Come, Follow Me
Mark 10: 17-22
Pentecost 21 (Proper 23)
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Mark 10. In our reading Mark tells us about a rich man that had everything that our world tells us to strive for. Mark tells us that he was a man who had great possessions. But the rich man knew that something was still missing in his life. “As Jesus 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?” The man had many earthly possessions, but he asked that Lord about something that was far more important than earthly wealth. He wanted to receive what is truly needed. He asked about eternal life. Recall what Jesus said. “You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother. And he said to Him, Teacher all these I have kept from my youth.”
What we find in this man is someone who lived a good life outwardly. He avoided grave transgressions, and I am sure most people would have probably thought that he was a good man. We can form a picture of him in our mind. He probably came from a wealthy family, but we also see that he was religious. I am sure his parents were proud of him. Most churches would have loved to have him as a member. Most people would have respected his position in the world and his personal excellence. Yet something was missing. Even through the rich man thought he had kept the Ten Commandments he knew that he was still lacking something. He was not satisfied.
“And Jesue, looking at him, loved him. And said to him, you 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.” Notice what Jesus did. He tells the rich man to sell all that he has and give it to the poor to reveal what was in his heart. The Lord does not give this command to all people. He gave this command to this specific person for a reason. The Lord was exposing what was in the man’s heart because He loved him. When the man heard what Jesus said he became disheartened and went away sorrowful. Why? Because the man realized that deep down inside, he loved the things of this world more than God. Jesus removed the positive image that the man had about himself by revealing his sin. The man thought that he kept the commandments well. What was reveled to him was that he was being superficial. He realized how sinful he really was. Once a person realizes the truth about themselves, they will indeed become sorrowful.
We can relate to the rich man in so many ways. Even though we don’t think that we are rich we really are. We are rich compared to most people in the world. We have a house, cars, nice clothing, and we have food. Most of us have enough money to enjoy leisure time activities. We have running water, heat, air conditioning, and the many comforts of this world. Rightfully understood we are rich. Like the rich man we have also created a positive image of ourselves. We think that we are good people, and we often think that we keep the commandments fairly well. There are times when we are depressed and disheartened to be sure. But there are also times when we think too highly of ourselves. We create an image in our mind about ourselves and this image of ourselves is far more noble and good than we really are.
The Lord comes to us in love to expose what is really in our heart. He may not tell us to sell all of our possessions and give them to the poor, but He does come to us with the Law of God and applies it to our life. It is the Law of God that reveals the truth about us. The Law of God destroys the false image that we have of ourselves. The Law reveals that even though we are blessed we are not always as generous as we should be. We think we are good yet when we are pressed our temper comes out and we become impatient. The Law reveals how much we really do love the things of this world. The Lord comes to us and shows us how much we cling to the idols of this world. The Lord reveals all of our earthly props that we use to get by. The Lord removes our earthly props and our imaginary self and shows us our sin. When that happens, we do become sorrowful just like the rich man. We become sorrowful because we understand who we really are and that is a sinful person. Yet we must understand that Jesus does not leave us in sorrow.
At the very beginning of our reading Mark tells us that Jesus was setting out on His journey when the rich man approached Him. The journey that Mark was talking about was our Lord’s journey to the cross. The rich man was not willing to give up all his earthly treasures for the poor. We are not willing to do that either. Yet we see that Jesus was willing to give up everything for all of us. Jesus was willing to give up everything for you. He sacrificed Himself for you. He took upon Himself all of your sins and He gives you forgiveness. You are forgiven of all your sins because the Lord is gracious to you. Mark tells us that Jesus was setting out on His journey. It was a journey that would end with His glorious resurrection. It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we receive life and salvation. It is through Jesus that the Kingdom of God is opened to us. It is Jesus who gives to us eternal life. What the Gospel of Jesus Christ does is open up our eyes so that we can see that what is most important is to be with God for all eternity.
I mentioned at the very beginning of this sermon that the rich man had many earthly possessions, but he was lacking something. He was lacking what is most important. What he was lacking was Christ. After the Lord told him to sell his stuff, He then said these words, “Come follow Me.” Jesus was inviting the rich man to trust in Him. He was calling the rich man to repentance and faith. We don’t know what happened to the rich man. Perhaps he did indeed reject the Lord and trusted in his wealth all the days of his earthly life. Perhaps he did eventually repent of his sins and turn to the Lord and receive eternal life. Jesus spoke to the man in love. The Lord speaks to all of us in love.
What we have received is what is most important and that is Christ. Through Christ Jesus we no longer need to look within ourselves. We no longer need to look at the positive image that we have made for ourselves because it’s fake. We longer need to look at our true self and be disheartened and sorrowful. We can instead live in great joy because we are forgiven children of God. We can now look to Christ who has made us His own. We can now look to Christ and see the grace and beauty of God. We can look to Christ and see his compassion and mercy. We can look to Christ and receive peace and joy. Christ frees us from looking to ourselves so that we can look to Him.
The Lord Jesus also frees us so that we can look to the needs of others. God’s love moves us to be generous and to serve those around us. We are now free to love God and love our neighbor. Jesus has the words of eternal life. He is the one who gives us treasure in heaven. So let us trust in the Lord and follow Him. Amen.