Keep it simple, silly

Proper 23

Collect: Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

    Job 23:1-9, 16-17 “Oh that I knew where I might find (God)”

    Psalm 22:1-15 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

  or

    Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 “Seek good and not evil, that you might live ...”

    Psalm 90:12-17 “Show your servants your works,  and your splendor to their children”

    Hebrews 4:12-16 “... let us hold fast to our confession …”

    Mark 10:17-31 “... What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Give ear O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth, for I will proclaim the Name of the LORD, and ascribe greatness to our God. Dt. 32:1ff

I don’t generally title my sermons, but if I were going to put a title on today’s sermon (something a bit more descriptive than PROPER 23B, my title today would simply be: KEEP IT SIMPLE, SILLY.

And why not?

We humans do like to complicate things, don’t we? 

Is Jesus God or man? Yes. 

Is God one or three? Yes. 

Is this bread and wine or Body and Blood? Yes.

Are we saved or do we need to be saved? Yes.

We struggle in part, I think, because Jesus tended to keep things so simple, so real, that what we strive to do is tame the heck out of what Jesus said and did. We are threatened by his plain, simple, direct call to live differently.

Look at today’s Gospel, for instance. A young man runs up to Jesus, falls on his knees, and asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus does what most Rabbis in his day would do. He stops, listens, and responds, not with an answer, but with a question of his own. “Why do you call me good?” he asks. “Only God is good.”

Jesus keeps it simple by keeping it real. Many of us would be caught up in the flattery of the moment. Who doesn’t like to be complimented? Who doesn’t like to be fawned over? Maybe not a lot, but a little. The down side of flattery, of course, is you wonder, What are they after? Is it real, or are they after something?

Jesus wants to keep it real. Jesus wants to keep it simple. If you want someone’s attention, we flatter them, so the Bible warns us to watch out for people with itching ears, eager to hear you tell them what they want to hear. They’re not interested in the truth, but in their own egos. (2 Tim. 4:3 paraphrased)

Jesus knows the human heart, so he says, “Let’s keep it simple; only God is good.”

“In the beginning when God was creating the heavens and the earth, it was God who identified what was good; God is the source of all that is good. So let’s start there.

“Let’s keep it simple, silly. Let’s dump the flattery and get back to your question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus answers that question with another question: “You know the Commands, don’t you, about lying, cheating, stealing, killing, adultery, and so on?”

Jesus knows this young man is a fellow Jew, a child of Abraham, a student of Torah, just like Jesus is and was, just like those who followed him, including his disciples. So it is a little strange that this young man would ask the question. If you know who you are, or who's you are, why would you ask?

It has always amazed me in my life and ministry just how often people will say things like, “I hope I’m going to heaven,” or “I hope I’ve been good enough,” or “I hope God will forgive me for things of which I am too ashamed to say.”

Like this young Jewish man, we are children of God, baptized, students of the Bible, children of Abraham through Christ, people who have received Jesus as Savior and Lord. We have everything this young man has, and yet, like him, perhaps we find ourselves wondering, too. Maybe not today, but sometimes. 

My faith comes and goes over time.  Sometimes I’m a Hobbit, sometimes an Orc. Sometimes an Elf; sometimes a Troll. Most of the time I am a mix of all things. So I’m glad to see this young man run up and ask the question I’m often too scared to ask: What must I do to inherit eternal life?

Again, Jesus keeps it simple, keeps it grounded in the faith: “You know the rules, don’t you?”

It’s a simple question; it’s the same question the Lawyer asked Jesus (in Luke), which gave us the Good Samaritan story. “What must I do?” 

“Jesus says, “What’s the Bible say? How do you read it?”

“Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and love neighbor as yourself.”

“Cool. Do that and you’ll be fine.”

So simple … at least until you ask, “Who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus keeps that simple, too, with the Priest, Levite, and Samaritan: “Love the one you’d rather be dead than have them touch you.” I mean, anyone can love the Priest and Levite. Even if they pass you by, they must have their reasons; that’s reasonable and forgivable. But the ICK FACTOR guy; him? Yes, him. Simple!

So Jesus asks the young man, and through him, Jesus asks us: “Do you know the rules?”

“Yes, of course,” he says. “I have followed them since the beginning; from the beginning I have lived by the rules.”

And here’s the Good News. Jesus looks at the young man, and Jesus looks at us, and “Jesus loved him; Jesus loves us.”

Jesus keeps it simple, silly. Jesus keeps it grounded, down to earth, as basic as that: I love you!

I should note here that when we see the word INHERIT, it doesn’t mean the future. It refers to having a share in what Jesus has. Like in the story of the Prodigal son, the young man wants his share of the estate. He doesn’t need his father to drop dead; he just wants an advance, which his father gives him.

So THIS young man is asking Jesus, not so much: How do I get to heaven? But how can I have a share in what you have?

He sees something in Jesus that he wants, and I think one reason we gather here week in and week out is because we, too, want to have what Jesus has. 

Church isn’t Fire Insurance, or even Life Insurance. Rather, “we believe that God is healing and restoring the world, and that we are recipients of and participants in that healing and restoration.” (Mission Statement, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Mount Vernon, WA)

So we want to have what Jesus has. Jesus loved the young man; Jesus loves us, and in answer to the question of the day, Jesus says, “Sell everything you’ve got; give to the poor, and then come follow me.”

We know how that went, don't we? His face fell off, and he went away, literally “grieving” (for he was very well-off). 

