Proper 10 AWL (A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church), Year B:

Esther 1:1–11; Psalm 49:5–15; James 5:1–6; Mark 10:17–31

Sermon starts around 28:40. 

Aloha kakahiaka! Good morning.

Let us pray:

May God who is Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery speak words of life, love, and liberation through these words. Amen.

We are continuing in the Gospel of Mark with A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church which presents us with challenging readings often too close to current events for our comfort, as they did last week. That is the defining essence of scripture, it is timeless; speaking to us in our world and in our circumstances – social, relational, political and today, financial – even when discussing events and stories that are thousands of years old. And we don’t always want to hear a word that gets under our skin and makes us feel uncomfortable. The preaching of Jesus like the scripture that preceded and surrounded him often pushes us and stretches us to grow through discomfort like theological growing pains.

Let me be honest, when I sat down to read today’s Gospel I came to this passage with baggage. Frustration that it’s a text that makes people uncomfortable and knowing it has been preached very badly. Understanding that some people feel targeted by sermons on this passage, no matter how well or prayerfully they are preached. Wondering if there is anything I can say that will keep a congregation from throwing rotten mangoes at me or sending one of the wardens around for a little chat.  

Then I read it again. And again. I read it out loud. And I invite and encourage you all and to join in that practice when you read scripture; read it more than once, in more than one version and read it out loud. Then I began to hear the text, to hear Jesus. To see this person that Jesus tells to sell all that they have and give it to the poor. That instruction has been so very often taken out of context and used to bludgeon and humiliate people with wealth.

Throughout the scriptures there is suspicion of and hostility towards people with wealth, the scriptures being written from the perspective of the poor or of those who are or are supposed to be their protectors and defenders from the rich who exploit them, even as there are other passages that portray wealth and riches as rewards from God.

The Israelites and the nation and monarchy they grew into had been enslaved, conquered, dispossessed, sent into exile and oppressed by wealthier nations who could afford to muster armies big enough to capture kingdoms because they were rich enough to do so. Simply put, wealth meant power.

Their society, like ours, was plagued by persons who profited unjustly at the expense of others, created the circumstances that led to poverty in some cases and in others kept people in poverty. Every day they saw how the privilege of wealth could be used violently against them. This is the voice we hear crying out in the psalm. That is the lens through which the Israelites saw the world and through which the scriptures were breathed into the world.

It is with this background that Jesus looked at the person who kneeled before him, looked at them and really saw them. Jesus looked at them and knew all about them: mistakes and wrong decisions, bad choices and hurtful words, anger and betrayal, dishonesty and disrespect, lust, greed and, bigotry. Whatever it was that was inside them, Jesus saw it all and loved them anyway. Jesus saw that person, who they were and knowing all of their hurts and hopes, dreams and schemes, Jesus loved them as Jesus loves us. That is the gospel that has so often been neglected in this passage. Jesus sees us, knows us, and loves us.

Jesus speaks to the person kneeling before him, who is saying all the right things – What must I do to inherit eternal life – and doing all the right things – keeping the commandments from their childhood, living a good religious, moral and ethical life. Isn’t that enough?

When Jesus speaks to the person kneeling before him, Jesus is also speaking to everyone around them in the street and, to us. They are not far from the marketplace where mamas brought Jesus their babies and the disciples tried to stop them. Jesus was surrounded and followed by a crowd breathlessly waiting to see what he would say or do next. And seeing his audience was on the edge of their seats, he seized the mic and seized the moment to preach a word about the seductive danger of wealth.

The word that Jesus, street corner preacher, poet, prophet and public theologian, proclaimed to disturb, unsettle and provoke those who would hear him then and read him now: …sell what you have, and give to the poor… How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the majesty of God!…It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the majesty of God. And then he dropped the mic.

As a preacher and teacher Jesus painted with words. Sometimes they were warm and comfortable – fear not little flock. Sometimes they were loud and harsh – you are children of your father the devil. Sometimes they were bright and illuminating – the Majesty of God is among and within you all. Sometimes they were bloody red words – The Son of Woman is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him. Sometimes they were shocking, provocative and disconcerting words like today’s lesson.

Jesus is preaching to this man about his wealth, his very many possessions, and Jesus is also preaching to his audience, the poor, the outcast, those who have nothing, nothing left and nothing to lose. He’s preaching to them from their corner while he talks to this person about what they need to do to save their soul. And that is let go of what they are holding on to. Let it go! Some of you are hearing Elsa from Frozen right now and some of you are hearing Beyoncé from Church Girl. Let it go. Let it go girl.

