19th Sunday after Pentecost
Guest Preacher, the Rev. Todd Wilken
Text: Mark 10:17-22
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This young man, this rich young man has at least one thing right. He is kneeling in the presence of the Good Teacher – Jesus Christ. He runs up to Jesus and he falls to his knees and he asks Our Savior, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The question itself, if you think about it, is nonsense. No one does anything to inherit anything. An inheritance is yours by birthright. But Jesus is patient and Jesus is compassionate with this young man in spite of the nonsense of His question.
He first responds with a question of His own. “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one – namely God.” And then He indulges the young man and answers His question, a foolish and nonsensical question as best as one can answer a foolish and nonsensical question.
“You know the commandments.” Then He names a few. The man responds with an answer as foolish as his question. “All these I have kept from my youth.” Now he’s wrong.
But Jesus continues with this young man along that line of questions and answers to the only place it will eventually lead. Well, if it is true that you have kept all these commandments from your youth, then there is only one thing that you lack, rich young man, young man who has everything in life and thinks all he needs is one more thing to have eternal life. Go sell it all and follow me. And rather than going and selling everything and getting in line behind Jesus, this foolish and rich young man goes away very sad.
The one thing he lacks is the one thing that Jesus alone can give. This is the one thing that Jesus alone gives freely.
Let’s back up to the man’s original address to Jesus: Good Teacher. Jesus is indeed good. The man has this right. Jesus is far better than good. He’s perfect. If there’s any one in this conversation between Jesus and the young man who can truthfully say, “I have kept all these commandments from my youth,” it’s not the young man. It’s Jesus.
You know the commandments don’t you? Put yourself in the position of that young man who is on his knees before the Good Teacher – Jesus.
You know the commandments - Or maybe you don’t? I could clear this room, I can imagine, if I would ask each one of you to recite them. Or seven of them. Or 5? In order?
Maybe the [catechism] kids could do it because it’s all still fresh in their minds isn’t it? But for some of us confirmation was a long time ago. And for some of us confirmation was a very long time ago.
You know the commandments. That’s part of the problem. We don’t.
The very will of God – St. Paul says: “Good, holy, right,” the very picture of what humanity ought to be - God went out of His way to carve these very commandments - in stone, not once, but twice, for His people of the Old Testament and to hand deliver them by His prophet Moses to his people. To graciously give us His good and perfect will, His commands that require not that we merely do our best, but that we obey them perfectly. And we can’t even remember them.
There are people out in society who moan and whine about having the Ten Commandments posted in the courthouses. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that, but unless there looking at the plaque or the monument they’re not able to recite them.
The next time someone comes up to you and says I really think those commandments belong in our public places, just say, “Name four” and they will walk away sad – like this young man.
But we don’t even know them. And you cannot do what you don’t know. You cannot keep what you don’t know. If you think this is a trivial thing that you can’t remember the Ten Commandments, think again. God not only expects you to know them, He expects you to keep them. Not just do your best. Oh no. God was serious when He thundered from Mt. Sinai, when He sent His message strong and clear to his people in the Old Testament. They got it. They understood. They trembled with fear. They begged Moses: “You come and talk to us, but do not let God say another word, lest we die.” Moses put a fence around the mountain where God appeared, so that no one would go near it because if they did they would die. A man or even an animal. God is serious. If you think it’s a trivial thing that you don’t know the Ten Commandments, think again. He expects you to know them and more than, He expects you to keep them, perfectly. Not trying your best. He does not grade on a curve. He expects perfect obedience. Not only in what we outwardly do and show to the world, He expects perfect obedience to these Ten Commandments from a pure heart – without any faults or sinful or selfish or self-centered motivation. He expects these things to be kept, as the first commandment so aptly says, with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind.
Notice the three that Jesus doesn’t mention. Jesus mentions – depending on which Gospel that you read - all seven of the second table of the commandments, having to do with how we treat our neighbor. He doesn’t get them in order, but He doesn’t have to. After all, He’s the author of these commandments. He does not even mention the first three – the ones that are our real problem. You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and all your soul and with all you mind.
The first commandment that says: “Have no other gods before me.” The second stays within that same line of thinking: “Do not take my name in vain.” And the third, apropos of a Sunday morning: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. These are the real toughies. Luther says, “If you could keep the first, you wouldn’t need the other nine.” And the first three relate to how we deal with God, much less our neighbor. God expects us to know them and to keep them.
And just in case there’s anyone here who does know all ten and then thinks that they’re keeping them, listen to Jesus: “No one is good, except God.” By the standard of the Ten Commandments, if you think you’re keeping them, you’re breaking them.
This young man walks away sad – he thinks he’s kept all these things from his youth, and he walks away sad because the one thing that he lacks is the one thing he will never be able to render to Jesus or to God – to inherit eternal life. What must I do? Jesus says, “Well, if you want to earn your inheritance” – I don’t know why you’d want to earn it, but if you want to earn your inheritance from God, “then keep all the commandments perfectly.
