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Mark 10:17-31

Wanted: Followers

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Mark 10:17-31

Wanted: Followers

By The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel

GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, AMEN.

Most of us do not want to be called a follower. Corporations and congregations look for leadership qualities; young people aspire to be leaders. Obituaries usually draw attention to the leadership the deceased has shown. We value strong leaders in government, in the community, in the Christian Church. We do not usually seek followers.

There is a delightful story about a young man applying for admission to a prestigious college which admitted only 250 students per class. The boy’s parents got a questionnaire to fill out, in which, among other questions was this one: “Is your son or daughter a leader or a follower?” The parents pondered the question and concluded that while their son was a very able student, he was probably more a follower than a leader. This is what they indicated on the form. In due time, they received a letter from the college’s admissions office. Their son had been accepted with the notation added, “We are pleased that in a class of 249 leaders, we will have one follower!”

It is doubtful that any of Jesus’ disciples saw themselves as leaders. Jesus never asked them to be but called them to be faithful followers. Jesus was himself the leader and they were asked to believe in Him and follow Him. In the Christian Church we need fewer people who perceive themselves as leaders, movers and shakers, and many, many more people who are willing to be followers first. It is impossible to be a true leader in the Christian Church without being a follower of Jesus Christ first.

In our Gospel for this morning, we see a man of faith who came to Jesus, knelt before him and sought Jesus out as the one who taught the way of salvation: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.” Theologically we might have wished Jesus had answered him, “Simply believe and you will have eternal life.” Jesus does not make it so easy for this man. What does Jesus say to him? “Keep God’s Law, free your life from bondage to money and possessions, and follow me.” To inherit eternal life calls for obedience. Jesus tells the man, “You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.” The law of God is the foundation of obedience. Being a follow of Jesus means knowing God’s will.

God’s will is based on the Ten Commandments. Following the commandments leads to a happy and God-pleasing life. But there is more to being a follower of Jesus than moral living. The man replied that he had kept the commandments from his youth. Jesus response is wonderful. He looked at him and loved him. This sentence is found only in Mark. In Matthew’s account, the one who came to Jesus is called a young man. In Luke’s it is a ruler. Here we are not given and age or told his social position. When the man is called the rich young ruler it is a conflation of the three Gospels, but only Mark describes Jesus reaction to this man who had struggled to keep the commandments as a faithful follower of God since his youth and that attitude is love. God loves those who seek after Him to follow Him in obedience.

But this man lacked one thing. Jesus told him, “Sell what you own and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me.” When the man heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving—or as it used to be translated, “His countenance fell—for he had many possessions.

The earliest name for Christians (before the term Christians was ever coined) was “People of the way.” It suggests that we are on a journey through life and we can walk with God or not, we can follow Jesus or our own path through life. God wants us to be law-abiding and upright. The Ten Commandments are a good guide but even in cultures without the Scriptures, God’s Law is written on the heart and people know that they should not lie, steal, commit murder or commit adultery. To be happy means not to be consumed with envy for others or covet what we do not have.

But Christianity is more than a moral philosophy—it means people who are willing to follow Jesus to the cross and suffering. The way of the cross is the only way to the crown of eternal life. And Jesus, in our Gospel, is clear about what that cross just may be for people in rich countries like the United States. When people have more than enough of material goods, the way of obedience is to share with those who do not have enough. Jesus’ answer to the man is very clear: sell what you have and give to the poor—that is the way to have treasure in heaven. This saying was so hard that his hearer left shocked and dismayed. He was able to keep the Ten Commandments but was unwilling to give up his money and power. Jesus then remarked to his disciples, “How hard it will be for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Nothing should come between us and God’s kingdom. Jesus is not saying that we should suffer want as followers of Christ. It is God’s good and gracious will that we receive our daily bread—everything we need for abundant life: food and clothing, home and shelter, work, family and friends, a good government. Heaven is described in the Bible as a banquet feast and life with God, here and now, can also be characterized as blessing upon blessing. But Jesus says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye on a needle than for the rich to enter heaven. He is not saying that material blessings are wrong but that they are rather God’s gifts to share with those in need. Those who have been richly blessed should use those resources to bless others.

