Pentecost 20B

20th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today is our annual Women’s Thankoffering Sunday. For those of you not familiar with this tradition, I went to the source and found this description:

“As we make our Thankofferings today, we share in a tradition that goes back to the 1800s or even earlier. Then, when it seemed that there was not enough money to carry out the work of the church, the women would act together as “cent” or “mite” societies. Each woman would set aside offerings at home throughout the year in thanksgiving for blessings received. And on occasion, the women would come together as we do today, joining their offerings together to support ministry of many kinds.” [https://www.womenoftheelca.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020_Thankoffering-English-Final.pdf]

This tradition goes back quite a ways…at least to the birth of this congregation (if not earlier). The Women of Miller’s have a long tradition of doing this monthly within their Circles, taking up their own offerings, and using the gathered funds to support other ministries. Currently, the Women of our church support a child who lives in an impoverished region overseas. They will continue to support the child until high school graduation. And this is not the first child they’ve supported.

While there is no specific date set by the tradition for when to hold this service, our congregation’s tradition is for the 2nd Sunday in October. I think that’s works quite nicely, actually. It’s a good time when the travels of summer are well past, we’ve gotten over the “getting back to school” chaos…mostly… but we haven’t hit the busy-ness of the holiday and Christmas season yet. We find ourselves in a nice sort of steady pace, where we experience about as “normal” as you can get. And to insert the message of thankfulness and thanksgiving is perfect.

I think today’s Gospel message speaks to this perfectly. Consider the scene: here we have a young fellow - Mark doesn’t say he’s young, but he “ran” up and knelt before the Lord. I’m a bit younger than a good number of you in here, and when I read that, all I can think about is my knees. So…I’ll extrapolate from that description that this is a fairly young man. We also know that he’s well-to-do. He’s got a lot of money: “he had great possessions”. And so Jesus is gaining fame and reputation around the region, and this man comes up to ask him a question.

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Now I ask you: doesn’t this sound like a faithful question? It certainly seems sincere and focused on the proper goal. He’s not asking for special favor or for some kind of worldly blessing. He’s asking for the very thing that Jesus came to deal with - eternal life for all of God’s children. So this question seems both appropriate and faithful.

I’ve always liked Jesus’ first response here: “Why do you call me ‘good’? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus’ humility is always perfect. But we’ll save that for another time. Jesus then tells him the requirements of God’s Law - a quick summary of the 10 Commandments. Under God’s Covenant with Moses, in order to enjoy eternal life, you had to live a righteous life, which meant perfect obedience to God’s Law. And since no one was capable of that, you had to make an atoning sacrifice for those sins you did commit. Lots of calves and lambs and doves and other animals were killed to pay the blood price for the sins of God’s people. So Jesus reminds his young inquirer of what the Law demands.

The young man’s next response raises some questions. He says to Jesus “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Right away, when I read this, I start to have doubts about this guy. NO ONE can live a lifetime without committing some sort of sin. No one except the Good Teacher standing in front of this fellow, anyway. So either he’s down-playing his own sinfulness to look good in front of the teacher, or he’s just ignorant of his own sin. I’m inclined to lean toward the latter of those two.

But who am I to throw stones at him? I mean, how many times in my life have I said to myself: “I’m a pretty good guy. I don’t violate the Commandments. I don’t lie, steal, or cheat. I haven’t killed anyone. I follow God’s Law. That makes me a decent human being.” I won’t ask for a show of hands, but I’d be shocked if most of you - if not all of you - haven’t said the same thing to yourselves. We lull ourselves into a sense of our own goodness because we haven’t broken the letter of the Law.

And that’s the thing about God’s Law - and I’m speaking particularly about the Old Testament Laws here. You know, those 613 laws spelled out in the Torah? Most of them describe what we are *not* to do. The 10 Commandments share that quality: You shall NOT: have other gods, take the Lord’s name in vain, kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, covet. They are (with 2 exceptions) restrictive in nature.

And this is where the young man is running into trouble. He views God’s Law under the Old Covenant. He’s following the letter of the Law, but not the intent. And that’s the lesson the “Good Teacher” is teaching him here. But notice what Mark describes about Jesus before he speaks again: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him,...” This could be my favorite part of this whole chapter. Here’s why:

We believe that Jesus is God. And because Jesus *is* God, we know that Jesus is all-knowing. That means that Jesus knew exactly what this guy was going to say and do. So Jesus *knew* that the man was going to walk away, and not follow Jesus’ command to him. Jesus *knew* that the man would not be able to live up to the expectation that Jesus was going to give him. This is - by anyone’s definition - blatant disobedience to Jesus. Did the guy know that Jesus was the Messiah? I don’t think so. If he did, he would have used a different term of address. But Jesus knew the man would walk away in disobedience. So how does Jesus respond to him? HE LOVED HIM. And if you’re wondering, the word Mark uses here is “agape” - that self-emptying love that Jesus epitomized on the cross. Jesus loved him.

Isn’t it a relief to hear that our Savior loves even those who disobey him? When we read about God’s wrath on sinners (which is those who disobey) and His Judgment upon those who do evil (those who disobey), it can lead to some pretty scary thoughts. And so reading this passage where Jesus loves a man who he KNOWS is about to disobey him is, for me, quite a relief. You might even say that it’s “Good News”.