Lest you go away sad this day, which is all you can ever do, if you think you can parlay with God based upon your obedience to those perfect commandments. Squeak in under the wire. I did my best. I’m trying my hardest.
Lest you go away sad, Let us get to the point, to the real point of this story of Jesus and this foolish young man.
No one is good except God. And this man one knows at least one thing except, I dare say, he fails to understand it. Jesus is good. By the standard of these Ten Commandments, before the perfect will of God, Jesus can stand before men and before His father in heaven and say with a straight face and complete honesty: All these I have kept from my youth. And fellow sinners: He has kept them for you. Perfectly, from a pure heart without any sin, without any self-centered motivation, from his youth, from his very birth and conception from the womb of the Virgin, He has kept these commands for you from a pure heart that is acceptable before God, Jesus has rendered perfect obedience according to those Ten Commandments to Our Father. And he did it for you. He did it because you could not and cannot and because I could not and I cannot. He did it for you and He did it for me. He is good. And that is all that counts before you father in heaven this day. And all that matter is your sin.
You confessed your sins. And you said that you have not kept these commandments and you sought the forgiveness of the One who has: The Good Teacher.
And you came to this savior with the right question – that makes perfect sense in God’s thinking: I a poor miserable sinner confess that I have sinned. And you did not ask, “What must I do?” You asked for forgiveness.
The Good Teacher, who has kept these commandments on your behalf, freely gave you the one thing you lack - the one thing every sinner lacks, His perfect obedience – an obedience that took Him. If he would have sold everything and left behind what held him back from Christ, and followed the Savior, he would have found out what being a good teacher really means. He would have found out how good this Jesus really is. He would have followed this Jesus’ perfectly obedient footsteps all the way to the cross, where Paul tells us, “He became obedient even unto death on the cross” for you and for me.
It is the one thing I lack, it is the one thing you lack: the perfect obedience of Christ and it is the one thing that Christ the Good Teacher has freely given us – His obedience, His death, His resurrection, for sinners.
Lest you go away sad, and if you haven’t been paying attention, He will not let you leave here sad. In only moments He will give it to you again. His Very Body and His Very Blood that hung dead on the cross for you, that lay in the tomb for you, that came out alive for you. He will give it to you for the forgiveness of your sins. It is the one thing that you lack. We come before this table not asking, “What must I do,” but “What has Christ done?”
And He delivers to us the fruit of His obedience – of His death and His resurrection - for us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins.
No one is good, except one – God. And Christ is very good for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Text: Mark 10:17-22
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This young man, this rich young man has at least one thing right. He is kneeling in the presence of the Good Teacher – Jesus Christ. He runs up to Jesus and he falls to his knees and he asks Our Savior, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The question itself, if you think about it, is nonsense. No one does anything to inherit anything. An inheritance is yours by birthright. But Jesus is patient and Jesus is compassionate with this young man in spite of the nonsense of His question.
He first responds with a question of His own. “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one – namely God.” And then He indulges the young man and answers His question, a foolish and nonsensical question as best as one can answer a foolish and nonsensical question.
“You know the commandments.” Then He names a few. The man responds with an answer as foolish as his question. “All these I have kept from my youth.” Now he’s wrong.
But Jesus continues with this young man along that line of questions and answers to the only place it will eventually lead. Well, if it is true that you have kept all these commandments from your youth, then there is only one thing that you lack, rich young man, young man who has everything in life and thinks all he needs is one more thing to have eternal life. Go sell it all and follow me. And rather than going and selling everything and getting in line behind Jesus, this foolish and rich young man goes away very sad.
The one thing he lacks is the one thing that Jesus alone can give. This is the one thing that Jesus alone gives freely.
Let’s back up to the man’s original address to Jesus: Good Teacher. Jesus is indeed good. The man has this right. Jesus is far better than good. He’s perfect. If there’s any one in this conversation between Jesus and the young man who can truthfully say, “I have kept all these commandments from my youth,” it’s not the young man. It’s Jesus.
You know the commandments don’t you? Put yourself in the position of that young man who is on his knees before the Good Teacher – Jesus.
You know the commandments - Or maybe you don’t? I could clear this room, I can imagine, if I would ask each one of you to recite them. Or seven of them. Or 5? In order?
Maybe the [catechism] kids could do it because it’s all still fresh in their minds isn’t it? But for some of us confirmation was a long time ago. And for some of us confirmation was a very long time ago.
You know the commandments. That’s part of the problem. We don’t.
The very will of God – St. Paul says: “Good, holy, right,” the very picture of what humanity ought to be - God went out of His way to carve these very commandments - in stone, not once, but twice, for His people of the Old Testament and to hand deliver them by His prophet Moses to his people. To graciously give us His good and perfect will, His commands that require not that we merely do our best, but that we obey them perfectly. And we can’t even remember them.
There are people out in society who moan and whine about having the Ten Commandments posted in the courthouses. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that, but unless there looking at the plaque or the monument they’re not able to recite them.