When I was growing up we would sometimes buy frozen pizza at the grocery store. The name of the brand was Totino’s. The Totino family started a restaurant in Minneapolis in the 1950s which specialized in Italian food. Their pizza was so well-received that in 1962 Totino’s entered the wholesale pizza business. In a few years the business had survived difficult times and began to develop a nationwide reputation for excellence. Then it was purchased by the Pillsbury Company for 20.3 million dollars and Mrs. Totino became the first woman vice-president of Pillsbury. Financial worries were over for the Totinos; they had become independently wealthy.

But the story does not end there. On the day the sale was completed, Mrs. Totino gave two million dollars to Northwestern College in St. Paul, a small-Bible-centered school, in gratitude for its radio ministry which she said had changed her life. Her husband, a Roman Catholic, gave two million to the Catholic schools of the Twin Cities out of gratitude for his moral and religious training. They had received much and were willing to give back much.

I would like to share with you the story of a woman from my first parish, Pearl Fisher. She was a retired Chicago teacher; not a wealthy person. In fact she had gone back to school as a young widow with two boys to rear, because she needed to support them. In her retirement, she sold her home, a small Chicago bungalow, and moved into an apartment. She did not know what the future would bring for her or what her needs were going to be, but in faith, she decided to give a tithe from the sale of her home to God’s work. We talked and prayed together and she decided to give $10,000 to the foreign missions of the Lutheran Church and also furnished a prayer chapel in the congregation. From what she had been given, she was willing to give and very generously.

Jesus is clear that the way to eternal life is obedience. Those to whom much has been given of them much is expected. Stewardship, discipleship, means giving money, time, energy, abilities to the Lord. It means taking a stand on moral and religious issues. It means caring about the neighbor in need and being willing to identify with the poor and oppressed not standing with the oppressor. It means being willing to see the Mexican farm laborer as a brother or the unwed mother as a sister, the drug abuser or person with AIDS as a fellow child of God.

The world prefers the rich young ruler for all those things—we respect money and power, we find the young attractive. Most congregations and organizations and communities would be delighted to welcome this man who came to Jesus. He had many gifts to be a leader in the community—far better educated than the Galilean fishermen who were following Jesus, more acceptable and upstanding than the publicans and tax-collectors who had become disciples. But Jesus did not want a leader, he wanted a follower. And he wants us to follow too—Jesus does not need people who have all the answers, who know everything, those complacent that they have done everything they needed to do, but those willing to seek answers, to share resources, to take risks for their faith.

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, once told the story of a rich man who ordered from abroad a pair of faultless horses at an exorbitant price. He decided that he would use them for his own pleasure and the pleasure of driving them himself. Then something like a year or two passed. Anyone who had previously known the horses would not have been able to recognize them again. Their eyes had become dull and drowsy, their gait lacked style and decision; they could not bear anything. They couldn’t hold out—they could hardly drive for four miles without having to stop on the way. Sometimes they came to a standstill while he sat and drove his best. Besides that, they had acquired all sorts of bad vices and habits. Then he had the king’s coachman called. The coachman drove them for a month. In the whole land, there was not a pair of steeds that held their heads so proudly, whose glance was so fiery, whose gait so handsome…

How did this come about? It is easy to see, Kierkegaard noted, that the owner was not a coachman but pretended to be. The owner drove the horses according to the horses’ understanding of what it is to drive; the royal coachman drove them according to the coachman’s understanding of what it is to drive.

Many people have great talents and abilities, but they lack the coachman. They may be leaders or think they are but what they need to be is a follower. Jesus Christ is the true leader; the one who reveals God’s will and speaks God’s Word. Following Jesus will be hard, keeping commandments, giving to the poor, recognizing that all we have is a gift of God to be used to God’s glory. We are not asked to be a leader but invited to become a follower of Jesus. Amen.

Copyright 2006, James D. Kegel. Used by permission.