Monday, October 12, 2015
Sermon for Pentecost 20
Proper 23 B ~ October 11, 2015
Holy Trinity & St. Anskar
…go, sell what you own, and give the money to
the poor,
you will have treasure in heaven; then come,
follow me.
+In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity,
We pray in today’s Collect that God’s grace may always
precede and follows us. Can we doubt that it does, whether we recognize it or
not? As is so often true, the words of our prayer are intended not to get God
to do something, but to alert us to
what God is already doing. Grace preceded and followed the Rich Young Man. In
today’s Gospel. Jesus recognized him as a genuine spiritual seeker, loved him,
and told him what to do if he wished to complete the journey. Can we doubt that
the advice came with grace sufficient to follow it? Well yes! Or rather, yes
and no.
Grace is always on offer,
surrounding us before and after, but grace does not force itself on us. Grace
is not tyrannical. We still have a say in the matter. We cannot doubt that
sufficient grace was offered to the Rich Young Man, but whether or not he
accepted it was still up to him. We are free. Even when it comes to grace, I think.
Grace offers new possibility that we could never enjoy on our own, but God will
not force us to enjoy it.
We don’t know what the Rich Young
Man actually did, except that he went away sorrowful. Conventionally, we interpret
this to mean that he didn’t follow
Jesus. But the Gospel doesn’t say that, does it? In fact it says that IC advised him to go away “Go, and sell
all you have &c.” The first step in obedience was to go away, which he did. We are also told that he went in sorrow “because
he had much.” Again, we conventionally interpret this to mean that he was so
attached to all that stuff that he just couldn’t bear to part with it, and he was
sorry that he couldn’t follow IC. But the Gospel doesn’t say that either. It could
just as well be that he was sorry because all that stuff he had was going to
take a long time to liquidate. Maybe weeks or even months. He couldn’t follow
IC right away – not for some time, pro-bably, even if he were determined to do as
IC said. All the Gospel records is that he followed Jesus’ advice. At least the
first part of it.
So, we just don’t know. For all we
know, the Rich Young Man went and sold everything, and then came back to become
a disciple, an early Jewish Christian and even a martyr! It’s an open question,
left that way intentionally, I believe. Maybe he was a camel who did pass through the eye of the needle.
And so now it is time to rehearse,
once again, certain linguistic facts
that may (or may not) shed some light on this bizarre image of camels and
needles. In Greek, the word kamel is imported
from Syriac, in which it is one vowel different from rope. And like Hebrew and Arabic, Syriac vowels were not written –
the reader had to supply them. This fact was noticed of old and produced a controversy
about the translation. None less than Cyril of Alexandria thought that kamel was a misspelling and that ROPE was intended. Literarily, that does
make more sense. After all, a rope CAN go through the eye of a needle if it is completely
unwound and disentwined. That could be a metaphor for what rich people have to
do to enter the Kingdom of God: get stripped down to the bare essentials, rely
on God’s grace alone and not their own accumulation.
On the other hand, it would require
a miracle for an actual camel to go through the eye of a needle, which would
explain the disciples’ astonishment, and the Lord’s observation that anything’s
possible with God. But a problem remains with this standard translation, too.
Jesus’ observation refers only to the rich, but the disciples seem to think it
refers to everyone: “who, then, can be saved?” IC’ answer implies anybody: "For mortals it is
impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." Grace,
again.
Let’s notice that the camel/needle dialogue
takes place in private, between Jesus and the disciples. I have a little theory
that these private conversations, which so often follow a public pronouncement or
incident in the Gospel, may be later commentary: the early Church pondering the
events and trying to figure them out. In this one, there is teaching about salvation:
detachment from literal wealth is necessary, but maybe that’s not all that is
meant. The disciples’ astonishment may be due to their understanding that riches means ANYTHING we are attached to in this world and are unwilling to
give up. Our mystical tradition would say so. It is possible to idolize
anything, including the most sacred of human relationships. “Who, then, can be
saved?”
Another fact we sometimes forget is
that our Lord didn’t give the same advice to everyone. The Gospel tells of those
who wanted to follow Him, whom He told to stay home with their families. Maybe
that was the way of perfection for them. Why should we assume that IC’ advice to
the Rich Young Man, understood as literal poverty, was the universal standard
for everybody? Maybe it was just for the one to whom it was given.
In Matthew, the story says “if you
would be perfect, go and sell &c.” In Mark and Luke the perfection or
completeness is stated negatively: “you still lack one thing.” Jesus’ advice to
this particular man was what we call
a counsel of perfection. Maybe it is a universal, spiritual truth: one
who is called to perfection must let go of everything. But maybe the literal meaning is not intended
for every last person in this life.
On the other hand, worldly wealth is extremely seductive. The
conventional interpretation of this incident teaches that the illusion of
possession gets in the way of spiritual advancement – for everyone. Anyway, the advice to give up possession is a
counsel that sooner or later we shall all obey, isn’t it? Whether we want to or
not. The way of the perfect is to do so willingly, before death: at least to
move in that direction, becoming less and less attached to illusory
temporalities and more and more absorbed in the only Reality worthily so
called, the Kingdom of God.
Like the Rich Young Man, God’s
grace surrounds us – precedes and follows us – so that we may be given to this
good work, if we consent. Maybe the Rich
Young Man is every one of us. As in the Gospel, his story is incomplete: will
he or won’t he? So is ours: will we or won’t we?
AMEN
MARANATHA
COME, LORD JESUS!
