Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

“Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

The breathless man obviously had it all together. He was young and vastly wealthy. He’s concerned about his salvation, so it seems that he’s wise. The fact that he came running to Jesus to ask the question tells us that here is a zealous man who wants to follow the Lord. He looks like an excellent prospect. This is the kind of guy who’s got his act together. He’s the kind of guy who would volunteer to serve on committees and get a lot of work done. He’s the kind of guy who would be an asset for whatever sort of plan or strategy that would need to be launched. The disciples must be breathing a sigh of relief, for it’s been a rough several weeks. First there was the fiasco after the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, when many disciples left the group. Then Jesus has been saying recently that He’s going to be crucified. But here’s a nice change: A young, rich, intelligent guy has appeared, who wants to be a disciple. This man is a slam dunk sure thing for joining any church.

But the conversation doesn’t seem to go well. The disciples don’t get their number one draft pick to join them. Who would ever imagine that this potential super-disciple would walk away sorrowful the next minute?

What happened? Listen to the exchange:

“Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” And here the problem has already begun, because the question he asks has a flaw, a wrong assumption. What he is asking Jesus is this: “How much more of God’s Law do I have to keep in order to earn my way into eternal life? What do I have to do?” Although the man is sincere, he is far from having divine faith: He doesn’t want Jesus to save him from sin. Instead, he wants the Lord to approve of who he is and the good that he has done.

Since the man asks a question about keeping the commandments, Jesus gives him an answer about keeping the commandments: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.'” The man asked, “What shall I do?”, Jesus says, “You shall keep God’s commandments,” and then gives him some of the Ten.

But this only leaves the man in self-satisfaction: Is this all there is to it? Or perhaps he thinks it’s too good to be true—there must be something more, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth!

Then the bomb drops. Jesus, who loves this man, preaches one more bit of God’s Law: “One thing you lack,” says the Lord. “Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

This time, the man sees how God’s Law accuses him, and it crushes him. Jesus has just pointed out to him his sin. But what sin is that, exactly?

Wealth is not precisely the issue in this Gospel; Jesus does not condemn people for being rich. We must make this clear so that we can understand the true sin and the marvelous Gospel Word. Bible stories like this one have been misused to declare that wealth is innately sinful; the monks in Martin Luther’s time considered it a great work to sell all they had and make a vow of poverty, for poverty was considered to be more pleasing to God. But this is not what the Lord is saying. Granted, wealth has its dangers, as the Lord will go on to say: Those who have riches are tempted to trust in those riches instead of the Lord.

So, is this young man greedy? There is greed here, yes. Notice that the list of commandments that Jesus recited to him stopped just short of including, “Do not covet.” The man has much in the way of riches, and he would rather hoard his temporary wealth than love his neighbor and give his surplus to the poor. So, yes, the light of God’s Law illuminates some greed here, but that greed is not the major problem: There is a far more dangerous sin.

The man thinks that he can save himself by how well he works at keeping God’s commands. He believes that he can work his way into heaven by being good enough. When Jesus lists commands, He is saying in effect, “If you are so virtuous that you can keep all of God’s commandments as you say, then you shouldn’t be in love with your money; you’d be able to give it all away. Prove what you claim about yourself.”

Once it was considered Godly to be poor; in today’s world it’s the very opposite. It seems now that you are not blessed, you are not walking with the Lord, so to speak, if you aren’t successful or if you don’t have an abundance of earthly goods. God wants you to be happy, as many would say to entice you. If you truly believe, and if your moral life follows God’s plan for your life, then you’ll have nothing to worry about. But isn’t that exactly what Jesus points out in this rich young man? Isn’t this why the Lord says to the guy who has it all: one thing you lack? That one stumbling block for him may be trouble for you, too. Aren’t you tempted to think at times that God is pleased with you because of the good things you do, or on account of how many people you help, or how many lives you touch?

