Possibilities - Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
October 17^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Possibilities     (Ecclesiastes 5:10-20, Hebrews 4:1-16, Mark 10:23-31)

 Impossible!  Impossible.  Impossible? 

   No.  The short answer to the question of whether anything is impossible for God is no.  With God all things are possible.  Which is Good News.  Truly.  But the fact that God’s omnipotence, His all-powerfulness, is good for us fallen creatures is not always obvious.  So much of what Jesus taught about Himself, about God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, seems impossible to us.  Or perhaps God’s possibilities don’t attract us. 

In last week’s Gospel, which immediately precedes our text from St. Mark this morning, Jesus raised the possibility that a rich man, who wanted to do what it takes to inherit eternal life, might achieve that goal by selling all his possessions, giving his money to the poor, and following Jesus.  Jesus’ suggestion was impossible for the man, and he went away, sad, even though he still had all his money.  As King Solomon taught us in Ecclesiastes, money can’t buy lasting happiness.  But we sure like to think it can.    

    Only God is good.  That’s what Jesus said to the rich man when he ran up asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.  The man addressed Jesus as “Good Teacher,” and Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good?  Only God is good.”  Jesus is hinting at the fact that He is God, but also demonstrating that the rich man doesn’t yet believe this astonishing fact.  The gift of God is standing right in front of him, the Savior in the flesh.  But the rich man is caught in the way of the Law: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

    The only God, come to give eternal life as a gift, is the man Jesus, eternally begotten of the Father, now born of Mary.  It seems impossible, but don’t doubt it.  Jesus has come to reveal the Father to us, and to do that, He will save us.  The heavenly choir sings that Salvation, entrance into God’s Kingdom, belongs to God, and to the Lamb, Jesus, who takes away the sin of them world.  How can Jesus and the Father be One?  How can the only One who is good, the one true God, be Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  One God, and yet also three distinct persons?  Seems impossible to us.   

   And yet the Gospel, the Good News of salvation, depends on this Truth.  For it is only because God is three in one that the Father could send the Son to be the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world.  Only the Holy Spirit, who proceeds

from the Father and the Son, can work through the Word to bring people to forgiving faith and unity with Jesus, who in turns presents us to the Father as beloved children.  If God were utterly one, as Islam teaches, then there would be no way for God to both be the righteous judge, and the victim in our place.  So then, no Gospel, no free gift of salvation.  Which is what Islam teaches.  No wonder we give thanks that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for in and from Him we sinners receive eternal life.

   The rich man knew this Word the Holy Spirit uses to save, the first part of it, anyway.  From this Word written down by Moses and the prophets, the rich man learned of the Creation, and the Fall, and God’s Commandments, and of the Kingdom, the place of eternal life.  From the Word the rich man knew that we dying sinners somehow need to gain entrance to God’s favor.  This man knew God’s Word as Law. 

   But this same Word, from Genesis to Malachi, also speaks of the mysterious Good News, that the One True God is also somehow more than one.  “Let us make man in Our Image,” spoke God, speaking to... Himself.  God sent His Spirit and His Word to create the universe, and yet the Creator is One.  God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre, and the appearance the Lord took on was ... you guessed it, the appearance of three men. 

   Then there’s the Angel of the Lord.  Sometimes the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent created angels to speak and to do things for Him.  But other times, the Angel of the Lord appeared.  Like when the God appeared to Moses in the burning bush that was not consumed by the flames, (that seems impossible).  And this Angel of the Lord speaks as God Himself.  The Angel of the Lord even demands the worship which belongs only to God.  That seems strange, almost impossible.  What’s going on here? 

   It’s helpful to remember that the word “angel” means, most simply, “messenger.” And of course the Messenger of the LORD who could speak as the LORD Himself is the Son, the Logos, the eternal Word, who in the fullness of time would take on flesh and be born of a woman, born under the Law, in order to redeem, to buy back from Death and Hell those who stood condemned by the Law.  Like us.   

   The reality of God as three in one is impossible for us to totally comprehend, and it was not yet fully declared in the Old Testament.  But this impossible seeming Truth is in the Old Testament Scripture, for God is the Author and the primary actor in the writings of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms.  The same God as always, who is who He is, unchanging, from eternity to eternity. 

   Truly, God’s Plan and Word of Salvation is full of impossibilities, promises that again and again contradict what our reason says can be.  Human reason is amazing, and results in many blessings.  Human reason is a driving force behind the material prosperity we enjoy today. But it is a common heresy, a false teaching, to imagine that sin does not corrupt human reason.  Sin perverts our will, making us desire and do evil things.  Sin twists our emotions into destructive rages and debilitating depressions.  Sin brings death to our bodies.  And this same ugly sin also corrupts our reason.  The Lord through Isaiah is pretty clear about it: My ways and my thoughts are higher than your ways and your thoughts.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, that’s how much greater and higher are the Lord’s ways and thoughts than ours.  And yet, we again and again imagine and insist that God must do things the way that we can understand them, according to our logic and reason.  Otherwise, God and His salvation would be illogical, and we can’t have that. 

