Eternal God: send us your Holy Spirit so that we may receive your preached Word and believe it. Glorify your Word in our hearts and comfort us by it to eternal life — for the sake of Jesus, your Son. Amen.
* * *
Hands up who knows who Mr Squiggle is? Growing up I watched the Australian children’s show “Mr Squiggle.” Mr Squiggle was a puppet with a pencil for a nose, connecting lines and dots to form a picture. Often the picture would be upside down and he would gleefully cry out “Upside down! Upside down!” prompting the assistant to turn the card on the blackboard the right way up to reveal the completed picture. Let’s watch a short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlMcACstFjo
* * *
An initial reading of our gospel story today may suggest it is only about money, riches, and material possessions. But Jesus uses this as the context to teach about the upside down kingdom of God. Jesus turns conventional, human thoughts about God’s kingdom on its head. “Upside down! Upside down!” Let’s discover God’s upside down kingdom as we unpack the story.
* * *
Jesus started on his way. On this first Sunday of Lent we recognise that Jesus has started on his way toward Jerusalem. Jesus is travelling on his way to the cross.
* * *
Along the way a rich man runs up to Jesus and falls on his knees, asking “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” No one runs in the hot Palestinian sun, so this tells us his question is urgent. When was the last time you thought about life after death? It’s so easy to get caught up in this life that we forget to consider the next. This wealthy man prompts us to renew our desire to know how to enter the kingdom of God.
* * *
Jesus begins his answer by patiently explaining the commandments.
Then we get to the interesting part! The man replies, “Teacher, all these [commandments] I have kept since I was a boy.” What!? Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met anyone who has kept all the commandments. Yet here’s this man saying he’s kept them since boyhood (since his bar mitzvah). Is he lying or just naive?
An alternative is that this man had kept all the commandments. Remember that the law given to Moses included all sort of commands, some of which were commands about what to do when you failed to keep the commands. When a Jew failed to love God or their neighbour, when they failed to keep the commandments, they could follow other commandments that dealt with their sin. God gave a whole range of sacrificial offerings to cover over both individual and corporate sin. There were the daily and Sabbath sacrifices. In addition there were seasonal feasts: Passover, Pentecost, First Fruits, and of course the Day of Atonement, about which God says, “on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.” (Leviticus 16:30). There was also the ‘sin offering’ (given by individuals for sins committed unwittingly), and the ‘guilt offering’ (given to restore individuals or communities to God or each other). Rabbis from Jesus’ time have written that it was indeed possible to keep the law of Moses. In fact Saul the Pharisee thought he had, saying that his righteousness was “faultless” (Philippians 3:6).
Yet in order to perform these ritual offerings and sacrifices you needed a decent amount of money. You were required to purchase grain, oil, incense, and different types of meat (ranging from portions to whole animals). Large pots of clean water were needed for ritual washing. A tax and tithe were required to upkeep this priestly temple system. The poor couldn’t always afford these things. Keeping the law was possible, it was just an expensive business!
* * *
Next we notice that Jesus does not rebuke this rich man. Rather “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Jesus loves this man because he sees great potential — this man is concerned with keeping the law, he has a desire to know how to receive eternal life. But Jesus knows the man’s heart. He knows what this man lacks. He turns his world upside down with just a few words.
* * *
Jesus says, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” It can be easy to think that Jesus is speaking here in general terms; that he is calling everyone to sell up, live a life of simplicity and poverty, perhaps in a monastery or commune or something. But I don’t think this is a general command. If we all quit our jobs, sold up everything, and became full-time monks or nuns, who would grow grain for bread, educate children, repair cars, work in supermarkets? God the Father employs all sorts of valid Christian callings and vocations as He rules and orders and provides for His creation.
I think Jesus’ command here is specifically for this rich man. Jesus is uncovering this man’s spiritual disease, Jesus lays bare the idol that this man worships — and it is deeper than mere money. This man relies on his wealth to make himself clean before God. He has equated following God with following the rituals that he can afford with his earthly treasure. This man gets right with God through his actions. So without money, how would he justify himself before God?
This is the crux of the whole matter: do we inherit eternal life through our actions, or some other way?
Jesus looked around and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” It is so engrained in our human nature to believe that we need to do something to inherit eternal life. But Jesus turns this human notion on its head. “Sell everything, and give it to the poor.” Jesus is saying, “Stop using your own wealth and resources. Stop trusting in your own actions. Become poor. Trust in God alone and follow me.”
This is hard. We need to hear it again and again until we get it. What you do does not influence God giving you salvation. What you do does not earn you favour with God. What you do does not give you entry into the kingdom of heaven. In fact Jesus later says “with man this is impossible.” It is impossible for man to do something to gain entry to God’s kingdom.
* * *
The disciples were amazed. “Who then can be saved?” they exclaim. The laws God gave the people were not intended to be a ritual act to be performed in order to gain entry to the kingdom. They were not a payment to God to get through the gate. That is impossible.
Rather, our entry into the kingdom of heaven is a gift. Eternal life is inherited, not earned. We can’t do anything to earn this inheritance, it is freely given to us.
The laws, the rituals, then were a means to receive the gift of eternal life that God freely offers. Let me say that again: our Christian rituals do not earn us the gift of eternal life; a gift cannot be earned, but is freely given. Rather, our Christian rituals (such as baptism, communion, worship) are the way that we receive God’s free gifts.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God turns everything on its head. God freely offers you the gift of eternal life. The old system was for us to bring a sacrifice (animal, grain, incense). But through Jesus, God now gives the sacrifice of His own Son. “Upside down! Upside down!”
* * *
Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you.” Peter rightly identifies that, ironically, receiving this free gift has a cost.
Jesus explains further. “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — along with persecutions — and in the age to come eternal life.” Following Jesus means leaving things behind. Following Jesus may cause problems at home, with your family, in your fields (your places of work or study). Jesus even says that his disciples will not fail to receive a hundred times as much persecution. Yes, you heard right, we are guaranteed to receive much persecution! “Upside down! Upside down!”
What problems or tensions has your discipleship caused in your home and family? Has following Jesus caused you moral or ethical dilemmas at work? Have you been embarrassed at school or work for following Jesus? Following Jesus has a cost; I wonder what it has and will cost you?
The upside down kingdom of God means leaving everything. We leave behind our our false trust in ourselves, false trust in material possessions, false trust in earthly things. Yet in giving up everything to become poor, we become rich; in giving up false trust in earthly treasure, we receive heavenly treasure — we inherit the kingdom of God and eternal life. “Upside down! Upside down!”
Thank God that all things are possible with Him! Amen.
