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In the Kingdom of God there is Rest from all your toilsome labors so that, even now, in the midst of the toil endured by the children of God there is joy. Getting into the Kingdom of God to enjoy that Rest is not easy. Even now, while you endure difficult toil in this life, there is rest when you are with God and believe His Son. With the Son of God Who has endured great toil with persecutions for you, it is possible to endure great toil with persecutions and to find joy in the midst of it.
The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. Jesus had given the law-abiding rich man the helpful (though difficult) command to sell all he had and give it to the poor. It was a sharp word. It was a Word intended to undercut the man’s self-righteous spirit. If you think you have kept the Law, Jesus comes along and gives you another more impossible Law to keep. The rich man went away sad and disheartened for he had great possessions. He loved his stuff more than he loved God and His Word. After this, Jesus looked around at His disciples and told them how difficult it will be for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
In today’s Gospel reading, Peter observes that Jesus’ disciples have left everything and followed Jesus. In responding to Peter’s observation, Jesus refers to all the wealth that His disciples have yet to lose. Among that wealth Jesus not only includes land and houses, but also one’s family, one’s brothers and sisters and mother and father and children. The people in your life are among your God-given wealth. But even our love of family, like our love of money, can and does get in the way of our love of God above all things.
The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. That’s the problem with loving money and earthly wealth. When the Word of God divides you from your family, your money, your wealth, it hurts. There’s nothing wrong with money and wealth and family. They too are gifts from God (Ecclesiastes 5:19). The problem lies not with the money and the wealth and the family, but with where a person places his love. The Word of God pierces to the division of soul and of spirit. Where your money is there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34.) Our misplaced love causes us to fear losing the wrong things. That misplaced love causes us to fear losing all our stuff more than we fear losing Heaven, more than we fear losing God’s favor – His grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. That’s how love and fear work. We fear losing what we love. What you love is what you spend your money on so you can have it and keep it. The more money, the more time, the more effort you put toward something, the more you love it. The Word of God divides joints and marrow.
It is not, primarily, the intent of this inspired text from Saint Mark to get people to give more money to the church. Jesus told the rich man to give his money not to the church, or to the Temple or the local synagogue, but to the poor. The poor you will always have with you (Matthew 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8). God provides you with poor and needy neighbors. They too are gifts from God. So that, as you serve their needs, you learn to depend not on the stuff God gives you for this life, but on The Confession to which He has given you to hold fast for eternal life (Hebrews 4:14.) That way, no matter what persecutions come your way, no matter what sufferings you are given to face, you may endure and still find joy in your heart because your heart rests not on your stuff, but on your Lord and Savior.
The Church is not the only way the Lord gives us what we need. But, it is only through the Church that God has promised to give us what we need for eternal life. Let there be no mistake, through the Church, the Lord does give out His most important gifts; let there be no mistake, what He is doing through His Church is worthy of a significant portion of your money and wealth; in fact, what He does for you in Christ is worthy of everything you do, every penny you spend, every minute you have. But as you learn from His Word in worship to present your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord (Romans 12:1), you learn how you serve God and His will by serving your neighbors at home, at church, in the community and at work. It doesn’t matter how you toil, whether you toil with lots of wealth or with very little, as long as you find enjoyment in it and provide help in time of need.
So when we fear, love and trust in God above all things, we fear not only because of what God promises to do to the disobedient, we fear losing free access to God’s good presence and to all the good we can only enjoy in God’s presence and in His Kingdom.
The rich man wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life in God’s presence. The only thing standing in the rich man’s way was his own heart. Like all our hearts, like the heart of each of Jesus’ disciples, the rich man’s heart was born with a deadly dependence on all his stuff, rather than on all the Words of God. Listen to the author of Hebrews: “Today… Today, if you hear the Lord’s Voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7) like the rich man seems to have done.
The Voice of Jesus is the Voice of the Lord. And with His Voice, He gave the rich man a promise; sell and give all he had to the poor; change his heart; instead of resting his heart in stuff, rest his heart with Jesus and the rich man would have treasures in heaven; Jesus also commanded the rich man to follow Him; when you’re following Jesus, your daily bread is not something you have to worry about. If you have it, eat it healthfully and look for others to help in time of need. If you don’t have it, then perhaps it’s time to fast and pray.
With man, entering the Kingdom of God is not just difficult; Jesus says salvation is impossible with man. Our heart, the heart each of us inherited from our father Adam, is conceived and born loving the wrong things and finding rest in all the wrong places. It’s impossible for man to give up the things we love the most. It’s impossible for man to give up brothers and sisters and mother and father and children and lands and buildings and cars and houses and bank accounts and retirement plans and insurance policies and self-defense weapons and personal property rights. It’s impossible for man to give up all the things we depend on for our daily bread and security. It’s impossible for man to change his own heart. It’s impossible for man to love God above all things when we depend so much on all those things. It’s impossible for man to rest only in Jesus. Lord, have mercy. We might as well give up. And well we should give up, leave everything, and just follow Jesus as He so generously calls us. And when He calls us and we follow Him, Jesus promises that we will receive a hundredfold now in this time, not only all the stuff we have given up, but more than we ever left behind; but don’t forget that along with all that stuff Jesus says with all that stuff will come persecutions. That means the enemies of God will come and try and get you to fall and disobey God. They will try to get you to put more trust in all that stuff so that your trust in God’s Word will start to weaken.
What do you make of that? When God gives us stuff in this life, He also gives it to us with persecutions. Some people will come or God Himself will send some people to ask you to give up what you have been given to help satisfy their need. And when they do, He wants you to remember what you have waiting for you in the age to come. In the age to come, you have eternal life with Jesus. Now, most people who come to you will not know what they really need. You may need to talk with them and get to know them so you can accurately determine what their real needs are. Sometimes, the needy have been caused to fall to disobedience. Learn their stories and the Lord will show you how each one is your brother or sister or mother or child. And by learning their stories, they will learn your story as you hold fast our confession of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified for Sinners.
You have eternal life with Jesus because, Jesus, He does not give up. He still speaks the impossible to us with His Voice. He Baptizes us with water and His Word; He makes us born again, born from above, through water and the Spirit. He shows us our sins and tells us to repent and believe. Repent and Believe, says Jesus. Come, follow Me. I have done the impossible. I, the Author of Life, have died for you. And by dying, I have forgiven all your sins. All your hardness of heart. All your disobedience. All your failure to love Me more than your earthly wealth. Do not harden your hearts. Listen to My Voice. Follow Me. Take and eat My Body. Take and drink My Blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. Find enjoyment in all your toil. I will keep you occupied with joy in your heart. Hold fast the true confession. Go, sin no more. Your faith has made you well.
Now, Rest. Be still and know that Jesus is God. Continue to strive to enter His Rest so that you may not fall by disobedience. Examine yourself with the Law of God. Repent and confess your sins. Believe His absolution which He proclaims most certainly for you through Your God-given Pastor. For the Word of God is living and active. He became like us in every way. He knows your weaknesses and He sympathizes with you in all that you suffer for His sake. He became just like you in every way. He was tempted like you but He remains without sin for you. He is your Great High Priest. He has offered the once for all Sacrifice for you. He continues to offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for you and so He teaches you to pray like Him. He has passed through the heavens for you. He is seated at His Father’s right hand for you. He has faithfully confessed for you. He will present you to His Father without fault or wrinkle. He bestows mercy for you from His Throne. He gives you grace to help you so you can help others in times of need. Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace, always.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.