nothing in all of creation that can now separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39). Sadly, the account of the rich young man doesn’t come with a happy ending. That young man chose to walk away from Jesus and the treasure of his love. This leads us to the third “L” word: Jesus leads.

After this encounter, as that rich young man is walking away with shoulders slumped, maybe still within earshot, Jesus said to his disciples: “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23). And then he says it again (Mark 10:24b). The disciples are dumbstruck by what Jesus said. They don’t understand. Popular opinion at the time held that people who were rich were blessed by God in order to do good works with their riches. And so it was a good thing to be rich. Jesus leads his followers into a new understanding about all of this. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). It’s not the wealth and riches that are the problem. In and of themselves, these things are lifeless entities; it’s the value we attach to them that renders them for good or evil. It goes without saying that we need things like paychecks, savings accounts and retirement plans because we have to live in this world. But Jesus leads us to a deeper understanding and a greater truth: our greatest possession and highest wealth is something that can’t be measured in monetary value. The blood bought redemption that we have received in Jesus through his suffering and death upon the cross – that is something money cannot buy. Jesus himself is our priceless treasure! In faith, Jesus leads us to ask a different question than the one that the rich young man asked. In response to all that God in Christ has done for us, the question we now ask is this: “How, then, shall we live?” How will we honor God and bless our neighbor in stewardship of what he has placed into our hands? As we wrestle with this question, we may be faced with some hard choices in our own life. What may seem impossible for us is more than possible for God. Trusting in Jesus and led by the Spirit, we are led to confess: “For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27b).

This is normally the time of year when we have our annual fall stewardship focus, but this year is different. We have had a very strong emphasis over the last six weeks for our capital campaign to raise funds for renovating and expanding our church facilities. You have responded to this appeal in amazing and generous ways, and for this we give all thanks and praise to God. By mutual agreement with our congregation’s leadership, our annual stewardship focus will be a quiet campaign over just two Sundays: beginning on the Festival of the Reformation on Sunday, October 27, and concluding on the Festival of All Saints on Sunday, November 3. There will be no estimate of giving cards this year. Rather, we will trust that even while God’s people are giving sacrificially toward Building for Eternity, together we will also continue to support the annual ministry and mission needs of our congregation. More will be shared on Reformation Sunday as we rededicate ourselves, our time, and our possessions to the Lord who gave his life for you.

In the midst of hard choices in this life, Jesus listens, Jesus loves, and Jesus leads – always. Amen.