All I hear in Peter’s words are exacerbation and exhaustion after Jesus instructs a questioning man and all his disciples to give up everything they own, give the money to the poor, and then follow Jesus.
“Look, we have left everything and followed you,” Peter says.
People usually hear Peter’s words as filled with pride about how great he is to have given up everything. I am not so sure. The disciples have already moaned in exacerbation, “Then who can be saved,” when told that it will be hard for the rich to enter into the kingdom of God. It seems clear to me that Peter is continuing this sense of exacerbation. “What more do you want from us?” Peter seems to be saying. “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”
“What more do you want from us?”
I have been hearing this more and more as the years go by. Good, faithful people try and try to make a dent of goodness within their communities and, dare I say, try to bring some new faces into the pews. But when their efforts do not seem to be doing anything, I hear the lament to God, “What more do you want from us?”
As adult sons and daughters take care of their aging and failing parents, and then they need to take care of their grandchildren, and then they need to start taking care of their own ailing health, it gets to be too much and they cry out to God, “What more do you want from us?”
The troubles of this world are a non-stop blare from our television sets, and we try to do our part. But, so many times, doing our part to make this world a better place does not seem to make a difference. All the while, new struggles pop up all the time. There are always more storms, more wars, more political divisions, and they all desire our attention, and consuming our sleep. We helplessly say to God, “What more do you want from us?”
You know what? I do not think you are a failure, or that you lack some sort of moral character, if it is all just a little bit too much right now. Sometimes, life is just a little bit too much, and it is OK to say so. Things are sometimes too much.
“But, there must be something more that we can do,” we press ourselves. “There has got to be a way to fix it all,” we say. “What must I do?” we ask. “What must I do?”
That is the question on the mind of the man who approaches Jesus. He needs to know what more he can do. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” I can identify with this guy. “What must I do?” It is a good question. It is my question.
Of course, the good, educated protestant within me immediately answers, “There’s nothing that we can do to inherit eternal life. That is why we trust Jesus to save us.”
See, I learning something in Sunday School. It was not all just flannel graphs and eating crayons. Haha, remember flannel graphs? Just take a little cut out Jesus and stick him on the blue board! Walla! He is instantly walking on water. The miracle of the flannel graph!
I am getting distracted here. I know why. It is because I know that the man’s question goes much deeper than just asking how to get to heaven. It touches on those deeper struggles of life. What he is asking is more like, “Good teacher, what do I need to do to make this life better; with less struggle; to be more holy, and to be more filled with life, and love, and laughter.”
In response, Jesus, the ever caring healer, starts with the basics. Like a doctor trying to make sure that the low hanging fruit are not the cause of the problem: smoking, lack of exercise, forgetting to take your medicine; Jesus asks the man about the commandments. “Do you murder? Do you cheat on your spouse? Do you steal? Do you lie about your neighbors? Do you forget to take care of your parents?”
“No, no, and no again” the man answers. “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.”
But, being good does not necessarily make life all better, does it? Sure, congratulations, you are not going to jail for murdering someone! But, ask a loving caregiver of someone whose health is ailing if they ever feel free from worry and stress.
Being a really, really good person does not guarantee that you will get that “better” life. The continued “lack” of life and vitality is precisely what gets us asking those questions that were asked at the beginning of the sermon. “What more do you want from us Jesus?” “What more do we need to do?”
At this point, we find some of the most wonderful words in scripture. You see, rarely, do we ever get to hear what God feels about something. We almost always have to guess at God’s emotions by what God does and how God reacts. But, in a rare break in God’s façade, we get to hear how Jesus feels when he looks at tired and yearning souls such as us. The scriptures say, “Jesus, looking at [the man], loved him.”
Can we just sit with that for a second? When Jesus looks at us tired and struggling people, as frustrating as we must be…as blockheaded and backwards as we must act sometimes….as confused and wandering and unable to hear the words of Jesus as we are…as childlike as we act sometimes, Jesus still looks at us with nothing but love.
You are loved. In all your struggles, you are loved. In all the deep breaths that stem from overwhelmed souls, you are loved. In all the wayward acts and wrong approaches that you have taken in life, thinking that they would be good, but turn out to be destructive, you are loved. Jesus looks us, and loves us.
And, with love in those eyes, Jesus finally gives us his treatment plan: “give it up.” “Give up the need to control it all, and follow me.” “Trust in me.”
You can hear this message in the answer Jesus gives to the young man with many possessions. Jesus says, “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” In other words, “give up the need to control it all, and follow me.” “Trust in me and only me,” Jesus implies.
The man is astounded at Jesus’ teaching, going away in grief because he had many possessions.
The disciples are also astounded. Jesus tells them that those people in the world who appear the most blessed by God with lots of wealth are no more likely to crawl their way into eternal life than a camel going through the eye of a needle. The disciples are astounded and confused and ask, “Then who can be saved?”
Jesus gives the same answer to them as he did the man with many possessions, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” In other words, “Give up the need to control it all, and follow me.” “Trust in me.”
You want to know what I hear from Jesus’ words here? He is saying, “It is OK if you are not enough, because I am enough.”
Have these past weeks and months been impossible? Are you at the end of caring? Are you all cared out? Jesus says to you, “It is OK if you are not enough, because I am enough.” “For God all things are possible.”
And, maybe, when you grieve enough, as the man starts to grieve as he walks away from Jesus, you will be able to let go: you will be able to let the stuff go, or you will be able to let the controlling person go, or you will be able to let your own need to control every situation in life go, and when you do, when you grieve it all and allow it to be buried for good, you will finally be able to turn around and head in a new direction. You will finally be able to follow Jesus; to truly follow him and trust him. And, when that happens, you will finally be able to see the living God who loves to overcome the impossible.
You will see the living God who opens the eyes of the stubbornly blind. You will see the living God who feeds the entire crowd from a small amount of food. You will see the living God who overcomes all the scorn, all the struggle, and all the death. You will see the living God who is able to overcome death on a cross. You will finally be able to see the living God who is able to put a camel through the eye of a needle. You will finally be able to see the living God who loves to overcome the impossible. After-all, seeing the living God, and following the living God, makes all the difference.
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