Jesu Juva

“Follow Jesus to Eternal Life”

Text: Mark 10:17-22

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

For the past few weeks, the news has been filled with three main stories: the election, the war in the Middle East, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Three stories that seem radically different from each other, but which have this in common: The concern about what is life going to be like for me now? How is this election going to affect inflation, crime, or speech? Is the war in the Middle East going to stabilize or erupt into World War 3? And how long will it take to get the people in the South back on their feet after the flooding and devastation of these hurricanes? Real life. Real problems. And not small ones.

And you have real life problems, too. Problems at home, problems at work, problems with your health or the health of a loved one; worries, frustrations, difficulties; too much to do and too little time, and no relief in sight. And these are not small problems either.

So the reading we heard today, of a man coming up to Jesus and asking, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? seems a bit, well, not irrelevant, but maybe impractical, not on the list of most people’s immediate concerns. There’s a phrase about that that’s been coined recently, luxury beliefs, or luxury concerns, meaning, you can believe that or you can be concerned about that because you don’t have real problems to deal with; because your life is pretty good. But the rest of us . . . living paycheck to paycheck, hoping we and our children don’t have to go to war, wondering where our food and water will come from . . . we don’t have that luxury. We have to worry about this. Now.

So this man in the Holy Gospel today . . . he’s not worried about inflation; though crime, maybe. They may not like Roman rule, but at least there’s peace. And all the necessities of life he has; no worries there. He’s comfortable. And more than comfortable. He’s rich. He had great possessions, great wealth. He has the luxury, the freedom, one might say, unlike many people, of being concerned and asking about eternal life.

So how Jesus answers him is really important. Not only for him, but also for us and for people in our world today who are focused on real life issues; who might think a story like this irrelevant or impractical. So after asking the man why he called Jesus good (which the man doesn’t answer), Jesus says: You know the commandments. Do them. To which the man answers: I have! All these I have kept from my youth.

Now, at this point, it might be helpful to imagine the scene. It probably wasn’t just Jesus and this man with no one else around. Everywhere Jesus went, there were crowds of people around Him - broken people, hurting people, sick people, confused people. So when this man tells Jesus that he has kept all the Commandments from his youth, that there is nothing more he could possibly do . . . I imagine Jesus just looking around for a moment, at all the other people, and thinking: Then why are there people here who need your help? Because the Commandments aren’t just things we don’t do, or things we do for God or for ourselves; they are things we do for these people, for others. We help and support our neighbor in every physical need. We help hurting marriages and encourage sexual purity. We give to those in need. We tell the truth, even when it’s hard. We honor the authorities over us and speak well of them. The Commandments are never past tense, are never done. There is never nothing more we could do.

So Jesus, after (I imagine) pausing and looking at all the people in need around Him, then looked at the man and, we are told, loved him. So, Jesus told him, Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor - give to all these people following Me around and in need; right now, help Me take care of them - and - don’t worry! - you will [still] have treasure - in heaven; and come, follow me. And you know how the story ends . . . for now at least. He couldn’t do it. He left. Sad.

Now, three things Jesus told him there . . . and which of the three, do you think, is the greatest? (1.) Selling all he had, his great wealth? (2.) Giving to the poor? Or (3.) following Jesus? Which of the three would actually answer his question and give him eternal life?

It is the third; following Jesus. This man’s great wealth that was preventing him from following Jesus, so that had to go. It was a false god for him. But just being poor doesn’t get you eternal life. Giving to the poor, taking care of others, is good, and what the Commandments are all about. And God doesn’t make us wealthy just to be wealthy, but to be a blessing to others. But that, too, doesn’t get you eternal life. All the goodness in the world can’t make up for or atone for your sins. But following Jesus does.

But here’s the question, and an important one: follow Him where? Just all around Galilee, Judea, Samaria? No. Follow Him to where He came to go: to the cross. Because that’s how you inherit eternal life. By seeing and believing that Jesus gained eternal life for you there. By believing and confessing that there is nothing you can do to earn that yourself, but that you are, in fact, the problem. And by confessing that, repenting of yourself, and receiving the forgiveness of your sins Jesus won for you on the cross - that is how you inherit eternal life. There is no other way. But instead of that, this man, for now at least, goes the other way.

