Comments for Jim Other sermons.                 

When the rich young ruler runs up and kneels before Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus questions him a bit, and then makes an interesting statement. Jesus says, "You lack one thing." What does he mean exactly? It would appear that this young man had it all. At a material level, he is secure. He doesn’t have to worry about the things most of the rest of us do. He’s got power, money, good health care coverage, great retirement plan, and leisure time. And he is young; he’s got his whole life before him. And, he appears to have everything on a religious level as well. When Jesus asks him about the commandments, he says he has always followed them. Faithfully following Torah means, of course, that he gives generously, at least a tithe of his wealth – probably more, to the synagogue. There is no hint at all here that he is a hypocrite, or smug, or trying to trick or impress Jesus. Mark says, "Jesus loved him." (The Jesus Seminar Version of this text says, "Jesus loved him at first sight.") He is a good, likeable, honest, decent, religious person; a dream come true for a church nominating committee. Yet – he lacks one thing. What is it? We are given no hint. Does Jesus mean he lacks compassion, or a sense of social justice? Does he lack some capacity?

Identify with this young man a bit. Jesus is telling him something he already knows. He knows he lacks something, or else he wouldn’t seek out Jesus. He senses at some level, does he not, that he is doing everything right, but that, in the final analysis, he may come up short. Eternal life (whatever that means exactly) seems to be eluding him. Think about that. You are trying your best to do everything right - morally, ethically, culturally, spiritually – but somewhere in your heart there is this nagging doubt.

The appealing thing about this young man is that his doubts, his questions, are afflicting him. He is genuinely suffering. He thought he could achieve peace of mind by gaining worldly security. It isn’t working. He thought he could achieve peace of mind (spiritual peace of mind) by being religious – that is, by doing and being good. And that isn’t working either. He reminds me of a clergy friend who achieved great success by the winning formula of working hard and being nice to people. Except that one day he discovered he had a mysterious and painful disease. Soon it prevented him from working. And then it eventually prevented him from being nice. And it was then, and only then, that he actually experienced God’s love - maybe for the first time.

We are told that we suffer in life because we are attached. My friend was attached to the idea of personal achievement through working hard. He was attached to the notion that pleasing others brought happiness. And it was all taken away from him. And then he met God. Whatever the young man in the story is lacking, Jesus is inviting him to detach. Paul Tillich said that we seek to find meaning in our lives in one of three ways. First we try to find meaning "out there" – in teachings, in rules, in pleasing other people, in winning fame and approval. It is the belief that the answer can be found externally. A second way we seek to find meaning is by asserting our independence. I am an autonomous person, a rugged individualist. I will not depend on anyone and make my own way. Meaning is to be found right here. Dependency or autonomy? But the third way, the spiritual way, is to find meaning in God.

The young man yearns for eternal life and is doing his best to be a good person in order to achieve it. Jesus speaks of detaching so that you can attach. Detach from all your possessions and attach yourself to God. "Follow me." Detach – Attach. I believe Jesus is saying, "Let go of this ego that believes you can figure all this out and do it. Let go of your sense of who you are as a person. Let go of your understanding of what it means to be a person – if you want eternal life." Let go of it all. What you lack is not a little fine-tuning here or there, of this or that. What you lack is not even some capacity of some sort. What you lack is a radical openness to God. The one thing you lack is everything. What you lack is the pearl of great price; the thing for which you must sell everything you own in order to possess it.

I am particularly fond of the writings of the fourteenth century English mystic, Julian of Norwich. Following an illness that nearly killed her, she recorded a series of mystical experiences. Let me read briefly from one of her revelations.

From Chapter XII of Showings

But I lay still awake, and then our Lord opened my
spiritual eyes, and showed me my soul in the midst of
my heart. I saw my soul as wide as if it were a kingdom,
and from the state which I saw in it, it seemed to me as if it
were a fine city. In the midst of this city sits our Lord Jesus,
' true God and true man, a handsome person and tall,
honourable, the greatest lord. And I saw him splendidly clad
in honours. He sits erect there in the soul, in peace and rest,
and he rules and he guards heaven and earth and everything
that is. The humanity and the divinity sit at rest^ and the
divinity rules and guards, without instrument or effort. And
my soul is blessedly occupied by the divinity, sovereign
power, sovereign wisdom, sovereign goodness.
       The place which Jesus takes in our soul he will
nevermore vacate, for in us is his home of homes, and it is
the greatest delight for him to dwell there. This was a
delectable and a restful sight, for it is so in truth
forevermore; and to contemplate this while we are here is
most pleasing to God, and very great profit to us. And the
soul who thus contemplates is made like to him who is
contemplated, and united to him in rest and peace. And it
was a singular joy and bliss to me that I saw him sit, for the
contemplation of this sitting revealed to me the certainty that
he will dwell in us forever; and I knew truly that it was he
who had revealed everything to me before. And when I had
contemplated this with great attention, our Lord very
humbly revealed words to me, without voice and without
opening of lips, as he had done before, and said very
seriously: Know it well, it was no hallucination29 which you
saw today, but accept and believe it and hold firmly to it,
and you will not be overcome.

      And these words: You will not be overcome, .were said
very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength
against every tribulation which may come. He did not say:
You will not be assailed, you will not be belaboured, you
will not be disquieted, but he said: You will not be
overcome. God wants us to pay attention to his words, and
always to be strong in our certainty, in well-being and in
woe, for he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us
to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him, and
all will be well.
      And soon afterwards all was hidden, and I saw no
more.

I find this wonderfully powerful. Christ enthroned in our hearts, exercising sovereign rule over all creation. And in this awareness, we will not and cannot be overcome. And all will be well. She says that nothing is more important than to see that, and to have that true understanding of who we really are. We are Christ within us. And to live in contemplation of Christ within us forms the very center of our spiritual lives. And in so living we are empowered, equipped, strengthened, and made secure. Dwelling together in that understanding, we know that we cannot be overcome and that all will be well. No matter what. AMEN.

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