Yet, Jesus did not call everyone to give up their all  their possessions or wealth. He, himself, was supported by a circle of wealthy women who were among his disciples. Some of them may have even been there on this day. Jesus did not condemn everyone who had wealth. But he did say that this one person needed to let go of what they had and were holding on to. And, to give it away, give it to the poor. Here is also gospel: not to hold onto anything that we have so tightly that we are unwilling to give to those who have a need. Because we might find ourselves walking away from Jesus rather than letting it go and following him. This passage calls all of us to look at what we hold most dear.

Now, about that camel: Imagine imagine a camel loaded down with saddlebags and boxes and crates tied and roped together, so burdened down then it cannot even make it through the gate to the other side, to complete its journey.

Is there anything we cling to so tightly, tied to the camels of our hearts, burdening us down so much that we could not enter the gate that leads to salvation? Think about all of those movies in which people running from a monster or zombie or villain stop to grab their stuff which leads to them being caught and coming to a bad end. More seriously, think about the warnings we receive on airplanes not to grab all of our belongings in the case of an emergency because it would slow us down and might cost us or someone else their lives. Let it go. Let it go girl.

The other lessons show what happens when people hold onto wealth and possessions so tightly they have no boundaries or limitations. Some even come to believe they own other people – though treating women as possessions is not limited to men with wealth; the dehumanization and objectification of women that so often leads to violence against them has no financial limits.

In the first lesson the Persian king essentially screams look at me and my very many possessions for 180 days and that was not enough. He throws a party that lasts seven days and seven nights, not to share his generosity and hospitality, not to talk story with family and friends, neighbors and kin. Not to feed the poor, the hungry, the struggling, or those who just needed a break. But he threw this party because 180 days of celebrating and showing off his very many possessions was not enough. King Ahasuerus, like so many in this world in our time, thought of women as things to own, possess, manipulate and exploit. And being 180 days drunk, he decided to show off the woman he thought was one of his very many possessions.

One thing we know about alcohol is that it does not make a person do something, it simply makes it easier for the person to do or say something they already wanted to do or say. And

Some say he wanted Queen Vashti to show off her beauty wearing nothing but her crown; that is not in the scripture. But even fully dressed, he was making a humiliating spectacle of her and no part of her would be safe from prying eyes or drunken comments or the calculated envy and lust in their hearts and minds. The power and privilege the king’s wealth bought him made it easy for him to disregard and demean the humanity, the God created-ness of the woman who was queen and that is the seductive power of wealth. We can begin to see ourselves as virtual gods, entitled to our wealth, status and privilege and, see others as less than human, available for our pleasure as our possession. Rather than run the risk of a temptation too powerful to resist, it is better to give our wealth away as Jesus said, than to become the kind of person who uses it to exploit others.

Our final lesson comes from the Epistle which provides an extreme example of the abusive power of wealth where the people who are treated as less than human are the working poor and the wealthy, the rich people James, the brother of Jesus, condemns in such harsh language, are the employers who exploit them. He does not indict every person with wealth, power or privilege. He channels the wrath of God towards those who economically exploit those who are just trying to work for a living by underpaying them and by creating schemes to take back their wages. Today we call it wage theft and under employment. Earlier in the book James talked about how the wealthy leveraged the legal and judicial systems against the poor and the working poor. At the end of our lesson he accuses them of murdering the righteous poor through all of their financial and legal manipulations and machinations. Though they have not raised their hand to them the wealthy are as responsible for the death of the poor who died in their manufactured, poverty as though they had killed them with their own hands. James calls it murder.

Poverty is lethal and poverty is not naturally occurring. It is man-made and manufactured. James holds the wealthy accountable for the poverty they create and for the fates of those who suffer and die under it in some of the harshest language in the scriptures. The message through his words is, don’t be that person. Don’t be that person who perpetuates the cycle of poverty when you have it within your means to make a difference in the life of at least one person. Open your hand, heart and wallet and, let it go and give it away. Don’t be the person who comes so close to salvation that they kneel at the feet of Jesus but when hearing the cost of your soul’s salvation turn and walk away going back to whatever you value more. Let it go girl. Let it go.

So what do these lessons have to say to those of us whom no one would consider wealthy? Each and every one of us holds something or someone so close to our hearts that if we met Jesus at a crossroads and he asked us to let it go we too might hesitate or even walk away. Wealth and treasure are not always measured in dollar signs, gold, silver or jewels. Today’s gospel calls us to examine ourselves to see if there is anything that comes between us and Jesus, and reminds us that we have what we need to alleviate poverty. Let it go girl. Let it go. Amen.