Sermon based on Mark 10:17-22

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost - October 11, 2009

Pastor Troy Slater - Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Herington, Kansas

Throughout history there have been certain questions that every culture seems to ask. Questions that people throughout the ages have pondered and wrestled with. Questions such as "Where did we come from?" "How did we get here?" "Why are we here?" "What's is our relationship to the world around us?"

But sooner or later we all begin to realize that the answers to those type of questions aren’t quite as simple as we want them to be. And eventually we find that there is no end to the questions we can ask. It's as King Solomon once said, "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.” Mountains of books have been printed and continue to be printed - in fact over 50,000 new books are published in the United States alone. And of course many of those books attempt to answer those great questions of life. Although I suspect the case is true in our day as it was in Luther's day when he estimated that for every one worthwhile book that was published there were another ten that basically weren't even worth the parchment they were printed upon. Mankind's pursuit of life's answers - especially when we cut ourselves off from God's Word - it's basically a fruitless pursuit, an endless searching.

You might recall how when Paul traveled through Athens, he found that this very educated and sophisticated people were still searching for answers. For during his sermon to the Athenians Paul said, “As I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: To an unknown god.” Educated? Yes. Sophisticated? Yes. But apparently they still felt that something was missing.

And of course that's been true ever since man's fall in Eden. For ever since then, man has been incomplete. No matter how much we own or know, there is still an empty feeling inside - an emptiness that we try to fill in so many different ways. Some pursue power, money, popularity, earthly possessions; others turn to alcohol, drugs, sexual promiscuity to try to fill that emptiness.

And it was that same feeling that the young man in today’s gospel reading seemed to have. A feeling that something was missing in his life. And so he came to Jesus with a question. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Now, to be sure, this man was what we might call an over-achiever. Luke’s parallel account of this event tells us that he was both young and a ruler in the synagogue which was quite unusual. And so here is an exemplary young man of good moral character, a son of wealthy parents. He is already a pillar of the church and community. What parents would not be proud of such a son? What parents would not be proud to have their daughter marry such a man? Here is a young man, probably a Pharisee, on the fast track to success.

But yet this fine young man felt that something was missing in his life. He had dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s, but it just wasn’t enough. And so he came to Jesus and asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And this question it showed that like many people, this man thought that he just needed some special knowledge or just needed to do some special task to guarantee his place in eternity - to make his life complete. He just needed one little secret and his life would be set for all eternity.

And of course this is the deadly delusion of all false religions. False religions teach that good works will eventually lead a person to salvation. They all try to answer the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” by giving you a list of laws and commands. They can all teach great moral behavior, but they all fail with the one, critical question. What should I do when I fail to lead a righteous life? What's my hope as a poor, sinful being? I mean, what does a Jew do when he fails to keep the laws of Moses? What does a Moslem do when he fails to observe the Five Pillars of Islam? What does the member of the secret society do when he can’t maintain that purity of life and conduct so essential for gaining admission into the celestial lodge above? These religions, they are all so eager to give us control over our own destiny, but they all fail to mention what happens when we fail to produce those good works of salvation.

And that's where the emptiness resides. That's what produces the feeling that something is missing. Regardless of how hard we work, none of us can work hard enough to guarantee a place in eternity. And so deep down inside – whether we will admit it or not – we are all afraid that we have failed. As a pastor I've heard it plenty at the bedside of the dying. We all know that we have not lived up to the laws of God. We can fool the world, right? But we cannot fool ourselves and we definitely cannot fool God.

And being God, Jesus knew that this young man had yet to come to grips with this reality. Jesus knew that this young man had yet to understand that there was nothing he could do to inherit eternal life. Despite his good reputation; despite his position at the synagogue; despite his exemplary life; despite his boast that all the laws of Moses, "he had kept from his youth," he was still but "a poor, miserable sinner". But he didn't realize it. Jesus did. And Jesus knew that this young man needed to know that. Jesus knew that this young man had to understand that an outward righteousness was not enough. He needed to examine his heart.

And so, that's what Jesus forced him to do. Looking at this young man Jesus, the one who had come to die for this young man's sin, Jesus looked at him with love and said, "You lack one thing - you may have everything - but you lack this one thing: go, sell all that you have - all that your heart clings to - and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and then come, follow me." With these words, Jesus revealed the man’s heart, didn't He? He revealed that this young man did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. He revealed that this man's fear, love, and trust were all in his money and possessions. In spite of all his good works, this young man had gold for a god. He had gold for his god.

And no doubt there are many false gods that want to rule in our hearts. Security, comfort, reputation, family, friends, popularity, greed, power, pleasure, lust, pride, and on and on and on. Whatever it is that keeps us, that misleads us from fearing, from loving, from trusting in God above all things - it's a false god. As Luther wrote in the Large Catechism, "whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in, that is truly your god."

And no doubt the Holy Spirit knows our weakness. And so He comes to us. He comes to us through the Word of God and shines the searing light of God's holy law into our hearts. He shows our true nature to us. He takes us to the depths of pure terror as He shows us the future we have earned for ourselves. He shows us the true hopelessness of our good works and of those worthless gods that our hearts cling to.

But it is at this lowest point that the Holy Spirit brings to us sinners, the soothing message of the Gospel. When we realize that there is no hope for us in ourselves, the Holy Spirit shows us the hope that is in the one, true God. He shows us how God entered history in the person of the God/man, Jesus Christ. He reveals Jesus to us as the one who kept the law perfectly in our place. Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit takes us to the cross to show us how Jesus suffered and died to take our place. The Holy Spirit informs us that Jesus did not remain buried in the tomb of death, but rose victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil. The Holy Spirit gives us that gift of faith.

He gives us that gift that clings not to who we are or what we have done for our salvation but rather a faith that clings to Jesus and to Jesus alone. I know I've said this before but I think it certainly bears repeating. If you never remember anything else that I ever say, anything you ever read - remember the words from the fifth verse of that great hymn of the faith, "Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness". For that fifth verse, in speaking of the day that you will stand before your Maker, it says: "When from the dust of death I rise, to claim my mansion in the skies, this then will be my only plea: Jesus hath lived and died for me." … That's our hope. That's our confession. That's our faith in life and in death and when we stand before our Maker. "Jesus hath lived and died for me." … Never forget those words. …

We don't know what happened to the young man from our reading who came to Jesus looking for eternal life. We know he went away sad, downcast, yet clinging to his gods of money and possessions that day. But did the Lord eventually break that hold that his false gods had on him? We hope so. Did the Holy Spirit teach him to trust in Jesus alone for his hope and salvation? We don't know, at least not until we arrive in heaven.

But in the meantime, what we do know, is that like that young man, we too have an empty place inside of us - an emptiness that we cannot fill. An emptiness that only the Holy Spirit can fill as He grants us a faith in the crucified and risen One - the one who lived and who died for you and for me. Amen.