"The Impossible Is Possible" based on Mark 10:23-31

The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost - October 18, 2009

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

… "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. … Have you ever wondered what so much of the rest of the world must think of the United States as they watch our television shows?  As members of a community gather together for a little social time around the one and only television in the community and watch the satellite feed, what do they think?  What do they think of houses with more than one room?  What do they think of a woman who can't decide what to wear while their entire wardrobe consists of the clothing they have on their back?  What do they think of people trying to decide where they will have lunch while they wonder if they will even have lunch?  You see the truth is that even the poorest of the poor in the United States would be judged wealthy by citizens in many other nations of the world.  More than one billion people across the world lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation. Every year, we lose 10 million children before their fifth birthday, usually from preventable or treatable causes like measles, diarrhea, and malnutrition. To us in the United States that seems crazy - but it's true. In fact in 2001, it was estimated that there were 2.7 billion people in the world living on less than $2 per day. And so yes, even though probably not many of us would describe ourselves as rich, even the poorest of our poor would be judged wealthy by citizens in many other nations of the world. … And that is why the words of Jesus in today's Gospel reading should terrify us today. That's right, these words should terrify us today. For Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

Now, to fully understand these words of Jesus it's helpful to understand the attitude in first century Israel toward wealthy people. For in a way it was much different than our attitude today. For today there is a bit of a special reverence that most westerners hold for people who take a voluntary vow of poverty in order to serve others.  We admire the doctor who gives up the wealthy practice in the suburbs in order to minister to the poor in the inner city.  We admire the person who leaves a good job in the United States in order to feed the poor in some third world country.  Most of us admire the work Mother Theresa did among the poor in India.  We in the church have heard the words of Jesus concerning wealth so often that we have gotten used to the idea that the poor, they must have a special place in God's heart.

However, this type of thinking was not the case in first century Israel. For to be poor was considered to be accursed by God. For while Biblical culture did frown upon those who amassed wealth illegally, those who achieved wealth through diligence and hard work were considered to be the favored of God.  The thinking was that the honored places in heaven were reserved for people who obtained wealth in legal ways and used it to support the synagogue and the community.  And so yes, the honest rich were thought to be the most likely ones to enter heaven for they were the favored ones of God.

And so it was that when Jesus said, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God," the disciples, "they were exceedingly astonished," our reading tells us. They were shocked. And so they asked, "Then who can be saved?" If the rich - those blessed by God - have even less odds of attaining heaven than a camel does of passing through the eye of a needle, well then, who can be saved? If the honest rich can't get in, well then none of us has a chance. … None of us - rich or poor - has a chance. …

But that's a part of the basic message in today's Gospel reading. It's not that it's bad to be rich - although Jesus certainly is cautioning here against the love of money. It's not that being poor somehow merits you favor in God's eyes. Rather the message here is that none of us - rich or poor has a chance, with our own resources that is, to enter the Kingdom of God.  If you were of the betting sort and wanted to bet on your chances of success in demanding entrance into the kingdom of God - no matter who you are or what you have, Vegas couldn't set the odds against you high enough. For the odds of us entering the kingdom of God are even less than a camel has of passing through the eye of a needle. And of course those chances are not too good.

But that's why we are here today, isn't it? That's why we're here. For we're here this morning much like the publican in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. For you might remember how the Pharisee, when he went up to the temple to pray, he was pretty happy with himself, wasn't he? "I'm glad I'm not like that looser publican over there and all his fellow sinners," was his basic attitude. … But the publican? Well, all he could do was humbly stand at a distance with his head hung in shame. All he could do was beat his chest and say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." "God be merciful to me, a sinner." That's why we're here, isn't it? Asking for God's mercy. ..

For we know the truth, the truth that the Holy Spirit once inspired the Old Testament figure David to write, "Surely I was sinful from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." We are here because we know and experience the reality that St. Paul once wrote in his letter to the Romans, "death came to all men because all sin." We are here because we know the truth that Paul also wrote to the Galatians. For after listing a few of those sins he then concluded, "I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." Sinners from conception is what we are, we know. And it seems that the only thing that changes as we grow is that we get more imaginative and destructive in our sin and better able to hide it. And so it is. It's impossible. Impossible for us to enter into the kingdom of God. Impossible. …

But while it may be impossible with us, it is possible with God.  Jesus said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God."  God is almighty and He loves us dearly.  In fact He loves us so much "that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." We do not have the resources to enter the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom of God has what it takes to enter us.  It's as we have been taught to pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come…" "God may Your kingdom come to us because we sure cannot come to it."

And God's kingdom does come, even to us. In fact it has come as the God-man, Jesus Christ, our Lord has come. For in Jesus, God took on a human nature and humbled Himself to live with us under the law.  In His humility, He kept the law for us.  He even humbled Himself to death on the cross.  And by that death, and by His resurrection on the third day, Jesus made the impossible possible. He opened up the kingdom of heaven even for us sinners; He made it possible for us to be heirs of heaven; He made it possible for us to be citizens of the kingdom of God. He made it possible.

And what Jesus made possible, the Holy Spirit now makes very real in our lives. The Holy Spirit makes the impossible a reality as He grants us a faith in Jesus through the Word of God. What for us is impossible the Holy Spirit makes reality as we have been marked as one redeemed by the Christ the crucified One through those waters of Holy Baptism. What we can never do - be we rich or poor - we are given freely as we gather around our Lord's table and we are fed with the body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of all our sins. The Holy Spirit generously gives us that gift of faith that knows and that confesses that Jesus lived and died for me. A faith through which the impossible happens - something even more impossible than a camel passing through the eye of a needle. Through faith in Jesus the rich, the poor, the have's, the have not's, you and me - sinners all of us - we are brought into the kingdom of God. The impossible happens. …

Now, as you might have noticed, today's Gospel reading follows last week's.  Last week, we heard how a rich young ruler went away sorrowful because gold was his god - certainly something we all need to be on our guard against.  And now this week, Jesus teaches us that none of us, rich or poor can enter the Kingdom of God on our own. Instead, the Kingdom of God comes to us because nothing is impossible with God. Thanks be to Jesus, the impossible IS possible. Whether we be rich or poor, the Holy Spirit puts the Kingdom of God in us, and puts us in the Kingdom of God.  And so to God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - to Him be the thanks and the glory, now and forever. Amen.