Independence
Who wants to be rich?
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." - Mark 10:25-27
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus makes it sound like the rich will never be able to enter the Kingdom of God.
That is good news for the poor, but not so good news for everyone else.
He told the rich man to sell everything and give the money to the poor, and that didn't go over too well. It goes against our better judgment to have nothing.
Where will we live? How will we eat?
We struggle so hard in life to be independent. We acquire a home so we don't need to depend on anyone for shelter.
We work at a job to buy food and clothing, and we start to store up our necessities so we will be comfortable.
But we are not really independent, are we?
We don't grow the food we eat, so we are dependent on the market for our food, and that means we need money, so we have to work.
In a way, we sacrifice a great deal in terms of our time, to spend a few hours each day, enjoying the world God gave us.
Is that what is meant by living in the kingdom?
I think the problem we have with what Jesus is saying is that we believe he is telling us to become like the poor, and I am not sure that is what he is saying.
By giving up the riches, we don't become poor. We become free to enjoy the kingdom, which is here, all around us, but lost and hidden from view because we are too busy to see it.
When we focus all our energy and time on building and maintaining our private space apart from others, we shut ourselves out of the world. Yes, we feel protected and secure, but we are also alone.
Unless we let go and get out there, we will miss experiencing all God has given us, and we will have wasted all our time waiting for what we could have had all along.
That, I think, is what Jesus is trying to get his disciples to see.
It is here, now. Go and enjoy God's grace, and don't bother carrying around all of your burdens.
Scary?
Yes, a bit. But that is only because we haven't tried.
More to come...