Jesus, Enemy of the People – By Brett Younger

Mark 10:17-27

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”         

Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good?  No one is good but God alone.  You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder.  You shall not commit adultery.  You shall not steal.  You shall not bear false witness.  You shall not defraud.  Honor your father and mother.’”

          He said to him, “Teacher, I’ve kept all these since my youth.”

          Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing.  Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

And the disciples were perplexed at these words.

But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God.  For God all things are possible.”

          An Enemy of the People tells the story of a lifesaving doctor and the town that hates him. Jeremy Strong plays Dr. Thomas Stockmann in the Broadway revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 1883 play about greed. 

The doctor does not expect to be treated as a hero when he discovers that the water supply to the town’s new spa is polluted with fatal pathogens. He does expect them to listen when he warns them. They have to reroute the water or people will die. 

At first some of the smart ones do listen, but then the rich people take over.  They want the spa to bring in tourists and their money. They are more concerned about their bank accounts than the safety of strangers. 

The play becomes a kind of crucifixion, as the doctor’s supporters walk away, each for their own reasonable reasons. 

The mayor, Thomas’ brother, decides to be practical. The newspaper’s editor wants to publish the truth—until he does not. The outcome of a battle between greed and anything else is predictable.  Compassion loses almost every time. 

          Thomas, who was trying to protect others has to defend himself, but he does not know how, because the truth is not enough.  People know he is right, even as they persecute him. 

          If someone warned us that we need to give up our money, we might listen, but we might also think the one telling us we have to let go of what we have is an enemy.  The doctor speaks honestly, warmly and truthfully, and the people destroy an innocent man. 

That is what happened to Jesus.

          We think of Jesus as a nice guy with helpful ideas: Love your neighbors. Appreciate every day. Pay attention to the flowers. Jesus says such sweet things:“Your sins are forgiven.” “You are the light of the world.” “Don’t be anxious about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll wear. God will take care of you.” 

          But if Jesus was just a nice guy with helpful ideas, the rich people would not have executed him. 

If we thumb through the Gospels, we can see why they killed Jesus: “If anyone wants your shirt, give them your coat, too. Give to everyone who begs from you.” “If somebody slaps your right cheek, let him slap your left cheek, too.” “Depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire, for I was hungry and you gave me no food.” 

It is not surprising that so few followed Jesus. It is surprising that anyone tried.

          Barbara Brown Taylor writes:

What happened then goes on happening now. In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and all those things become relative. I am not that much worse than you are nor you than I, but leave him in the room and there is no room to hide. He is the light of the world. In his presence, people either fall down to worship him or do everything they can to extinguish his light.

          Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die. A bright, young, important person falls on his knees before Jesus.

Mark does not actually say that he is “young.” The story makes it into three Gospels. Matthew calls him “young.” Luke says he is a “ruler.”  Mark just calls him a generic “man,” representing all of us. 

          He starts with flattery, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

          He asks the wrong question, “What must I do?”

He does not understand that the best life is a gift.

The rich, young ruler thinks, “I’m a good person. I follow the rules. I try to be a good neighbor, but something is missing. Something keeps me unsatisfied. What do I have to do?” 

          Maybe he is hoping for some praise for being a good person, but do not run up to Jesus if you do not want to be challenged. Flattery gets us nowhere with Jesus, “You need to focus on God.”

He should be asking what God can do with him: “You know the commandments. Don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, cheat, or disrespect your parents.”

          Mr. Respectable says, “Teacher, I’ve kept the rules since I was a child.”

          Jesus looks him in the eye, sees his potential, and loves him: “There’s one thing left. Sell what you have. Do something for the poor.”

          Jesus has a soft spot for the poor, but he also wants the man to have a better life. He does not need more of what he has. It is not working. He needs to let go of the things that tie him down, let go of anything that keeps him from hearing what he most needs to hear.

          Jesus invites him to be a disciple, “Come, follow me.”

          The man’s face clouds over with sticker shock. He is holding on to a lot of things. He is not going to let go. He puts too much stock in his stocks. He walks off sad and jealous, looking over his shoulder at the disciples.

          Jesus cautions, “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”

People who have a lot have tried to explain this passage away. I heard a preacher say, “There’s a special gate in the wall in Jerusalem that camels could get through if the camels got on their knees.” The problem with this explanation is that the oldest reference to this gate is from 800 years after Christ.

The disciples cannot believe what they are hearing. They have been taught that God blesses rich people with money. Jesus is teaching the opposite of what wealthy people believe.

          Jesus warns us about the way money pushes us away from God: “You have no chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself.  Your only chance is God doing it.”

          All through the Bible, greed is presented as something that separates us from God. Jesus challenges us to be like the early church, where there were no needy people—not because they kept the poor out, but because they took care of them.

          In the fourth century, Basil of Caesarea preached a sermon on the rich young ruler titled, On Social Justice.  St. Basil writes:

This guy’s failure is a failure to love his neighbor as himself, because the very act of his accumulation is theft. Insofar as he has so much extra when there are people around him who don’t have what they need, that’s a failure of love. So even the very possession of excess shows you have failed to wisely distribute what the Lord has given to you. 

That is not how we usually see it. Jesus challenges our capitalistic notions about private property and accumulating wealth. Most of us have more than we need. We know how concern for money chains us to money.

Wealth is seductive. Yesterday’s luxuries become today’s necessities. Money can make us selfish—the more we have, the greater the danger.

          God knows that what we think we need may not be what we actually need. We think we need what everybody wants—wealth, comfort and popularity. We think this even though many who have the things we want are not happy. 

          Just before his death at 90, Wall Street legend Byron Wien said, “Young professionals overstate their work and only figure things out as they approach middle age. By that time they can underplay their accomplishments and become a nicer, more likable person. Try to get to this point as soon as you can.”

          The story of the rich, young ruler—a story in which Jesus is demanding—is, in spite of first impressions—good news.

          William Willimon tells this story:One night, in a college dorm, I led a study on Jesus and the rich, young ruler.

I ask, “What do you make of this story?”

One of the students wonders, “Has Jesus ever met this man before?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because Jesus seems to have lots of faith in him. He demands something risky and radical. I wonder if Jesus knew this man had a gift for risky, radical response. In my experience, a professor only demands the best from students that the professor thinks are the smartest, best students. I wonder what there was about this man that made Jesus have so much faith he could really be a disciple.”

Another student says, “I wish Jesus would ask something like this of me. My parents totally control my life just because they’re paying all my bills. And I complain about them calling the shots, but I am so tied to all this stuff I don’t think I could ever break free. But maybe Jesus thinks otherwise.”

Jesus invites us to be his disciples: “Divest! Break free! Let go of your stuff!Follow me! You can do it!”

God loves us and thinks we have great potential. God invites us to have wonderful, amazing lives, sharing what we have.