Jesus’s Hands. Our Hands. // Offering Humility
A sermon brought forth from Mark 10:13-25 preached on Sunday, October 24, 2021
In first Century culture, sickness of any sort was thought to be caused by evil forces. Those afflicted were deemed impure and for the protection of everyone else around them, they were thrown out of their homes, distanced from their families, banished from their villages. Isolated. Discarded.
When Jesus heals, He may alleviate what goes wrong physically, but He sees it far more important to restore the sick to their spouses, sons, daughters, and parents; their neighbors; their way of life. When Jesus heals, He takes what’s been torn apart, inside and out, and puts it back together.
This morning, we have healing stories of a different sort. Two of them. Children and the Kingdom of God and the rich man and the Kingdom of God. These stories are likely separated by headings in your Bible, but they’re also separated by Sundays on the church’s calendar, as if they have little to do with one another. But Mark placed them side by side for a reason. These two stories have one point, and that point has everything to do with that second sort of healing. If we want whole life in the presence of Jesus, we must be ready and willing to let go of all those lesser things that distance us from God, that contend for the top spots within our value system.
There’s something vital we misunderstand about the Kingdom of God. It’s not a far-off place, it’s not a place at all. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God, he’s talking about a way of seeing and perceiving the way God is moving and acting to restore the world and all of us in it back to wholeness—back to His intentions.
Children have big imaginations that make room for the things of God because they’re ready and receptive. A child’s humility and eager wonder make it easy for them to notice God at work all around us. Jewish sage Abraham Joshua Heschel goes on and on about awe and wonder, writing1:
“Awe precedes faith; it is at the root of faith. We must grow in awe to reach faith. We must be guided by awe to be worthy of faith. Awe rather than faith is the cardinal attitude of the religious.”
Children make no claims about themselves; they’re not constrained by the mundane. Neither are they concerned about rank, status, and self-image. And because those things don’t get in their way, they’re able to offer all of themselves. Humility is a spiritual gift that opens us up to the Kingdom of God.
The story of Jesus’s encounter with the rich and well-regarded man is about healing that could have been but never was. This man was unwilling to let go of the things that held him back from knowing and participating in the Kingdom of God. Both Kingdom stories from our gospel reading this morning, like all the other Kingdom stories in the gospels, are here to confront our worldview, upend our expectations, and call into question our loyalties as well as our basic assumptions about how the world works and how God works in the world.
Rarely does it occur to us, especially during stewardship season, that God’s fullest love is for those who come empty-handed, but that’s the incongruity of stewardship within the Kingdom of God. And if we can trust that these stories have something for us at such a time as this, then we might walk away all the richer. Children are blessed for what they lack—size, power, and sophistication. Having nothing to bring to Jesus, children have everything to receive from Him by grace. Total trust is the center of a child’s existence. So, it must be for us, we who call ourselves Christ’s disciples. The best way to walk into God’s presence is with nothing but our need.
Does it occur to us that it’s not merit but humility and a keen awareness of what we lack that brings us closer to the Kingdom of God? Only those with empty hands can take hold of the promises Christ has for them. What’s it that keeps you from embracing God with arms out and palms up and empty? We have our hands full, don’t we?
These stories, though, aren’t really about what we have or do not have. They’re about what we place our greatest trust in. There’s so much we have that we let define us and determine our loyalties. These two Kingdom stories confront us with stewardship questions: What are we willing to let go of so that we can embrace what really makes for life? And what gets in our way from being able to do so? What do you keep from Jesus?
There’s a good chance that what we’re unwilling to loosen our grasp of are also the very things we go to for salvation. I want you to think of it that way. “Salvation” may be a religious word, but every human being searches for it and finds in something, most likely in whatever makes them feel significant. And when we find it, we double down on it, invest more of ourselves in it. So, where do you go to find your significance? There’s a good chance you’re looking in the same places for salvation.
The rich man in our passage is the only person in the gospels to walk away from what Jesus offers. Over the years, he had accumulated everything he needed, but falling at the feet of Jesus isn’t something that fully satisfied people do. Jesus looked into this man’s eyes and could see his disordered heart and decided to do what was needed to make him whole.
“Go sell everything you have,” Jesus told him, “And offer it to the poor.”
This man needed to be rescued from his wealth. That was his only way to healing. But that’s where he was stuck. Even though his wealth was the thing holding him back from experiencing life at its fullest, he couldn’t let go of it because he found his significance in it. But when you try to find salvation inside of your bank account no amount of money is enough. This man walked away from Jesus because he couldn’t imagine finding salvation where Jesus promised him it would be. Whatever we’re unable to let go of has a hold of us.
When it comes to the Kingdom of God, the central question isn’t “Who’s in and who’s out?” Remember, it’s not a place. The central question is “Who gets it and who doesn’t?”
When we talk about the Kingdom of God, we’re not talking about where we’ll go when we die; we’re talking about what we’re willing to see. We’re talking about being truly alive! Until we realize that nothing in this life can offer us the security, confidence, and promise that Christ can, we too will never know the Kingdom of God. We’ll never be able to see it, even though it’s always right in front of us.
Humility—Gospel humility—is about walking away from who we love being so we can become who God would love us to be. Then we will know healing. And stewardship—Gospel stewardship—is about replacing our trust in lesser things with the greater promises afforded to us in Christ.
We don’t have to be children to find our welcome in the Kingdom of God. It has nothing to do with age. But like the rich man, we get hung up: the only way we can come to Jesus with arms wide, hands open and palms up and empty is by letting go of all we carry.
The rich man walked away from Jesus because he liked his hands in his coin-filled pockets. What do we hold on to? What do we keep from Jesus?
When we offer humility, our outlook on a few things will change: We will be able to see that giving to the church is not a matter of what Tinkling Spring wants or needs from you. Neither is it a matter of “I’ll give you this if you give me that.” That’s not giving to God. That’s buying and selling. We aren’t making any deals here.
We’ll also be able to see that stewardship isn’t a matter of what this church wants from you. Neither is it a matter of what you want from the church. If that’s your motive then you’re doing it wrong, you’re not giving with humility. That’s not giving; that’s bartering.
As your pastor I need you to see more. When you come with humility, you will be able to see that giving to the church is for you. It is an act of worship, a spiritual practice. When you lead with humility, you will notice that your motive for giving must change. We give because the very act of giving will free us. Giving from what we have is a personal expression of sacrifice.
From the beginning of God’s story and ours, God has asked his people to give because He knows we need to be constantly reminded that the best way to be human is to celebrate our dependence upon Him. Whatever we’re unable to let go of has a hold of us.
All praises to the One who made it all and finds it beautiful!
Alleluia! Amen.
Abraham Heschel; God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1976.