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SERMONS

The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
October 12, 2003

A friend of mine experienced an intervention recently. An intervention is a technique used by those working with people with problems with addictions: addictions to alcohol, to drugs, or to any other substance or activity. In an intervention family or close friends of the person sit down with him and talk to him about his behavior. And about what effects his behavior is having on their lives. The intention of an intervention is to confront the person with a problem he may be denying, in the hope that he will agree to treatment.

There are two important characteristics of interventions. First, the people doing the intervention must be close to, and care for, the person being confronted. And second, there is no judgment involved. The interveners talk about the behavior they have observed and the effects they have observed. But they are careful not to label the person as bad.

Interventions are difficult. I am glad I was not involved in this one. It can be difficult to speak the truth, for the truth is sometimes unpleasant. It may not be what we want to hear.

It can be even more difficult to speak the truth in love, to speak it without judgment. When I am in one of my more self-righteous moods, I can speak the truth. But when I occupy my moral high ground and stand in judgment of those below me, the truth I speak is cold and unloving. And its fruit is bitterness and resentment.

Speaking the truth in love to those we love can be difficult and painful. Hearing that truth can also be painful.

In today's gospel a man runs up to Jesus and kneels before him. "What must I do," he asks, "to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus reminds him of the commandments. "I have kept all of these," says the man.

"There is one thing more," says Jesus. "Go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor. Then come and follow me." And the man, shocked, goes away grieving, for he has many possessions.

It is so easy to judge this man. A rich man, probably made his money by cheating the poor. Not only rich, but self-righteous. I have kept all of the commandments since my youth, he says. Sure. So easy to judge.

But Jesus does not judge. Rather, Mark tells us, Jesus loves the man. Jesus' directions are given, not out of judgment, but out of love. The man's wealth, Jesus perceives, is the one thing that stands between him and God. So Jesus tells him to get rid of his possessions.

It is not surprising that the man's possessions are what stand between him and God. There is not anything wrong with having stuff. As Robert Capon reminds us. God made stuff, loves stuff, and has more of it than anyone. Possessions in themselves are not bad. But it is so easy to look to our possessions for our security. After all, isn't our goal "Financial Security"?

I doubt that there are many of us here today who consider ourselves to be really wealthy. Most of us, I suspect, feel as if we are just barely getting by.

And yet-how many of you don't have a place to sleep tonight? How many of you will have nothing to eat today? How many of you own only the clothes you are wearing right now?

I have never been really hungry in my life. Millions of people around the world go to bed really hungry every day. I have never had to wonder if I would be able to find anything to eat. Ten thousand people will die today of starvation.

By the world's standards, we are rich. The richest nation that has ever existed. With wealth comes responsibility. The responsibility to use that wealth faithfully, as stewards, in accordance with God's will.

It is much easier to consider ourselves poor; or at least barely getting by. It relieves us of the responsibility of sharing what we possess. But it also binds us. We become slaves to our possessions. They become idols. They stand between us and God.

Sometimes the truth is painful. It can be difficult to hear. But the truth spoken in love can be life giving. When we are able to hear it and respond to it we find freedom. The freedom of sons and daughters of God. And the joy of the kingdom of heaven.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi