Mark 10:17 - 30
I have to tell you about a patient I took care of several years ago. He was a middle aged man with a family and a well-paying job. He developed a highly treatable form of cancer, which could be cured in some cases but in most cases could be managed very well with relatively gentle chemotherapy. As I was explaining all this to him, he interrupted me and said, “I will not take chemotherapy”. His disease involved most of the lymph nodes in his body, so surgery was out; and if we tried to give him radiation, we’d end up destroying most of his bone marrow, so that seemed out as well. I finally talked him into taking an antibody that sometimes could control the disease, and had almost no side effects. Unfortunately he didn’t respond to treatment. He disappeared for a while, then one day came in and triumphantly told me that he had found a radiation therapist who treated his whole body with radiation, and look, the disease was disappearing. And indeed it was. But I knew that this was temporary, and besides when the disease came back, he wouldn’t even be able to handle chemotherapy. The disease returned in about three months, his bone marrow failed, and he died. He really wanted to be cured of his disease, but not enough to put up with the inconvenience of chemotherapy.
I thought of this man when I read today’s gospel. The rich young man comes to Jesus -- he’s aware something is missing in his life, otherwise, why bother? After all, 99% of the people living in Palestine during that time didn’t really think Jesus could add anything to their lives. That’s true today, as well. Jesus gives him a standard answer -- if you want eternal life, keep the commandments of Moses. And the rich young man is validated. “That’s what I’ve been doing!” he cries out. Jesus might have said something like “Good for you!”. That’s kind of how we feel about our church sometimes. We know what we are supposed to do, and when we do it, we feel good about yourselves. Or, Jesus might have said, “Good for you, why don’t you hang out with us for a few days and see if you’d like to be an apostle? No commitment or anything.” I bet the rich young man might have joined the apostles if Jesus had held out that kind of offer, don’t you? But Jesus looked at him and loved him -- like he does you and I. And because he loved him, he did what he had done with his apostles -- he told him, “Go, sell all you have, give to the poor, and follow me!” Do you see what Jesus does to those he loves? He invites them into his family. And that’s when you discover whether you really want eternal life. The rich young man realized that he didn’t want what Jesus was offering, not that badly, anyway, not at that time, maybe another time; and he went away. And it says that he was sad.
I think we affluent, healthy, extremely fortunate Christians who belong to Saint Mary’s parish should have moments when we are saddened. I certainly do. When I look back on my day before I go to bed, I see all the places where I didn’t quite hit the mark, where I listened to some other voice than that of Jesus. And I fail the same way every day. I guess I’m like the rich young man -- I want what Jesus has to offer, but not enough to give up my comfortable life. And that makes me sad.
When the young man goes away, Jesus blames it on his wealth. And the apostles are astonished. Because to them, (and to us, let’s face it) wealth, good fortune, good health, a great family, a good job -- they are all signs that God loves us and wants the best for us, right? And that’s why they ask, “Who can be saved?” Tell us the way to identify the saved?
Now there are some bible scholars who see a lot of autobiography in Mark’s gospel. Mark’s is the oldest gospel, written about 50 years after Christ was born, maybe twenty years after his death. Some of you who studied it with me last Lent know how unusual it is. I put the course on You Tube, if you ever want to dive into it. But one thing that you find in Mark is this rich young man who goes away saddened. Not too long afterward, you find a young man who follows Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemene and is almost captured by the soldiers, who grab him by his clothing, and he runs away naked. And then you find the young man at the empty tomb of Jesus. Matthew talks about an angel; Luke mentions two men clad in white; John doesn’t mention men or angels. So I wonder if Mark sees himself as the young man who first goes away saddened; then begins to follow Jesus, still unsure, still ready to run away; and then finally with God’s grace goes into the tomb, which symbolizes what all Christians must do to rise again with Christ.
So getting back to me, I’m pretty old, and I still am saddened because there are a lot of good things I’m reluctant to give up. But you know, the time will come when I have to give them up, and I think before I can enter eternal life I will have to turn my back on all this, and that will be painful, that will be purgatory, and if I can’t do it, hell. But I’m reassured by Jesus’ words: “For human beings it’s impossible, but not for God.” In the end we all have to throw ourselves on the mercy of God who promises to make up for what I can’t do by myself.
