Earning salvation isn't hard; it's impossible

Mark 10:17-31

            I preach on this story so often when it is not the reading of the day that I hardly know what to do with it when it is. I actually went back and looked and I’ve never officially preached on Mark 10, or the same story as it appears in Matthew or Luke, but I’ve probably mentioned the story of Jesus and the rich man a half dozen times or more in sermons through the years. So, it’s probably no surprise to you that I believe this is one of the most important passages in the entire Bible. Naturally, we’re reading it on Labor Day weekend when everybody is at the cabin, but hey, you can’t have it all.  

It goes like this: A man comes to Jesus with a fantastic question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks.  In fact, that really is the question isn’t it? If you knew for certain what it took have eternal life, then all the other questions would sort of be moot, wouldn’t they? If you had salvation assured, then all the secrets of how to live follow.

            Interestingly enough, Jesus does not answer the man with a parable. A parable would be more typical of Jesus. Somebody comes to him with a really big, difficult question, and his response is to say, “A man was going down the road…” or “A farmer went out to sow his seed…” Jesus does not go that route here. Instead, he asks how the man is doing with following the commandments. “Have you not murdered? Have you stayed faithful? Have you not stolen?”

            “I’ve done none of that,” says the man, “More than that, I have never used the Lord’s name in vain, I have never put another god before the true God, I have never coveted. You name it, I haven’t done it.” Sounds like a fun guy.

            More to the point, this is remarkable response. I mean, everybody violates the commandments! Some of us might be better at following the rules than others, but to keep them all—even the parts about coveting, which, honestly, most of us covet about twice a minute? That is astounding—impossible, really. What’s more astounding, however, is that Jesus doesn’t even question it. Jesus doesn’t go down the ‘Yeah, but…” rabbit hole, pointing out that this schmoe is obviously lying to himself. He doesn’t need to point out how wrong he is. Instead, he turns back to the man and says, “Alright, then go and give away all your possessions.”

            Hit him where it hurts, Jesus. Hit him where it hurts.

            You see, I don’t think this guy is anything special at all. I think he’s one of those high-and-mighty, holier-than-thou folks (you know the sort), who can’t wait to justify himself before Jesus. So, he can’t resist the opportunity to come before God-in-the-flesh and tell him about how perfect he is, as if God does not already know the truth. But, in the end, it doesn’t really matter if this guy really is perfect or if he stinks as much as I believe he does, because Jesus makes it perfectly clear how far he has to go to earn eternal life. “If you’ve come this far,” says Jesus, “if you’ve followed every commandment to the t, perfectly obeying, perfectly submissive to God’s law, then you had only do this: Give it all away.”

            This may be the most polarizing verse in the whole Bible, because the history of biblical interpretation is littered with people who obviously cannot stand the fact that Jesus says this. People do their absolute best to try to explain this scripture away. One of them went so far as to invent a story about the “Eye of the Needle,” saying it was the name of a gate in Jerusalem. In the view, it isn’t impossible for a rich man to get into heaven; it’s just mildly uncomfortable. Never mind, Jesus makes this perfectly clear. If you try to lessen the blow of this passage, you are missing the point. I get it, I mean, it’s uncomfortable to have a God who sets the bar way up there where we can’t reach it; it’s not easy to have a God who says it’s not enough to go part-way; we have to give it all—give everything away.

            This has led others to say that Jesus was speaking in hyperbole. Surely, Jesus doesn’t mean what he’s saying; surely, the man doesn’t have to give away everything in order to inherit eternal life. That would be unreasonable. If you feel that way, you’re not alone, because the disciples are right there with you. The Gospel of Mark says they were perplexed by what Jesus was saying, and they ask the all-important follow-up question, “Hey, Jesus, if what you’re saying is true, then how on earth can anybody be saved?”

            How, indeed, Jesus? How can you expect any of us to give everything away? Surely, you must be exaggerating to make a point—that it’s really important to be generous, perhaps, or even that we are saved by being really, really generous? That must be Jesus’ point.

            Jesus, however, is not one to mess around. He doesn’t say, “Yeah, I was really just exaggerating to show you how important it is.” Instead, he offers this: “For human beings, salvation is impossible,” Jesus says. It is impossible to earn your salvation by following the commandments. You can be the best at it. One guy named Martin Luther tried. He confessed so often and so vigorously that his confessors told him he needed to give it a break, but he couldn’t, not when his eternal salvation is at stake. Then, finally, Luther realized a sullen fact: He couldn’t do it. Later, he boasted, “If ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I.”

It’s not enough to be the best; to earn salvation you have to be perfect, to give it all away—not just most of it, not just the nice things, not just 10%. Jesus doesn’t believe in tithing; he calls you to recklessly abandon it all, even up to and including your life. As Bonhoeffer said, “When Jesus Christ calls a disciple, he bids him, come and die.” In other words, give away all the things you have, even, up to, and including your life; that’s how to be a disciple.

            The thing that shouldn’t be a secret about this, because Jesus literally explains it in this story, and yet our society, and especially our Christians, treat it like it is a secret, is that you absolutely, positively, cannot do what Jesus is requiring you to do. Jesus doesn’t say “Salvation is really, really hard.” He says, “For mortals it is impossible.”

            You. Cannot. Do. It.

            The requirements of the law are too much for you. This is so, so important, because it means that grace isn’t cheap; it’s not filling the cracks where you fall short. It’s not just a little step from the almost-perfect-you to the angelic-you awaiting us on the other side of the veil. No, grace isn’t cheap. Instead, it is free; and it takes the sinner-in-you, who is completely rotten, because there’s less that separates us from the worst of human nature than we will ever admit, and Jesus takes that sinner and makes of you a saint, apart from your choosing—for most of us, kicking and screaming, because we would rather try fruitlessly to save ourselves. Not only do we fail to save ourselves; we fight tooth-and-nail against the salvation that God gives us freely. We are that poor rich man, coming to Jesus looking to justify ourselves, unwilling to believe in a God who does it all on our behalf, unwilling to believe in grace.

            So, many of us are so dead-set on believing in ourselves that there is no room left for God. That’s really what this story is about. How far will you follow Jesus? No, really, how far? Now, if you’re saying, “All the way!” then I’m glad you’ve internalized that lesson from Sunday School, but I’m also going to call you a liar. You can’t follow all the way; you will fail. But Jesus is here to tell you: Do not worry, because grace isn’t cheap; it’s absolutely, completely free. You won’t follow me all the way; even Peter denied Jesus—Peter, who is the rock on whom Jesus made his church. The only way to succeed in following Jesus is to die, but don’t worry! You are going to do that, anyway. So, instead of worrying, know this: For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible. Not only is it possible, through the cross and the empty tomb, it is reality. You are saved by grace. It’s done, over. So, go out in the freedom of the good news!