   But of course we must have just exactly that. 

     My one-year-old granddaughter Rosemary can’t understand why it is right and logical that she be strapped into a car seat.  But that doesn’t mean her parents are mistaken in their judgment to protect her in this way, for her good.  There is a great difference between the reason of a good parent and an infant.  There is an even greater difference between God’s knowledge and reason and ours.

   And notice how Jesus addresses the Twelve Disciples in our Gospel reading.  These grown men are amazed at Jesus’ words declaring that it is very difficult for those having wealth to enter the kingdom of God.  It is entirely human to assume that material blessings are a sign of God’s favor.  But not necessarily, says Jesus, and the Twelve are confused.  In response, Jesus continues:  Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!  Did you catch that?  He calls them children.  ²⁵ Listen, children, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 

   Our Lord must deal with His future Apostles as my son and daughter-in-law deal with their little children.  Let me break it down for you.  Can a camel, a six-foot high, 1,200 lb. beast, pass through the eye of a needle?  That’s how much chance a human being has of making their own way into eternal life.  Which is to say, none.  No chance.  Who then, can be saved?  “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”    

   It is not wrong that you enjoy your possessions and have money saved in the bank.  It is not sinful that you want to give good things to your family, your children, your grandchildren.  It is not contrary to God’s plan that you work hard and try to better your living situation.  It is certainly not wrong that you also want to be Godly, to be a good person who lives as God would have you live.  All of these things are gifts and holy callings from God.  Family.  Material possessions.  The call to work, to build and make things, and to serve others.  The law which shows you how best to live the life God has given you.  Your very life itself.  All of these things your good and generous Father in heaven has given you, for you to use and enjoy, for your benefit and for the benefit of others. 

   But, despite what our human nature and the world constantly teach us, there is no salvation in these things.  And especially not in your money.  Solomon told us 3,000 years ago that money won’t even give you satisfaction in this life, if you make the mistake of letting possessions and wealth become your highest good.  And pursuing wealth as an idol is a particular temptation for us, 21^st century Americans.  Compared to the vast majority of people in the world today, and even more compared to the normal level of human existence throughout history, we are all fabulously wealthy.  And yet, despite this happy fact, contentment, happiness, joy and peace are less and less common amongst us.  Because great wealth not received as a gift from God can and often does become a slave master.  It drives us to get more, and fills our hearts with anxiety and envy and the fear of losing what we have. 

   What must we do?  The answer is not to sell all you have and give it to the poor.  But the answer is to put nothing ahead of Jesus and His Gospel, to follow Him and trust the impossibly Good News He came to fulfill for you. 

   It is impossible for us to fulfill God’s call to set aside all temptation of earthly goods and fully keep God’s Law by loving the neighbor perfectly, and God more than anything.  We cannot make ourselves truly good sons and daughters of the Lord.  These impossible tasks, impossible for mere sinful men and women like us, the God-man Jesus Christ has completed for us.  He is our High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, for He has been tempted as we are, in every way, and much further.  Jesus was tempted like us, but with this crucial difference: Jesus overcame all temptation, without sinning. 

   And His final temptation was to deny the path His Father had sent Him to walk.  To turn away from completing the final,

          once for all sacrifice,

                    of His own life,

                               under God’s wrath,

                                         on a Roman cross. 

   Jesus rejected the temptation to avoid suffering and abandon us to our well-deserved punishment, which is eternal separation from God and every good thing.  No, Jesus would not abandon you.  Instead, because He loves His Father and because He loves you, Jesus kept the faith.  Jesus made the good confession.  He trusted His Father completely: “not my will, but Thy will be done.”  Jesus, God in human flesh, poured out His life as the atoning sacrifice that washes you clean from all your sins and errors and weaknesses. 

   Jesus is your peace, your place of rest.  In Jesus, you have uncountable wealth, an eternal home in God’s glorious kingdom, and a family, innumerable brothers and sisters, all around the world, and in heaven, fellow redeemed sinners, who rejoice and sing to Christ with all God’s angels.  The impossible is complete; salvation unto us has come.  The Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, has come to you, entering your ear and your heart, convicting, rebuking, forgiving, redeeming, resurrecting, and strengthening you, by the Gospel of the forgiveness of all your sins. 

   Rejoice, all God’s best possibilities are guaranteed, in Jesus, for you, forever and ever, Amen.