Sermon - Because of Love

Mark 10:17-31

Because of Love

James Sledge                                                                                       October 14, 2012

In 1889, James Bryan graduated from seminary and became pastor of Third Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL, having served there part time while still in school.  He would remain there for the next 50 years, becoming a beloved figure in Birmingham known simply as Brother Bryan. He was well known as an evangelist and for his work on racial reconciliation.  But he was best known for his work with the poor and homeless. 

There’s still a Brother Bryan Mission in Birmingham, and a Brother Bryan Park, and a statue of Brother Bryan kneeling in prayer that is one of the city’s better known landmarks. 

Brother Bryan was pastor of Third Presbyterian, but he thought of himself as pastor to everyone he met, and one day he happened to strike up a conversation with a well to do businessman.  At some point Brother Bryan asked the man about tithing.  The man neither tithed nor knew exactly what it was, so Brother Bryan launched into a stirring biblical argument for tithing, for giving the first 10 percent of his income to God. 

The businessman said, “Oh you don’t understand.  I make a lot of money.  Ten percent would be a whole lot more than I could afford to give to a church.”

Brother Bryan responded, “Well sir, I think we ought to pray about this.”  He got down on his knees and cried out to heaven, “Cut him down Lord, cut him down!  Lord, please reduce this man’s income, so he can afford to tithe!”

In our gospel reading today, Jesus meets a well to do businessman who can’t afford to tithe.  Actually, Jesus asks a great deal more of him than a tithe, but the man’s problem is similar to that Birmingham businessman’s.  Other people could toss aside all that they had to follow Jesus, but not this fellow.  And our gospel reading is quite clear why; he had many possessions. It was too much to let go of, and so he went away grieving. 

This is a fairly well known story, and so prosperous, American Christians have had to wrestle with it over the years.  People often point out that Jesus doesn’t ask everyone to sell all they have.  Jesus surely doesn’t expect that of me or you?  No, there must be some special problem with this guy.  His wealth has become an idol, so Jesus attempts to free him.

The only problem with such thinking is that Jesus uses the occasion to offer a general teaching about wealth.  Wealth, Jesus says, is a curse. This totally blows away the disciples.  Like us, they thought of wealth as a blessing, a sure fire sign that God was in your corner.  But Jesus is emphatic. It’s easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s coming dominion.

Brother Bryan seems to agree.  “Cut him down, Lord, cut him down. Take away the curse of wealth from this man so he can get his priorities straight.”  But we’re not so sure. We think that our lives would be so much better if we had more money and more things, not less.
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In a few moments, we will all join in the Sacrament of Baptism.  Together we will enter a covenant with God. Parents and congregation will make promises to God and each other as we respond to covenant questions.  To the parents, “Relying on God’s grace, do you promise to live the Christian faith, and to teach that faith to your child?” To the congregation, “Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, promise to guide and nurture these children by word and deed, with love and prayer, encouraging them to know and follow Christ and to be faithful members of his church?”

We will all answer “Yes,” but in fact our denomination lost its way on baptism a long time ago.  I think we’ve started to get better in recent years, but we’ve got a ways to go. I’m not talking about our baptismal theology. That is carefully thought out and quite good. I’m speaking more practically. Too often we’ve done baptisms a little like Las Vegas wedding chapels perform marriages, on demand, with little preparation and with little expectation that we are now all joined together in a covenant relationship that asks much of us all, that says to a child, “God’s love has claimed you at the cost of death on a cross, and we are all committed to helping you learn what it means to be joined to Christ in these waters.  We are going to follow Jesus and show you how to follow him, too.”

In practice, we’ve shrugged when parents bring children for baptism simply to please the grandparents.  And we’ve not been much worried when we never see them again. 

And for those of us who have raised our children in the church, very often we’ve attached an unspoken caveat to the promises we make at baptism.  We will live the Christian faith and teach it to our children as long as that doesn’t conflict with middle class, American values, as long as it’s compatible with consumerism and the American gospel of “More.” But then along comes Jesus saying, “Your wealth is a curse,” or Brother Bryan praying, “Cut him down, Lord. Reduce this man’s income so he can afford to live the faith.” 

I don’t know if you caught it during the Scripture reading, but the passage tells us what prompted Jesus to name that rich man’s curse and tell him how to be rid of it.  Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, You lack one thing; go, sell what you own.”  And there is little doubt that Brother Bryan also prays out of love and concern, “Cut him down, Lord, cut him down.”

In Presbyterian baptisms, there is always a profession of faith alongside the specific questions to parents and congregation.  Part of that is affirming Jesus as Lord and Savior.  The clear implication of this is that we need saving and we need guidance, someone to show us the way.  And this is precisely where living the Christian faith often gets difficult because we are often not at all sure that we need either.  We’re not sure we need rescuing, that we need to change, and we often find it much easier to trust our own judgment, our own intuition, our own wisdom when it comes to living our lives.

But because God loves us, Jesus says to us, “Let go, and come, follow me.  You, and your children.  Let go, and let me show you the way to truly blessed life.”