Sermon for 21st Pentecost
“Exclusive” Christianity
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Today’s gospel lesson tells us about a bright young man who met Jesus. This is a story you will find in three Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke. Mark, as you have just heard, does not say that this man is young. We know that from Matthew’s account of this same story. Luke tells us that this young man was royal, was a ruler. That means he was wealthy.
Hence, this story is often called the story of the “Rich, Young Ruler.”
Of all the stories in the New Testament describing Jesus’ calling of his disciples, this one is unique. It is the only one, I believe, in which the person called by Jesus, the man we call “the rich, young ruler,” it is the only story in the New Testament in which Jesus invites someone to follow him and that person says NO. Jesus invites this young man to follow him and the man, burdened by his possessions, his wealth, refuses.
And then Jesus shares words which shocked, astounded, his listeners – “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.” And, Jesus does not stop with that example. Jesus adds that many who are first in this world, will be last in God’s kingdom. Clearly a double warning to those burdened by wealth and possessions.
When I last preached on this text three years ago I shared with you Kris’ and my experience in Jerusalem when our tour guide took us to an archaeological site under the ancient wall that surrounds the Old City of Jerusalem. There, in the excavated wall, archaeologists have found two doors – a large door, big enough for a horse or camel to enter, a city entrance for all, and, next to it, a much smaller door, only big enough for a person to crawl through, and that with some difficulty.
Our guide told us that the Jerusalem city wall once had a number of these double entrances in the high walls around the city. During the day, the large door was open for all to enter and the small door was closed. During the night, both doors were closed, but, if you knocked on the large door hard enough, a guard would open the small door for you to crawl through. You could not bring your horse or camel or many possessions, but you yourself could crawl through the wall and get into the city at night.
And, our guide told us that the small door was called, you guessed it, the “eye of the needle!”
I noted three years ago that Jesus’ listeners would have known this. They would have known that, while Jesus had stated a very challenging possibility for more wealthy folks, Jesus was also not eliminating them from the possibility of entering God’s kingdom, of entering heaven, just stating how hard that might be, as hard as crawling through a very small opening to enter the city of Jerusalem.
This time, I would like to focus on this wealthy young man, a young man full of himself. This man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Then, he states, when questioned by Jesus, that he has kept ALL the commandments since his youth.
Think about that claim. The young man states he has kept ALL of the commandments since his youth. Now, we are not just talking about the famous 10 commandments. Oh, no. In Jesus’ day there were 613 commandments, not 10. 613 commandments.
Come on, there is NO WAY this young man had obeyed all of those 613 commandments. He was lying, or, at least very full of himself. I was going to say that he was a “wise ass” but I do not normally use that sort of language in a sermon.
Of course, before you or I can be too critical of this young man we would have to admit that we, you and I, we even have trouble enough obeying those 10 well known commandments, let alone 603 additional ones.
Oh, I know we do not kill people, so we can say we obey that one. And most of us are not in the habit of stealing, at least not in criminal terms.
However, if we take a look at Martin Luther’s interpretation of these 10 commandments, we all fall short, even of the commandment not to kill which Luther interprets as we should “neither endanger or harm the lives of our neighbors.” Okay, I think I got that one, except when I drive too fast, but then Luther adds, as part of his interpretation of the commandment not to kill, “but instead we should help and support our neighbors in all of life’s needs.” In all of life’s needs! Nope, I certainly miss that one all too often.
And we are only talking here about the one commandment, “You shall not murder.” That one should be the easiest commandment to follow! But, for every one of those 10 commandments, Luther adds a positive action to our requirement to obey these commands. For example, we are not only required not to steal, but to “help to improve and protect” the property of others. I certainly fall short of that one, too.
We Americans, we LOVE those 10 Commandments. We put them in granite on the town square and hang them in court houses.
However, when we do this, we miss their PRIMARY purpose – the primary purpose of the 10 Commandments is not just to give us rules to live by, rules that, at least as Martin Luther interprets them, we all fall sort of living by.
No, the primary purpose of the 10 commandments, of any and all Biblical commandments, the primary purpose of the LAW as Jesus and the Apostle Paul interpret it, the primary purpose of the law is to bring us, you and me and all of us, to our knees.
The primary purpose of the law, of any commandments, is to bring you and me and all of us to our knees. We are brought to our knees with the knowledge that we are totally dependent on God’s love in Jesus Christ, the knowledge that we are all beggars, as Martin Luther was so fond of saying, the knowledge that we can do nothing to earn our salvation.
And this is because, even if we could earn our salvation, we would all fall short. This leads us, or should lead us, to realize that the law leads us to the Gospel, the love of God in Jesus Christ, and the understanding that that is the only way we can receive salvation.
Our salvation is not and can never be earned because we all are failures at earning it. Our salvation can only be received as a free gift from God through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
If we try to earn our salvation by obeying God’s laws, 10 or them or 613 of them or whatever, we will all fall short. You and me and all of us.
If our eternal life depends on obeying rules, laws, and commandments, well, then we are all lost.
However, if those laws drive us to our knees, if they compel us to realize that we are lost without God’s love, then we can truly understand the Gospel, the love of God for humankind through Jesus Christ.
And, then we can know that we belong to God in this life and in the life to come. Guaranteed. We belong to God in this life and in the life to come. Guaranteed,
Christianity is an exclusive religion. But not in the way we usually think of as “exclusive.” Christianity excludes our sins because of Jesus Christ and Jesus’ love for us. Christianity is an exclusive religion, because it also excludes our attempts at goodness because Christ’s love for us allows us to admit that, if our salvation was dependent on obeying rules, we would all fail. Christianity is an exclusive religion because our good works could never be enough to earn our salvation.
However, obeying laws and earning salvation by good works is NOT how we receive salvation in Jesus Christ. Our Christianity is exclusive because it is inclusive of Jesus Christ and his love for us, a love not dependent on rules or wealth or reputations or sacrifices. But a love totally dependent only on the gift of salvation by God through Jesus Christ.
No one can earn their place in God’s kingdom. And, here is the best news, no one has to earn their place in God’s kingdom, since our place is guaranteed, is provided in and through the love of Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Jason Micheli).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, October 13 & 14, 2018
