Pentecost 21B/Proper 23 (Mark 10:17-31)

​The gospel lesson today may seem discouraging for us Christians and for those considering following the way of Jesus. Jesus' expectations are undeniably high. He demands that his followers fully commit to the kingdom of God; there’s no room for “one foot here and the other there.” For the person whom Jesus “loved” (Mark 10:21), one foot was firmly planted in keeping all the commandments, while the other was in his wealth. Jesus, with his penetrating insight, recognized that this man's adherence to the commandments might have been driven by a desire to maintain and increase his possessions. It’s possible there was a sort of bargain in his mind between obeying the commandments and reaping material rewards. For the disciples who left everything behind—perhaps because they had little wealth to anchor themselves—complacency could still prevent them from entering the kingdom of God. Jesus, therefore, warns them of the creeping danger of complacency. 

In the person who did everything right except give up his possessions, and in the disciples who did give up everything but may have had different motives, such as honor and fame, I see two themes: clinging and complacency.

So first, let’s start with clinging. Jesus goes right to the heart of what our law-abiding citizen and potential disciple candidate clings to: wealth. Why is wealth a problem in this case? He has his priorities in the wrong place. The Ten Commandments are boundaries that help us cultivate the presence of God within. By keeping them, we create fewer obstacles to God’s presence within us. After breaking a precept, say, stealing something from others, there’s much more inner work to be done in contemplation. In silence, don’t we all encounter our naked selves?

In the case of the law-abiding person in the gospel lesson, he uses the commandments to cling more deeply to what he considers to be the most important element of his life. Wealth happens to be it, and wealth still is the most popular one. Jesus exposes this person’s hidden desire. He’s shocked because he’s stripped of the clinging disguised as adherence to the commandments. As we witness the encounter between these two, we’re invited to join and ask: what are we clinging to? It may not be wealth. It may be fame, honor, health, security, etc. Notice that all these things each of us clings to aren’t bad. These are more like mental food we like to feed on. There’s no need to judge them for what they are.

Does this mean clinging itself, this deep desire, is the problem? Is it so evil? No. Our human desire or striving, or so-called conatus in Latin, is what keeps us going. It just needs to be redirected—redirected to the presence of God, always and everywhere available within. In a way, Jesus’ desire for the presence of God is transmitted to us. Nothing should be in the way then.

The disciples, on the other hand, need no redirection. They are already directed. Yet complacency may creep into their minds. So here comes a rude awakening: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” They need to be reconnected—reconnected to the presence of God with concentration and mindfulness within. Always begin anew at the beginning. What matters to us is our consistency, whether it’s a camel [kamelos (κάμηλος)] or a rope [kamilos (κάμιλος)], to go through the eye of a needle. We gaze upon the eye of a needle through which the radiance of God’s presence threads our hearts.

“There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.” - William Stafford