Often wealth, possessions and financial security have been seen as signs of God’s blessing. Even in modernity, preachers of the “prosperity gospel” promise their followers that “God wants you to be happy. God wants you to be rich. God wants you to prosper.” But speaking to the young man in today’s gospel Jesus answers the question, “What does God want?” differently.
Don’t misunderstand me. God wants good for God’s people. That’s why we have the Law and commandments in the first place, so that we may know how to live in relationship with God and with each other.
But the commandments have never
been mere checklists where we can tick off the boxes:
Do not murder. Easy.
Do not commit adultery. Safe.
Do not steal. Yep.
Do not bear false witness or defraud.
Good.
Honor your father and mother. Done.
The Law and commandments are the
foundation of living as God’s people but no one issues a report card showing
how well we’ve kept them, and there’s no honor roll.
So we join the young man in asking, “What does God want?”
Jesus answers, “God wants you.” Not just your obedience to a list of rules and not just your worship for an hour on Sunday mornings, but your very self.
And in our gospel today, the young man judges that the cost of discipleship is too high and he leaves Jesus grieving.
Now, sometimes preachers try to guess what happened next. Mark doesn’t say anything more about the young man, so we don’t know.
Some disciples, like Simon and Andrew, heard the call to follow Jesus and “immediately they left their nets and followed him.” (Mark 1:18)
Other disciples are what one scholar calls ‘resident disciples.’ These are people like the sisters Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus who know Jesus and call him “Teacher” but live in their own house in Bethany.
And still others are those Jesus has healed like the demoniac in Gerasene. After Jesus delivered the man from the demons, he told him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you." (Mark 5:19 NRS).
And for others of us, it takes
time to recognize God is calling us to follow, and even longer to respond to
that call.
So, sure, it’s possible the young man returned after a day, a week or even a month, having done what Jesus asked. But it’s also possible that Jesus was right, and the young man’s wealth and possessions were too great an obstacle to overcome.
And this isn’t Jesus bashing the rich or calling his disciples to a life of self-denial or poverty, but it is Jesus leveling a criticism against those whose wealth and possessions, or desire for safety and security, distances them from God.
There are different ways to live as disciples, but no matter what when we say we want to follow Jesus, we are asked to give ourselves first and fully to God. We are not at a negotiating table. We cannot barter for a more comfortable discipleship.
In this season where you are being asked for a financial commitment to support the ministry of Ascension and we will be creating a budget to plan for our ministry expenses, it’s easy to look at the bills first and give God what’s left. But Jesus calls us to come and follow him, giving everything first to God, and trusting in God’s provision.
That’s not the answer we want to hear when we ask, “What does God want?”
We want, like the young man, for
there to be a reasonable answer, not a sacrificial one. We want discipleship to
be easy, not difficult. So, it’s no wonder that Mark says the other disciples
were amazed and asked, “Who then can be saved?” It feels like God is asking for
something impossible.
And they’re not wrong. On our own, it is impossible. We cannot by our own merit or understanding to follow God’s commandments and live faithfully in relationship with God.
As Saint Paul writes in Romans 7, “18 I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Rom. 7:18-19 NRS)
And seventeenth century Catholic
Saint Vincent DePaul told his priests,
Believe me, we will never be any use in doing God’s work until we become thoroughly convinced that, of ourselves, we are better fitted to ruin everything than to make a success of it.[i]
It is recognizing how far we fall short that brings us to the cross where we find Jesus, grace and love. We cannot do anything apart from God, but God can make all things possible.
The hard answer to, “What does God want?” is that God wants you, and me, from our hands and feet to our innermost thoughts. God wants us to surrender ourselves to God, to let go of our desire to control and preserve and direct and follow God. And then, maybe then, we will see what really is possible.
Let us pray…
Good and
gracious God,
Thank you
for your Son Jesus who shows the world how much you want us to live in
relationship with you.
When being
his disciples seems to come at an impossible cost, assure us of the mighty ways
you have already beaten the odds.
Give us
wisdom and courage to surrender everything we hold onto and follow you,
trusting first in You.
We pray in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
[i] Jean-Baptiste Chautard. Soul
of the Apostolate.
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