The next time someone comes up to you and says I really think those commandments belong in our public places, just say, “Name four” and they will walk away sad – like this young man.
But we don’t even know them. And you cannot do what you don’t know. You cannot keep what you don’t know. If you think this is a trivial thing that you can’t remember the Ten Commandments, think again. God not only expects you to know them, He expects you to keep them. Not just do your best. Oh no. God was serious when He thundered from Mt. Sinai, when He sent His message strong and clear to his people in the Old Testament. They got it. They understood. They trembled with fear. They begged Moses: “You come and talk to us, but do not let God say another word, lest we die.” Moses put a fence around the mountain where God appeared, so that no one would go near it because if they did they would die. A man or even an animal. God is serious. If you think it’s a trivial thing that you don’t know the Ten Commandments, think again. He expects you to know them and more than, He expects you to keep them, perfectly. Not trying your best. He does not grade on a curve. He expects perfect obedience. Not only in what we outwardly do and show to the world, He expects perfect obedience to these Ten Commandments from a pure heart – without any faults or sinful or selfish or self-centered motivation. He expects these things to be kept, as the first commandment so aptly says, with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind.
Notice the three that Jesus doesn’t mention. Jesus mentions – depending on which Gospel that you read - all seven of the second table of the commandments, having to do with how we treat our neighbor. He doesn’t get them in order, but He doesn’t have to. After all, He’s the author of these commandments. He does not even mention the first three – the ones that are our real problem. You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and all your soul and with all you mind.
The first commandment that says: “Have no other gods before me.” The second stays within that same line of thinking: “Do not take my name in vain.” And the third, apropos of a Sunday morning: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. These are the real toughies. Luther says, “If you could keep the first, you wouldn’t need the other nine.” And the first three relate to how we deal with God, much less our neighbor. God expects us to know them and to keep them.
And just in case there’s anyone here who does know all ten and then thinks that they’re keeping them, listen to Jesus: “No one is good, except God.” By the standard of the Ten Commandments, if you think you’re keeping them, you’re breaking them.
This young man walks away sad – he thinks he’s kept all these things from his youth, and he walks away sad because the one thing that he lacks is the one thing he will never be able to render to Jesus or to God – to inherit eternal life. What must I do? Jesus says, “Well, if you want to earn your inheritance” – I don’t know why you’d want to earn it, but if you want to earn your inheritance from God, “then keep all the commandments perfectly.
Lest you go away sad this day, which is all you can ever do, if you think you can parlay with God based upon your obedience to those perfect commandments. Squeak in under the wire. I did my best. I’m trying my hardest.
Lest you go away sad, Let us get to the point, to the real point of this story of Jesus and this foolish young man.
No one is good except God. And this man one knows at least one thing except, I dare say, he fails to understand it. Jesus is good. By the standard of these Ten Commandments, before the perfect will of God, Jesus can stand before men and before His father in heaven and say with a straight face and complete honesty: All these I have kept from my youth. And fellow sinners: He has kept them for you. Perfectly, from a pure heart without any sin, without any self-centered motivation, from his youth, from his very birth and conception from the womb of the Virgin, He has kept these commands for you from a pure heart that is acceptable before God, Jesus has rendered perfect obedience according to those Ten Commandments to Our Father. And he did it for you. He did it because you could not and cannot and because I could not and I cannot. He did it for you and He did it for me. He is good. And that is all that counts before you father in heaven this day. And all that matter is your sin.
You confessed your sins. And you said that you have not kept these commandments and you sought the forgiveness of the One who has: The Good Teacher.
And you came to this savior with the right question – that makes perfect sense in God’s thinking: I a poor miserable sinner confess that I have sinned. And you did not ask, “What must I do?” You asked for forgiveness.
The Good Teacher, who has kept these commandments on your behalf, freely gave you the one thing you lack - the one thing every sinner lacks, His perfect obedience – an obedience that took Him. If he would have sold everything and left behind what held him back from Christ, and followed the Savior, he would have found out what being a good teacher really means. He would have found out how good this Jesus really is. He would have followed this Jesus’ perfectly obedient footsteps all the way to the cross, where Paul tells us, “He became obedient even unto death on the cross” for you and for me.
It is the one thing I lack, it is the one thing you lack: the perfect obedience of Christ and it is the one thing that Christ the Good Teacher has freely given us – His obedience, His death, His resurrection, for sinners.
Lest you go away sad, and if you haven’t been paying attention, He will not let you leave here sad. In only moments He will give it to you again. His Very Body and His Very Blood that hung dead on the cross for you, that lay in the tomb for you, that came out alive for you. He will give it to you for the forgiveness of your sins. It is the one thing that you lack. We come before this table not asking, “What must I do,” but “What has Christ done?”
And He delivers to us the fruit of His obedience – of His death and His resurrection - for us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins.
No one is good, except one – God. And Christ is very good for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
10/20/2006