Now, the Lord showed the man that, since he was suffering from a form of greed, he wasn’t keeping all of God’s commands and couldn’t earn eternal life. The same is true for you. Yet, you trust in Jesus Christ, you believe that He saved you by His death and resurrection, and absolution is yours. But as long as that man, or anyone for that matter, believes that he can save himself, he does not trust in Jesus to save him; without true God-given faith, there can be no forgiveness. Any plan of self- salvation will utterly fail. If you trust in that route to peace with God, then anyone who is less than perfect will necessarily walk away sad, depressed, or worse.

However, that need not be the end of the story. Jesus says the same to you: “You can’t save yourself. But I can save you. I will save you by going to the cross and dying for your sin. Do not trust in your own efforts, but in mine.”

Thus the Lord declares to this man the Gospel, telling him that He will bear the cross for him. But it’s too much to take. He arrived expecting the Lord’s blessing as a reward for his own keeping of the law-and perhaps for his well-run life and wealth; instead, he’s told to throw it all away and trust in the cross instead. This is not the way he wants salvation, and this is not the way he wants the Savior to be. Therefore, he walks away. The would-be disciple, the one who was excellent, the guy who had everything going his way, sadly walks away.

Jesus lets him go. Imagine, that Jesus would drive away such a shining prospect with His teaching. He loves the man, so He will not force the man to be repentant. He will, however, go to the cross and die for the sins of the rich young man; if, later on, the man repents of his sin, the benefits of the cross will be there for him.

The man walks away, and the disciples don’t understand. Because when Jesus says, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples are astonished. If a great man like that can’t get into heaven, who can? Now, I must include for you the next few verses after today’s Gospel reading cut off. You have probably heard some of it before. Without this context, the lesson might lose its meaning.

Jesus expands, saying: “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Disciples aren’t taking this as good news yet.

The Lord explains: “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” Simply put, the Law says: You can’t. You can’t save yourself. The Gospel says: God can. He can save you because He sent His Son to the cross. He will pay the price with His own blood, then rise victoriously from the grave on the third day.

So, how many good works must you do in order to inherit eternal life? Can you do enough good things? The answer is: No. You can’t. Can you build your faith and maintain your salvation by your works? No. You can’t. “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

There is an answer and there is salvation, but it’s an answer to a different question. The question is not “What would Jesus do, so I can copy Him?” The question is, “What has the Lord done to give me eternal life?” And Jesus’ answer is Good News in abundance.

Think of all those commandments that the Good Teacher listed for the rich young man, He kept them. Perfectly. Did Jesus give all that He had to the poor? Yes: He gave up all His heavenly riches for all of us who were poor in spirit. He offered His back to those who scourged Him, His scalp to those who crowned Him with thorns. He allowed His hands, feet and side to be pierced for this sinful world. Did He give all? Yes, in a depth that we cannot even begin to contemplate. Unlike the rich young man, did He take up the cross? Yes. He took up the cross. And on that cross He died for the sins of the world. That is what the Lord has done.

But He is not finished. The Good Teacher now offers that cross to you. There are good works for you to do, but your Father is already pleased with you before you do them. He is pleased with you, because He is pleased with Jesus. He still warns and accuses of sin-not so that you would walk away sorrowful, but so that you might repent and turn away from that which would destroy you. And by His holy Gospel, He gives you His cross. He takes away your sins-you need not suffer and die for them because He already has. He gives you His righteousness, giving you the credit and benefits of all He did. He makes you His family, members of His household. He marks you with His cross in Holy Baptism, you are joined to His death. He gives you His body and blood in Holy Communion, that He might join you to His life.

You can’t, but He can; and He does. Faithfully, again and again granting you forgiveness for your sins. All things truly are possible with God.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Amos 5:6–7, 10–15 Hate evil, love good; Establish justice
Ps. 90:12–17 teach us to number our days
Heb. 3:12–19 exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today”
Mark 10:17–22 what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?