Rich Man Luke 18

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to the Father. In

the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of

the Holy Spirit. Amen. We've all been in those

situations in which someone was trying to get

our attention, and we were sort of oblivious

to it. It's happened to me so many times as a

priest. Someone's trying to get a hold of me,

tell me something, and I'm just off somewhere

else. The Lord, our God, is continually, continually

looking for our attention. So, we in the church,

we have these gospel readings every week. They're

meant for each one of us. The Lord is speaking

to each of you, to you and me personally. Before

we read the gospel, We sing Alleluia. That's

a song of praise. That's a song of glorification

of God. That means the Lord is present. Before

you receive communion, we sing the communion

verse. The choir is singing Alleluia. Again,

it's to remind us, to tell us, the Lord is here.

Wisdom, stand aright. You hear these Gospels,

it's... Christ speaking to us. God's not silent.

Not only is he speaking to us in nature and through

other people, but here, especially in the liturgy,

he's speaking to us. He's trying to get our attention.

So it occurs to me to ask myself, why over the

last month or so did we hear a reading about

Lazarus and the rich man? The rich man who abused

his riches. And that's all he could see. Not

this poor man. Why do we have the foolish rich

man who didn't bother building the temple in

his heart but thought he was going to build bigger

and bigger barns to put all his things in and

eat and drink and be merry. But his soul was

required of him that very night. He abused his

wealth. And today we have... A rich young leader

of the community who comes and his wealth prevents

him from drawing near to God. Now, I ask myself,

are these readings for wealthy people? Because

the Lord is giving these teachings not to wealthy

people. Not then and not there. And here, in

our context, he's speaking to me. But how? How

am I supposed to respond to this? He's trying

to get my attention. Well, let's look at this

story very briefly. Rich young leader of the

community. Sincere. One of the saints says, he's

sincere. He comes to Christ. He wants advice

from this particular rabbi, from that particular

rabbi, and then from Jesus. He's heard things.

He's looking for advice. You know, people might

come to me in confession for spiritual advice.

And I'll say, well, let's think of this. Have

you tried this? What about this? Well, try these

prayers. Do these prayers. Whatever. You know,

prepare yourself in this way. Is that what Jesus

does? The man comes to Jesus and he says, oh,

good master. And immediately Jesus tries to change

the approach from, I'm not your local rabbi giving

you advice. What should I do to inherit eternal

life? And Jesus says, well, you know. You know.

You're a pious young man. Why are you asking

me? That's really what's in between the lines

here. Why are you asking me? And he says, these

five of the Ten Commandments, Jesus says, all

having to do with behavior and interaction with

other people. Do not commit adultery. Well, that's

good. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear

false witness. Honor your father and your mother.

And you know what the man says. Oh, I've done

those. Done those from my youth. Well, first

off, he was a teenager at one point, so probably

he's not telling the entire truth. He couldn't

have done them all all the time. No slam to our

teenagers. Jesus heard these things. You lack

one more thing. Jesus isn't saying, try this.

This might be the way forward for you. He says

something completely without any kind of confusion

at all. You know, in our church, we hear so many

things. We hear wonderful words. We hear the

story of the prodigal son and the loving father

who receives him back. No comment. He just takes

him and embraces him. He's waiting for him. He

runs to meet him. The love of God is there. That's

the truth of things. We hear about Christ and

the sinful woman who comes and pours out the

precious myrrh upon him and shows her deep love

for the Lord. We hear about the woman caught

in adultery and Christ says, I don't judge you

either. We hear about the healings and God's

compassion over and over. And how Jesus, it says

in St. Luke says, Jesus felt deep compassion.

He wept when he saw the grave of his friend Lazarus.

But we also have things that leave us without

any doubt. The separation of the sheep and the

goats. We have no doubt about... That if we judge

someone, we will be judged with the same measure

that we judge them. And then we have these teachings.

You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have.

Distribute to the poor. And you will have treasure

in heaven. And come, follow me. And he was sad

because he was very rich. He could not give up

any of his things. He, imagine now, imagine.

So he goes away. Now, the scriptures don't psychologize.

They don't go into these details. But we might.

He goes away. And his friend says, well, what

did the rabbi say? Well, he said, for me to sell

everything, follow him, just give it all away.

And obviously, I can't do that. I have responsibilities.

I have things I need to take care of, you know.

And then, this is chapter 18 of the Gospel of

Isaiah 18 · chapter mention

Luke. Pretty soon, next day almost, Jesus comes

into Jerusalem on the donkey. And the crowds

acclaim him. And the man... that decided not

to follow Jesus, what's he thinking? Oh, I made

a mistake. And then a few days later, he sees

this rabbi arrested, put on trial, and crucified,

and die, and buried. And he thinks, I guess I

didn't make a mistake. Did the right thing there.

Dodged a bullet. And then the Lord rises from

the dead. And he comes to the upper room where

his disciples are afraid. And he says, peace

be to you. What this man missed is beyond anything

you can think of. To have the Lord Jesus Christ

come to you and say, peace be to you. Be not

afraid. Even as the Father sent me, even so send

I you. And his disciples become apostles, though

sent out. This man asked the question, what do

I do to inherit eternal life? What does Jesus

say in that prayer that the apostles heard on

the night he was betrayed and arrested? Jesus

is praying to the Father. He says, And this is

eternal life. To know thee, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. We could

read this gospel in two ways. We could say, well,

Jesus is just telling this particular man what

to do. Because his riches got in the way of his

life. Or we could say, Jesus is talking to me.

I can't meet that bar. I can't jump over that

bar. I can't meet that standard. I can't give

everything away. I can't just follow you, Lord.

What does Jesus say? Well, the apostles say first,

who can be saved then? We can't do that either.

And they say, we've left everything, but who

can be saved? Let's remember this, brothers and

sisters. Whatever Jesus is calling you to specifically,

brother and sister in Christ, it may be not possible,

but with God it is. So we repent. We repent that

we cannot keep this rule of the Lord. He's not

speaking to just rich people. This isn't a slam

on the rich. This is telling us, if we're wealthy,

how to be stewards of our wealth and not slaves

of our wealth. So we repent. We try our best.

We say, with God, it's possible. I want to be

with the Lord. The Lord is inviting this man.

to be in love with him, to love God, to experience

the glory, the grace, the peace. Yes, the crucifixion,

but also the transfiguration and the resurrection.

And so we follow the Lord. We know that according

to the standards of the world, what Christ is

calling us to is not possible because of our

sins and our fear. Shame or hesitation. So we

repent. We say, Lord, with you, I'm coming. To

our Lord be glory, now and ever, to ages of ages.

Amen.