10/25/09 - Pentecost 21 - Mark 10:17-27

HOW GOOD IS GOOD ENOUGH?
- We are never good enough
- Only Christ is good enough

It is always an unpleasant thing to be told that you aren’t good enough. Whether you apply for a job and are told that you just aren’t qualified for the position or you hope to go to a certain college but are not accepted because of your grades or upon entering a contest of some kind you quickly find out that all of your work and all of your talent does not stack up against the who will come in first - it is an unpleasant thing to be told that you aren’t good enough. Even something as simple as reading the eye chart at the ophthalmologist’s: “Sorry, you missed too many; that’s not good enough. You’re going to have to get glasses.” Or getting the tests back from your routine checkup at the doctor’s office: “The results aren’t good enough. Your health is not where it should be. You’re going to have to go on a diet.” It is hard to hear that you aren’t good enough especially when you’ve actually put in a lot of effort to do well!
This morning we run across a story about a man who put in a lot of effort to do well. And not just at one thing, but in everything. He genuinely tried to do everything that the Lord commanded as best as he possibly could and he actually thought that he had done fairly well over the years. He had been conscientious, he had been careful, he had been faithful to the laws of Scripture, and he was hoping that his efforts would not go unnoticed. He had done his very best and now he wanted to know if his best was good enough. And so he ran up to Jesus one day, fell to his knees, and asked the Lord, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It seems that this man truly wanted to know if he had done enough to get to heaven. And if there was something else, he’d do it! He was willing, he was ready. “Just tell me what it is, Lord! I’ll do anything you say!” “You know the commandments,” Jesus told him. “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.” But Jesus’ response did not satisfy the man’s question. Instead of realizing that the Lord had just given him a whole plate-full of things to do that he could not keep according to the standard set by God’s law, this man says to Jesus in complete sincerity, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” [“I’ve done those things, Lord. I know I’m supposed to keep the commandments and so I’ve spent my entire life following them. Is there anything else? What’s left? What haven’t I done that I should do?”] And so Jesus, knowing this man’s heart, gave him something to do that cut to the crux of the matter. “One thing you lack,” Jesus said to him. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And the gospel writer Mark says that when this man heard Jesus’ words, his “face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.”
This man who had diligently committed his life to following the laws of Scripture, a man who had zealously pursued everything that was good and morally upright, a man who truly thought he had been able to keep all of the commandments of God, could not even keep the very 1st Commandment. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things because he loved his possessions more. And he went away sad, not only because he couldn’t get himself to do what Jesus asked him to do, but because he finally realized that he had never been able to keep the most important commandment of all: “You shall have no other gods.”
The 1st Commandment isn’t anything too complicated, is it? It is simple and straightforward. It is something we learn right away in catechism class and a command that we will never forget even if we forget everything else. We are supposed to fear (honor and respect) God above all things. We are supposed to love God more than anything else. We are supposed to trust in God more than we trust in any blessing or any person in this life. This commandment is completely understandable. There is very little gray area when it comes to this law. We know what to do and we know what not to do. And yet despite of its simplicity, we still don’t keep it. When it comes to the 1st Commandment, we aren’t good enough! We have proved ourselves to be incapable of keeping this command just as the rich man in our story was. And for the very same reasons: we are impressed with the blessings of this life so much at times that those blessings become more important to us than the one who gives us those blessings.
And don’t fool yourself. Don’t try to convince yourself that you’ve actually kept the 1st Commandment fairly well throughout your life - because that’s simply not true. You may have never bowed down to a golden calf before and you may have never prayed to Mary or one of the so-called “saints” in your life, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t abuse the 1st Commandment every day. When you’ve encountered sicknesses in your life, have you ever trusted in the medicine you were taking or the doctor who was treating you or your own body’s immune system to fight it off without trusting in God himself who works through those things for your ultimate healing? Has love for your children or your spouse or your parents ever given you more joy and happiness than your love for the Lord and for the reading and hearing of his Word? When you’ve faced troubles in this world have you ever relied on your own ability to fix them before you went to the Lord in prayer and asked him for help? Have you ever been a little greedy for something when you should have been content with what the Lord had already given you? Have you ever treated a guest in your house with more attention and care and respect than you have treated the Lord himself in his own house at times? Have you ever been proud of what you’ve done or what you have or who you are instead of being proud of what the Lord has done for you?
