October 11, 2009

I know what you’re thinking.  This morning’s passage from the Gospel of Mark would have been really helpful last week when we were talking about making sacrifice and giving up personal income for the support of the church.  These words straight from the mouth of Jesus seem ideally tailored for a stewardship sermon and I imagine all around the Anglican Communion, priests will be making that nimble connection today.  But, we’ve already spoken to God’s command about funding the bringing in of his kingdom on earth.  So, we are free to examine the deeper intent of these words and how they may convict and then encourage us today.

A “comfortable” man with a good income and a healthy bank balance hears that a new and gifted prophet is in the region.  He hears this teacher has cutting edge ideas, fail safe insights into the future, and is the expert on modern day long-term investments.  He wants access to the Teacher’s insider knowledge.  What steps must he take to insure, to guarantee and to secure his place in heaven?  The man is living well now and he wants this good life to continue into the distant future.  So, he asks eagerly, respectfully, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus gives him the standard good practices answer.  Follow the conventional, traditional, proven rules for reward.  Obey those well known principles, those 10 simple laws and earn the Lord’s favor.  Your fortune will then be secured.  Just to clarify, Jesus reviews several to dos on the list.  Don’t murder.  Avoid stealing and adultery.  Walk away from lying and committing fraud.  Respect your parents, i.e., the authority of this world.

The “comfortable,” well-positioned man is relieved.  He has practiced these principles for years.  They are second nature to him by now.  If this is all that is required, then his place in heaven at the sumptuous banquet table with the angels is locked in.  He is golden.  But because this is a serious investment with long-term benefits at stake, he wants to make sure he is not missing any advantage or edge.  He presses Jesus for an additional tip.  The teacher answers, well, there is this other option.  It requires serious commitment but it guarantees the return you seek.  Following the 10 basic rules presents little challenge.  You don’t have to alter your mindset or modify your lifestyle to keep them in play.  This other tack is much more demanding.  To assure a place in the Kingdom of God for all eternity you must change your entire orientation.  You must put your confidence in the promises of God and turn away from the voice and security of this world.  You must divest yourself of earthly trappings because they do indeed ensnare you.  The riches and goods of this world bedazzle and blind you.  They obscure the real prize, the true riches which lie in a life with God.  If you desire a place in heaven forever, in fact, if you desire a truly rich life on earth, you need to throw off the gold chains.  Those chains that glitter and bespeak your status and place in the world are literal chains.  They tie you down and bind you to a sub-par life and bar your access into the amazing, fulfilling, luscious life with God.  Jesus holds the keys to those chains.  He offers the sure mechanism that will free the “comfortable” man from a restricted life on earth and will open the door to the better life beyond.

The man hears the option and is not persuaded.  He is troubled and unconvinced.  All the world, everything he knows says be prudent and wise in your investments, in building up your finances, in accumulating possessions.  These are the marks of security and success.  Your goods keep you safe and they help define you.  They tell the world you are a person of skill and reason.  They demonstrate you are a person of responsibility and right behavior.  Your possessions prove you have learned to navigate and succeed in this world. 

By your stuff, you show you are a person of consequence.  Therefore, you should be admired, affirmed and taken seriously.  All the world, everything the man knows says these conclusions are true.  No wonder he leaves troubled and depressed.  If he changes his world view, if he re-orients his thinking and turns away from the pursuit of worldly goods and follows the way Jesus leads, who will he be?  How will the world see him?  What proof does he have that he will be secure, that he will actually have enough to live on, let alone live “comfortably?”  What Jesus teaches is hard news.  They say it is good news, but it surely sounds like hard news.

And even Jesus recognizes the dilemma for the man.  “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”  Our Lord knows that this is not an evil person.  He is, in fact, like most of us.  He is misguided.  He is too involved with the world.  He is not looking ahead.  He is not looking to heaven.  The man running to Jesus has forgotten the central teaching.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; instead, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  “No one can serve two masters, for a man will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and Mammon.”

The man is storing up treasure on earth and neglecting his account in heaven.  His heart is on earthly values, not with pleasing God.  He is focused and devoted to serving “Mammon.”  What or who you might ask is Mammon?  This is an odd word to our ears, but Mammon is a universal, timeless ideal.  Mammon is a love of riches, a yearning for worldly gain.  Mammon is depicted as excessive materialism and as a negative influence in our world.  Those who serve Mammon are folk who value earthly possessions and the treasures of this world above all other things.  Throughout the New Testament, Mammon is portrayed as a false god, a powerful, seductive influence pulling God’s beloved away from their true hope.  Mammon misdirects our energy and our loyalty.  Mammon not only inhibits our relationship with God, it also causes us anxiety and burdens us in our temporal lives.  Mammon whispers in our ears, “you must have this; you deserve this pretty, faster, bigger thing.”  Mammon nudges us to want and to spend and then to resent when we can’t have what we want.  We don’t call it by name, but Mammon is a powerful, persuasive presence in our lives.

 It may be much more subtle than overblown greed and avarice.  It often comes upon us as a desire for ease.  Life is so hard in this world.  We have to work so long and so tediously.  Everything requires such effort.  Living in the modern world is stressful.  We’re good folk.  We deserve a break.  We deserve whatever will make our lives easier.  God asks a lot of us.  Mammon is pretty lax in requirements.  God holds out some amazing promises, but Mammon is also pretty attractive. 

I recently received this notice.  It’s a picture of an attractive, successful looking young man who’s saying with an earnest, sincere expression, “I need a belief system that serves my needs right away.”  Below the picture is this treatise.  “Dean Sachs has a mortgage, a family and an extremely demanding job.  What he doesn’t need is a religion that complicates his life with unreasonable, ethical demands.”

“Spiritual providers in the past have required a huge amount of commitment, single-deity clauses, compulsory goodness, a litany of mystifying mumbo-jumbo.  It’s no wonder people are switching to Mammon.  Mammon isn’t the biggest player in the spiritual race.  But our ability to deliver on our promises is unique.  And, our moral flexibility – unmatchable.”  Then in big, bold, billboard letters, “Mammon.  Because you deserve to enjoy life – guilt free.”

Dear friends, a compelling case is made.  The man coming to Jesus, Dean Sachs, the man in the ad, many, many of us today are torn.  God in heaven, Mammon on the ground, who will we serve?  The Lord God offers eternal life.  Mammon offers a comfortable 80 or so years.  The Lord God promises “abundant life,” but not without worldly sacrifice.  Mammon says sacrifice is overrated.  Instead, work hard, play hard; accumulate lots of stuff, that will make you happy!

The choice is before us.  For it is written, for it is surely true… ”No one can serve two masters, for one will either be devoted to one and neglect the other.  You cannot serve God and Mammon.”

Where we build up our treasure – on earth or in heaven, where we set our hearts, on earth or towards heaven – these investments have long-term, serious consequences.

Please God, may we make the right, good choice. Amen.