21 Pentecost b P.23 October 14, 2018
Job 23:1-9, 16-17, 10-15 Ps. 90
Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-27
The Gospels of the New Testament are written with anticipation. They were written by members of the early church who had developed a theology and spiritual practice after the post-resurrection appearances of Christ.
The early church wanted to show how Jesus anticipated what the church would be like after Jesus was gone.
There is something very true about the last being first and the first being last. How can that be true? People who come before us will always be chronologically before us, but people who are later in history are "first" because they have more of a final say in how the past is interpreted.
The early church came after Judaism but regarded themselves as first, because they did a wholescale re-interpretation of Judaism based upon what had happened in the life of Jesus and in his post-resurrection afterlife and his continuing spiritual presence in the church.
St. Paul wrote that we are saved by grace through faith. He wrote that we are not justified by keeping the law but we are justified by God's grace as seen the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
So how could the theology of St. Paul and the early church be anticipated in the life of Jesus?
The Gospel story presents a rich young man who wants affirmation from Jesus. He represents those who believed their success was due to how they have kept the religious laws. Remember in contrast, that Job represented that bad things can and do happen to a religious man.
In his dialogue with Jesus, the rich man stated his confident certainty about his performance of the law. He was implying that he had obviously earned a place in the kingdom of God.
Jesus was rather foxy; he said,"Well if you're all about counting the good things that you have done, and if you think the kingdom of God depends upon your good works, just keep working and do one more thing; sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me."
Do you see how the early church is telling the story of Jesus to challenge two common assumptions that existed for the Jews and Gentiles during the time of Jesus and the early church?
Being a Jew, made a person the privileged first and chosen; being a Jew meant that one had an automatic salvation. And being a completely observant Jews of all of the rules would be a further guarantee of salvation and being in God's kingdom.
But what was the teaching of the early church? One was saved by God's grace, which is God's doing and not human achievement.
The disciples who are presented in Gospels as students not yet enlightened, were shown to be baffled. They are often used in the Gospel to set up issues and questions that arose in the early church. "Jesus, this man is rich and successful and he keeps all of the law, isn't he an obvious candidate for the kingdom of God? And if he isn't a candidate then who is?"
Jesus said that the kingdom of God is humanly impossible because it is given by God's grace. People have to have the humility to accept what is given to them by God's grace. As long as people think that the kingdom of God or salvation are attained because one has been born as one of God's first chosen people or because one has earned it with good behaviors, then one does not understand God's way or God's kingdom.
In a strange way, one cannot earn what one already has. The rich man was trying to earn God's favor by being better than other people, when Jesus came to teach us that we already have God's favor because God made us and the world, so we already live in God's kingdom. There are no first or lasts in God's kingdom because God's grace haw given everyone the kingdom. Then what is the problem?
The problem is that people live in alienation from their true selves as sons and daughters of God. Jesus came to restore us in the image of God that is upon everyone so that we can perceive that we live in God's kingdom. So, we cannot inherit what we already have; but we have to discover what we already have or the inheritance that has not claimed. Jesus is the executor of God's estate sent to find those who don't realize that they are heirs of God.
You and I come together today, not to earn God's kingdom but to celebrate the grace of God in giving us the kingdom of God and letting us know that we are sons and daughters of God.
This is the good news that we gather to celebrate; this is the good news that we have to share with others, especially to those who are living in alienation from their true identity.
God's grace is a human impossibility and only God has the authority to offer such a grace; what is humanly possible is for us to humbly receive this great gift and to let everyone know about God's love. Amen.
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