If you have ever broken the 1st Commandment in any of these ways at any time, you are not good enough. Based on the sins you have committed against this commandment and every other, you are not good enough to be accepted into heaven. And you never will be good enough to be rewarded with eternal life. And neither will I. Because we can’t make up for the sins we’ve committed in the past. We can’t get God to overlook our punishment based on good behavior. We can’t convince him to make an exception. We cannot do anything to inherit eternal life. We simply are not good enough. And not matter how hard that is to hear, that’s the truth.
The rich man didn’t want to hear it either. But he had to finally accept it. Because he knew that he couldn’t do what Jesus asked of him and, more importantly, he hadn’t done what Jesus had asked of him. The rich man was forced to admit that he could do nothing to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ own disciples even understood that concept. After the rich man walked away, Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And the disciples were amazed at what Jesus said and they wondered, “Who then can be saved?” They got it! They knew what Jesus was saying. If this rich man who had seemed to do everything correctly could not be saved, then who could? Who could live his life better than this man whom Jesus turned away? And that was the point. That was the point Jesus was trying to make. “With man this is impossible,” Jesus told them, “but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Jesus used this opportunity to show his disciples that what is undoable for man is simple for God. What is unattainable for man is easy for God. What is unfeasible for man is effortless for God. Even as something as big and as complex as salvation for sinners, Jesus has no problem achieving. The Lord wanted his disciples to know that despite the rich man’s failures it was even possible for him to be saved. And despite their failures it was possible for them to be saved. and despite our failures it is possible for us to be saved. How? How could a sinner who had all failed to keep the very 1st Commandment - let alone every other commandment - be saved? The answer to that question is found in a short little sentence right in the middle of our story. Jesus had just reminded the rich man of the 10 Commandments and this man had boldly and self-confidently said to Jesus, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” And the very next thing that Mark writes is the key: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
My brothers and my sisters, my fellow sinners, this is your salvation. This little sentence in Mark 10:21 is one of the most beautiful sentences in all of Scripture. Because this sentence is nothing but God’s grace for sinners. “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” This man had just shamelessly told Jesus that he had kept God’s laws perfectly! This man had arrogantly thought that he was actually good enough to earn his way into heaven all by himself as long as he was made aware of everything he was supposed to do! This man was not looking to Jesus as his Savior but as his instructor. And yet Jesus looked at this rich man and loved him anyway. Jesus’ heart went out to him. Jesus wanted this lost soul to be brought to faith. He truly longed for this man to inherit the eternal life he was so desperately seeking. And so out of love Jesus revealed this man’s sinfulness. Because without a knowledge of his sin, this man would never see the need for his Savior. Without being confronted with his failures, this man would never truly understand why Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem that day.
Jesus had been making his way to Jerusalem when this rich man stopped him. And it was going to be Jesus’ final trip to the capital city. Just a few days after this incident Jesus eventually reached Jerusalem and he did so on the back of a donkey on what we now call Palm Sunday. Five days after that this “Good Teacher” was lying dead in a grave with holes in hands and feet, a gouge in his side, gashes in his back, and multiple puncture wounds in his head. He was lying there in a tomb of a rich man to save a rich young man he had met hardly a week earlier. Jesus was motionless on a slab of stone because that rich man couldn’t keep the laws etched on two stone tablets. Jesus was dead because the rich man deserved to be. And Jesus rose back to life because the rich man needed him to be.
We don’t know if the rich man ever came to faith in his Savior, but we do know this: Jesus died and rose for his sins. Because that is what Christ’s love does. It sacrifices - even for sinners. Especially for sinners. Only for sinners. Christ’s love is set aside for sinners like you and for sinners like me. He looks at us and loves us just as he looked at that rich young man and loved him. Because when he looks at us he sees sinners who aren’t good enough on their own and who are in dire need of a Savior. When Jesus looks at us he sees lost souls who need him. And he is more than willing to give himself up for us. And because of that sacrifice we know - we are guaranteed - that we will inherit eternal life. We don’t even have to bother asking the question: “What must we do to inherit eternal life?” because we know that’s the wrong question. No one can “do” anything to “inherit” something else. You can only inherit something if the person who dies leaves it to you. Jesus died once. And he left his inheritance to you. Jesus rose once as well to make sure your inheritance would last forever. You have eternal life right now. There is no doubt. Not because of what you have done and not because of what you can do - you aren’t good enough! You have eternal life right now because of what Christ has done. And that - that is good enough.
Amen.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5-6