But here’s the thing: this all goes together. It’s not that real life and eternal life are two different things, and that you have to be concerned with one or the other. They go together. For if you are concerned about real life, here and now life, you realize how fragile life is, how broken life is, and that we need more life than just this. That causes us to look to Jesus, whose death and resurrection, gives us more, gets us farther. For in Him, we get through the grave not just to eternal life, but more life. More life already here and now. And having that life, given you by Jesus, brings you back to real life, with its fragileness and brokenness, to help others in need in this life. And to know that if the things of this life are taken away from you, even if this life itself is taken away from you - your life in Christ is a life that will not and cannot end.

So to follow Jesus to the cross is not just the way to inherit eternal life (to answer this man’s question), but also the way to live life now. It puts our lives now into the big picture. That it’s not just about me. That there is more to life than just what I have or don’t have. That who’s in the White House may be important, but not the end of the world. That wars come and go - not to belittle them - but that the war that matters most has already been won, by Jesus, on the cross. And that if we have that, that enables us to live life now in freedom, and not bound up and held down by worry, frustration, and fear. We’ll have those things; we’ll always have those things in this world and life! But we also have the one who overcame them all, and gives that victory to us.

Which brings us full circle; back to this man’s question: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Keep the Commandments, Jesus said. And when you don’t, when you realize you can’t, get rid of what’s getting in your way; repent of it, what’s preventing you. For the man in the story today it was his wealth. For you, it might be something else, something wrong, something off, something that has captured your heart. Repent of it, and follow Jesus to where He has come for you; where He has put His cross and benefits for you: here. Come to the Font, come to the Altar, come to His Absolution, come to the Word, and receive Jesus and His life and salvation.

And then with this life, this life that is eternal, go back out to life in this world and keep the Commandments. Not because you have to, but because you can. Because the life Jesus has given you enables you to now help and serve others. And keep receiving the gifts you need for the life you need, gifts and life that never run out.

So really, being concerned with eternal life isn’t a luxury belief or a luxury concern or irrelevant or impractical at all - but is, rather, the foundation for living life now. For knowing that you have eternal life, that Jesus has taken care of that for you, that the life you are now living will continue through death to life again . . . that frees you to live a new life now. So that whether war breaks out or not, whether your party is in the White House or controls Congress or not, whether the next natural disaster - or a personal disaster - strikes you, you have a foundation to stand on. Life may still be hard! Probably will be. But however life is for you now - and it may be different tomorrow! - while life changes, your Saviour does not. And when there’s nothing else you can count on, you can count on Him.

Some ancient Christian sources tell us that this man in the story today, this rich man who went away sad, eventually came back to Jesus. And while I don’t think they say whether he did the first two things Jesus told him to do, sell all his possessions and give to the poor, he did do the third and most important thing, that his riches, at first, prevented him from doing - he followed Jesus. And not just followed Jesus, but served as an early Christian missionary. And not just served as an early Christian missionary, but wrote one of our Gospels - this Gospel, in fact. That his name is Mark. That’s not from the Bible, so I don’t know if it’s 100%, but I like to think it is. That there’s hope for you and me and anyone with stuff in our lives that prevents us, or holds us back, from following Jesus. There’s still time. For the Word of God to work. For the Word to change my heart. For me to live the life Jesus has for me. To be a blessing to others. Be not so self-focused. And to live confidently, even with all sorts of problems and difficulties. To know that no matter what happens, my life in Christ is eternal. And I am free. Free to live. Free to love. Free to repent. Free to forgive. That’s life changing! And it’s what having eternal life is all about. Not that we don’t care about this life, but what enables us to live this life now. In joy and peace. Jesus has taken care of the eternal, so we can live now. So let’s do just that.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.