Now, I'm tempted to tame this passage. None of us here considers themselves rich. Rich is comparative. Rich is Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos, or Bill Gates. That’s not us, but let’s not get lost in the weeds. Let’s keep it simple. In our world, in our time, amongst 7 billion people, we are rich, you and I. We are. It’s not a feeling; it’s an objective reality, so let’s not try to sugar-coat the Gospel.

Let’s be careful and let’s not try to tame this passage. God is not a Lion to be tamed.

We want to say Jesus didn’t mean it, or he was obviously exaggerating, or something like that. And certainly there is hyperbole involved. Yes, he may very well have been exaggerating, but we’ll never know, because the young man didn’t stick around to ask him: What on earth do you mean by that?

I think Jesus would have said, “It’s not a question of what you have, but what you do. Moses says (Dt. 15:7): “If there is among you anyone in need, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.” 

And Isaiah says, “Share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into your homes, and when you see someone naked, cover them up …” (58:7).

Are you nervous yet? 

Jesus says, “Keep it simple, silly. If you want your share of eternal life, let go of what’s got you stuck. 

Maybe you’re a tight-wad. Let it go. 

Maybe you’ve got resentments. Let them go. 

Maybe you hate the poor – you see them as a drain on society. So what? God sends us to help them.  We are God’s hands and feet and eyes and ears … and heart!

Maybe you're jealous of the rich and powerful! They’re easy to hate, but they answer to God, not to us, so ignore the Nimrods. 

Maybe you’re not feeling as loved as you need to feel? So get out there and find ways to love your neighbor! It really is as simple as that!”

Eternal life isn’t just pie in the sky in the great by and by. It’s right here, right now. Your job, my job, our job is to figure out for ourselves just what on earth is holding us back, and let it go.

You know, in AA and other 12 Step groups, they say there is only one thing one needs to do if they want to experience the life of freedom that those in recovery have discovered. There is only one thing folks need to change.

What is that one thing? Everything.

If we want life to change, just change everything, and it will be different.

“You can try threading a camel through the eye of a needle,” says Jesus, “but you’ll probably die laughing.” 

So keep it simple, silly. Let go, and let God – and eternal life will be yours, and ours, right here, right now. It really is that simple.

Sermon delivered to Christ Episcopal Church (Anacortes, WA) 10/13/2024 – The Rev. Keith Axberg, Ret.

Leaves of Gold, Joints of Rust

 

"Since there will never cease to be some in need on earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in the land.’” Deuteronomy 15:11

The leaves are falling. Slowly, but surely, they’re making their descent from the limbs and branches of the trees and shrubs in our yard and in the world around us.

There’s a side of me that would like them all to drop before going out and doing my fall “cleanup,” but I am at the age where tackling life a day at a time is a bit easier and (possibly) wiser. So each day the little lady and I go out into the yard and scrape up a few leaves, digging them out of the cracks and crevasses of the walls that terrace our yard. We pull the weeds that dare to grow within an arm’s length of those retaining walls, and generally try to just keep the yard presentable for passers-by.

We don’t do as much yard-work as we would like to (using the term “we” quite loosely). Our property is fairly large, but the lingering effects of our bouts with Covid several years ago and the increasing numbers of trips around the sun have both taken their toll. That’s OK, though. We’re both ambulatory, for the most part. It just takes a little longer to do some things, and I still prefer weeds to grow knee high so I don’t have to reach down so far to pull them.

Fortunately, we have a couple of young lads that do the lion’s share of work around the yard. They’re young, strong, nimble, quick, alert, attentive to details, and dependable. On top of all that, they enjoy doing the work they do! Consequently, I find it a joy to pay them for their labor, and pay them well.

I don’t say that to brag or to boast. Paying people a decent wage is nothing to boast about. In fact, it is a pleasure, an honor, and a privilege to be able to share some of the shekels & ducats that have come our way over the years. 

“A laborer is worthy of his hire,” says the Bible (1 Tim 5:18). Elsewhere, Jesus tells the story of the landowner who makes sure everyone in the community has an opportunity to labor in his field, and he makes sure each receives a proper wage. I don’t usually do biblical exposition in these columns, but will say the point of that story is the welfare of the community. 

The laborers do their work and the landowner provides from out of his purse that which is needed to strengthen and support the community. The workers don’t have to pry the coins from his cold dead fingers. He opens his hands and freely shares with everyone, just like the Bible tells him to, just like his heart tells him to!

Jesus is also clear, of course, that we need to be careful about not parading our piety around to be seen by others, or to have our backs patted by others, so it is certainly with some fear and trepidation that I even tell you what I do. But I also think we each lead by example. It’s important to not just “talk the talk” but to “walk the walk,”  if you’ll pardon the cliche.

Amy-Jill Levine, in her book “short stories by jesus” [sic] reminds her readers (p. 236) that “Jesus is neither a Marxist nor a capitalist. Rather, he is both an idealist and a pragmatist. His focus is often less directly on ‘good news to the poor’ than on ‘responsibility of the rich.’”

Few of us feel “rich,” and yet in a world of seven or eight billion people, we Americans are very rich. We don’t need to squander what we have, but neither should we live in miserly fear.

“Thoughts and Prayers” for the world around us is just meaningless noise. “Strengthen the hands that are slack; make firm the tottering knees! Say to the anxious of heart, ‘Be strong, fear not; Behold your God!’” (Isaiah 35:3) Now THAT is a biblical prayer!

I believe those who are generous of heart have beheld God. More than that, they’ve given the poor a chance to see and know God through their actions, as well. God, as they say, loves a cheerful giver, so cheer up you here in this, our valley!

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)