& Have It All

Impossibly Tough Love

10.13.24 [Mark 10:17-27] River of Life (21st Sunday after Pentecost)

Grace and peace are yours in abundance since God has chosen to sprinkle you clean with the precious blood of his obedient Son. Amen.

There's a reason it’s called tough love. It’s tough as a child to have a parent push you beyond what you think you can do, because they know you haven’t yet given your all. It’s tough as a child to have a parent follow through on their threat of punishment and miss out on something big because you broke the rules and now you’re grounded.

But it’s not just tough love from the child’s perspective. It can even be tough when you’re neither the one receiving the tough love nor the one demonstrating it. It can be tough to watch a coach have their athletes run that same drill or play again because they didn’t get it right. It can be tough to watch a student review all the red ink on their assignment.

The tough thing about tough love is you only get it when you see the end goal. And usually, the only one who sees the end goal is the one who is practicing the tough love. It’s the parent, the coach, the teacher, the leader who cares about their child, their player, or their student enough to be honest with them and hold them accountable.

Today in our Gospel reading from Mark 10, we have a vignette of tough love. Jesus is passing through Judea on his way to Jerusalem when a man (Mk. 10:17) ran up to him and fell on his knees before him and asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

There is nothing about this situation that suggests this was anything other than a sincere request. In Mark’s Gospel some of the others who fall before Jesus like this man did have leprosy, or are demon-possessed, the man once known as Legion, or their daughter is dying, like Jairus. They are desperate people in dire straits.

But, right off the bat, Jesus seems to be hard to get along with. First, he fixates on the word good, telling the man (Mk. 10:18) No one is good, except God alone. He goes on to point the man back to the Law of Moses—especially the second table. Basically, Jesus asks him, Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Would they agree?

The man who was at Jesus’ feet is quite certain about this and even picks up the hint Jesus dropped and doesn’t call him Good Teacher any longer. (Mk 10:20) Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.

This is where we expect tough love to spring into action. You really think you’ve kept the whole Law since you were little?!?!?

But Jesus doesn’t jump all over that declaration just as he didn’t make a big fuss about the young man asking what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Instead, Mark tells us that Jesus looked at this man and loved him and said: There’s one thing you haven’t done. You haven’t had me over for dinner. And you haven’t made a donation to our work.

No that’s not what Jesus said. While that would strike us a strange, what he does say is even tougher to understand. (Mk. 10:21) One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

You see Jesus knew something about this man that we do not. This man had great wealth. We aren’t told how he amassed his fortune, but if we take him at his word, it wasn’t through dishonest dealings. Maybe he inherited it from his family. Maybe he worked hard and made himself very wealthy. More than likely it was a combination of those two things.

But as Jesus looked at this man he also knew something about this man that he did not. Jesus recognized that these good things had had a very negative effect on his heart. So Jesus showed him some tough love. (Mk. 10:21) Go sell everything and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. It wasn’t that Jesus was just being difficult. He had a perfect end goal in mind for this man and his affinity and attachment to his material goods became a hindrance. That’s why the man went away sad.

Have you ever thought about what Jesus might say to you if you asked him this same question? Maybe his answer to you would be the same as it was to this man. Maybe, like this man, the idea of just giving up your financial security, your lifestyle, and your identity and also giving it all away would make your face fall as his did.

But maybe it’s something different. What if Jesus said to go and confront that one friend who has fallen into temptation and sin? What if Jesus told you that you needed to forgive that one person who hurt you more than any other? What if Jesus said you need to not only change your attitude toward your adversary but you need to love them and pray for God to bless them? What if Jesus told you that you needed to put an end to your pride and stop trying to impress people or always figure things out on your own or always have the last word? What if Jesus told you you had to stop complaining? What if Jesus told you that you have to keep trusting that he is working out everything for your good even though everything that you are experiencing is only bad?

What if none of those things are what ifs? God has said all these things to you. (Mt. 18:15) Go and show your brother or sister their fault. (Col. 3:13) Forgive as you have been forgiven. (Mt. 5:44) Love your enemies and bless those who curse you. (James 4:10) Humble yourself. (Php. 2:14) Do everything without grumbling or arguing. (Proverbs 3:5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In many ways, while it would be painful to sell all our possessions and give the proceeds to the poor it would be easier than doing any of these things all the time. And we are called to do them all. Because they are good and that is what good does. And for us, this is impossible.

But not for our God. You see, these are the very things that Jesus did for all of us. Jesus gave up everything that was always his in heaven and lived among sinners as a man of meager means. But he didn’t just empty himself financially. He did this for us spiritually, too. (2 Cor. 8:9) Though he was rich in righteousness, for our sakes he became poor and was treated like a sinner and a despised criminal, so that we through his poverty might become rich.

Jesus also did all those other things. He confronted people when they had fallen into temptation and sin—as we see him doing for this man. He loved his enemies and prayed for those who were executing him. He did not expend his energy trying to impress people or get the last word. He became our servant. (Mk. 10:45) He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Though his life was difficult and stressful and never because he was foolish or selfish, we don’t hear Jesus complain about how hard his life was. Though his life was filled with sadness and suffering, he entrusted himself to his Father and his perfect will. He died in a way that defies human understanding. He did this because he trusted in the Lord. That’s why his last words on Good Friday were (Lk. 24:36) Father, Into your hands I commit my spirit. Any one of these things would be impossible for us to do. But not for God.

And with God dwelling in us they are no longer impossible for us to do all the time. By nature, like this man, we are incapable of accepting a hard word like this from Jesus. In fact, by nature we are incapable of accepting Jesus even when we want to. That’s why it’s so silly to talk about making a decision for Christ. If anyone could do so, this man was begging for the opportunity to do so. But he couldn’t. None can.

But with God we receive all that Christ has done. By grace through faith, the things that Jesus says to us are no longer impossible, but a part of our striving, the end goal of the tough love we have received.

With God we do the impossible but important things he has commanded us to do. With God, we seek out our erring brother or sister to lead them to repentance & a renewed spirit. Strengthened by the forgiveness he has given us, we can forgive the incomprehensible. With God’s blessing surrounding us, we love those who hate us, pray for those who persecute us, and bless those who curse us. This would be impossible and even foolish on our own. But knowing the power and wisdom of God’s love, even this is possible. With God, we put to death our pride. We don’t need to impress people when God has made us holy and blameless in his sight. We don’t need to rely on our own intelligence and ingenuity when God has called us to walk by faith and not merely by sight. We don’t need to have the last word when God’s Word has taken charge of our hearts and minds. With God, we see the foolishness of complaining. We see the blessing of being able to cast all our cares on the Lord knowing that he cares for us. We have the comfort of knowing that God provides all our daily bread. With God, we see his ability to work good even through bad. He has done so through his Son and again and again in our own lives. With our own mind, these things are impossible and insulting even. With God, these thing are very much possible because we know and have seen Jesus look at us with love.

Just as he did for another rich man. Sometime later, as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem he encountered another man with great wealth. And Jesus looked at him, up in that tree, and loved him, too. He did not tell Zacchaeus to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. He told Zacchaeus (Lk. 19:5) Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. That day, God did the hard thing, the impossible thing. He saved a wretched and rich sinner. Do you know the impact that God’s love had on Zacchaeus? (Lk. 19:8) Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anyone out of anything I will pay back more than what I owe, four times the amount. Why did that happen? Because Jesus looked at him and loved him and said what this man needed to hear. And because of that salvation came to Zacchaeus’ house. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost—even when it’s hard for us to see. Amen.