And then Jesus said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Nowhere in God’s Law does it say that you have to give up ALL of your worldly possessions. God’s Law commands a tithe, which is 10%. So why didn’t Jesus tell him to give up just 10% of his wealth? This seems a bit outside of the demands of Scripture.

And this right here is where this Mark’s Gospel speaks to thanksgiving. I think this young, rich man was not thankful. He did not appreciate the wealth that God had given him. I suspect he was, as he himself described, a relatively decent human being. It appears he was a law-abiding citizen and a man of faith. But his heart appears not to have been thankful…at least not to God.

I think if he was thankful to God for his possessions, this story might have turned out differently.

If you’ve ever listened to Dave Ramsey or done Financial Peace University, you know that a big part of what Dave teaches about personal finance for Christians is that everything we have belongs first to God. Everything comes from Him. We don’t own it…we’re just entrusted with it. When you think about “your” possessions in that way, it changes how you think about money and property and…well…all of the possessions you think you own. And hopefully, if your heart is in the right place, your sense of thankfulness will grow…and you’ll start asking “how does God want me to use this?” (Whatever “this” is.)

Jesus knows this about the young man, and he puts it right out there on the table. “You lack one thing” he says. One thing more and you will inherit eternal life. In other words, there’s one thing holding you back. There’s just one thing that’s preventing you from getting what you’re asking. And that one thing is the one thing that’s most important to you: your wealth. You think it’s yours, but it’s not. It’s God’s. And you are merely the steward…the caretaker of it. So here’s what God wants you to do: give it all away. Give it away so that it’s not in your way any more.

And what happens? He can’t do it. We find out there *is* one Commandment that he’s violated. He has made a false god for himself: his wealth. He can’t give it up. His greed has overshadowed his faith. He chose wealth over the Living God. And he walked away sorrowful, knowing that he couldn’t do what the Teacher had instructed him. To him, he probably felt like he had lost access to eternal life.

But remember the man’s question: “What must *I* do to inherit eternal life?” And that’s the key right there. He wanted to know what HE had to do. If every single human being would have the same opportunity we just read right here, to ask Jesus this same question, what do you think he would say to you? I think he would point out whatever it is that is competing with God for your attention and tell you to get rid of it. And I’d be surprised if any of us would not also walk away “disheartened by the saying.”

The key is that nothing YOU do is going to gain eternal life for you. That’s what the Gospel means for us. We don’t earn eternal life. We can’t. The only thing that earns eternal life for anyone is Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection on the 3rd day. That’s it. You had nothing to do with that accomplishment. It is a free gift. We didn’t pay for it, we didn’t work for it, and we certainly don’t deserve it. He gives it to us anyway.

My friend Pastor Hefner says that “the first thing faith says is ‘thank you’.” That’s how you receive a gift. Giving thanks is critical to the Christian faith. Another name for Holy Communion is “Eucharist” - which is taken directly from the Greek word for thanksgiving - “εὐχαριστέω denotes the prayer of thanksgiving in general...” [Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 411.]

Many of our Psalms begin or end with giving thanks. When we teach our confirmands how to pray, thanksgiving is always one of the elements of prayer. Remember in the Old Testament how many times God reminds the people “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (Psalm 81:10, ESV) That phrase occurs 328 times in Scripture. Why would God do that so often? To remind His people what they have to be thankful for. And if you recall, they had only been out of Egypt for a month before they started complaining. Do you complain when you’re thankful? No. You can do one or the other.

I want to share one more part of the description of the Thankoffering service: “Together, we do more than we could ever do apart. In gratitude for all God has given to us, and with hope for all that is to come, let us now give our thankoffering.” When we put our envelope in the plate, it is not an offering to Miller’s; it is an offering to God. Whatever you put in that envelope is your response to God’s blessings upon you. You are not making an offering to your pastor, to this congregation, to our denomination. Your offering is to God. And, just like you, this congregation are also stewards of what God has given us. Our calling then is to discern what God wants us to do with these gifts. After all, they came from Him; it’s only appropriate for us to do with them something that would please Him.

I am thankful that the Women of our church have been so faithful in keeping up their Women’s circles and Bible studies. I am thankful that they continue their various other activities, like the quilters and yarners. This church is able to do good things because individuals come together and do small acts of good for the community. That’s exactly what we’re called to do. We are called to be thankful for our gifts, and to use them for the good of our neighbor. Those who have thankful hearts are naturally led to do just that.

So today I want all of us to take some time and reflect: what am I thankful for? Please think deeply about this. Think about it on your own, but also with your family. What are you thankful for? What has God blessed you with? What is He calling you to do with those blessings?

Give thanks to God in your prayers, but also in your time and in your actions. As you do, you will reflect the light that God has shined on all of us in His Son, and your faith will show everyone around you what you believe. And won’t that be a nice change from the conflict the world is experiencing right now? Let’s all live up to that charge we were given in baptism: “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” It’s so much easier to shine that light when our hearts are thankful. Let us pray that we are always mindful of our blessings, and that we would always be thankful for our God Who has given them to us.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.