First thoughts for Mark 10:17-31
One of the most interesting pieces of making the switch to the Narrative Lectionary two years ago has been the opportunity to read certain familiar texts in a new light. In the Revised Common Lectionary the story of Jesus and the rich man as told in Mark 10:17-31 appears in the middle of October in Year B. It is paired with a story from Job and the reassurance from Hebrews that we have high priest who can sympathize with our weakness.
In the Narrative Lectionary, however, the text stands alone right at the beginning of Lent. As I sit here planning for Sunday’s worship I also have tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday service in the back of my mind. That liturgical context provides a fresh lens through which to look at this story. Suddenly the call for the rich man to sell he has and follow Jesus sounds a lot like a particularly extreme form of the Lenten disciplines we will be invited to undertake tomorrow night.
The disorientation that the rich man must have felt in being told that obedience to the Decalogue was insufficient also seems a little more understandable. It is easy for us to fall into the same trap. Those of us who observe Lenten disciplines often turn it into a painful legalistic endeavor. With the wrong attitude it can sometimes become a case of works self-righteousness.
Jesus, of course, was calling for a transformation of the man’s heart. He was asking him to make a full commitment to the task of following Christ. Done right, this is what Lenten disciplines do. They help us to transform our hearts. They provide us with concrete ways for us to experience the love that God has given us in Jesus Christ.
Selling everything he owned and giving the money to the poor would have allowed the rich man to experience God’s love in a new way. When Peter and the disciples left everything they owned to follow Jesus they experienced an intimacy with him that they never could have found otherwise. Doing so was a very specific practice that demonstrated the trust that they had in Jesus’ promise. It was also a way of deepening that trust as they learned to depend on him for everything that they needed.
This is what I am pondering right now. In my prayers I am asking Holy Spirit to show me what I need to give up in order to follow more faithfully. I am also preemptively asking for forgiveness for the fact that I will at some point grieve Jesus through my inability to fully trust him. My prestige, and self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency are all possessions that I treasure.
None of this has yet translated into a sermon for Sunday, but this is some of the baggage that I will need to unpack before I get to the pulpit. Time for a little more prayer.
