We are in the second week of our sermon series called, “Seriously, Jesus?” We're looking at some of the hard sayings of Jesus, the things we wish Jesus had not said. As we look at those things, our reading for today is probably at or near the top of a lot of people's lists. A man came to Jesus and asked what he should do to get eternal life. Jesus told him, “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Later, Jesus said that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Most of us really don't like that one. You can tell that we don't by the efforts we make to figure out ways around it.
One of the things we'll say is, “Well, that's addressed to the rich. I'm not rich. Therefore, this does not apply to me.” Well, okay. If you want to believe that, well, it's your business. I don't believe it, though.
Jesus does not define what qualifies as “rich”. You and I may not be rich by American standards—we may not have the money of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett or somebody like that—but by the world's standards, pretty much all of us are “rich”. Just the fact that we have a roof over our heads and food to eat and clothes to wear makes us rich, no matter what our bank balance may say. We may not feel rich, but I don't think I want to bet my eternal life on the theory that Jesus was not talking about me here.
Another statement that used to be popular is that Jesus did not mean a literal “eye of a needle” the way we look at it now. I've heard it said that this referred to a certain type of gate that walled-off towns used to make sure it was hard for people to get in, that it was just barely big enough for a camel to squeeze through. So, according to this theory, Jesus was not saying it was impossible for the rich to get into heaven, just that it was really difficult.
The trouble with that is that most scholars say it was not true. That type of gate did not exist in Jesus' time. Besides, we're told that when Jesus said this, the disciples were “greatly astonished.” They could not believe what they were hearing. It's doubtful the disciples would've had that reaction if all Jesus was saying was that it was going to be hard for the rich to get to heaven. So, while this is a nice theory, and we might wish it was true, it does not seem to actually be true.
Another thing we hear said is, look, Jesus did not require everybody to get rid of everything they owned and follow him. I mean, even Peter owned a house, apparently. Therefore, what Jesus said just applied to this one guy. It does not apply to you and me.
Well, I suppose that's possible. It's true that Jesus did not require everyone to sell everything they had.
On the other hand, as we said in the series on Jesus' miracles, we need to ask ourselves why this story is in the Bible. If this was a message Jesus intended to apply just to this one person, if Jesus' words do not have any application to the rest of us, why would Matthew have included it in his gospel? It would not make sense to include this story if we're not supposed to get something from it. So I really don't think we can just assume what Jesus said does not apply to us, no matter how much we might want to.
So, if we decide that we're going to take these words of Jesus seriously, if we decide that they do apply to us, what are we going to do about them? Do we need to take them literally? Do we need to literally sell everything we have and give the money to the poor if we're going to get to heaven? Or is there some other way we can look at this?
Well, I told you last week that, when it comes to the hard sayings of Jesus, I don't claim to have all the answers. It is really tempting for me to do exactly what I've said others have done, to try to figure out ways around it. In fact, it's entirely possible that that's what I'm doing here today. But I will tell you what I think. You can decide if it makes sense to you. If you'd like to discuss it further with me sometime, I'd be happy to do that.
When the man first asks Jesus what he should do to get eternal life, the first thing Jesus tells him to do is keep the commandments. The man replies that he has done that, but that he feels he is still lacking something. Jesus says, “If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
“If you want to be perfect.” Earlier in Matthew, in the other part of Matthew's gospel that we read today, Jesus tells us to be perfect. And he apparently used “perfect” to mean exactly what it says. He tells us “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The thing is, Jesus knew we're not perfect. We cannot be perfect. It's not possible for a human being to be perfect. Jesus is telling us to do something that it's not possible for us to do.
The disciples thought the exact same thing. Again, when Jesus went into more detail with them, when he told them it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to go to heaven, they were “greatly astonished.” They could not believe it. They asked Jesus, well, then, who can be saved?
And Jesus admitted that it was impossible. That is, it's impossible for humans. With God, though, all things are possible.
See, Jesus was not making a point about giving to the poor. Jesus was in favor of giving to the poor, of course. We should give to the poor. I suspect Jesus would tell most of us, including me, should give a lot more to the poor than we do. But I don't think that's the main point Jesus was making here.
The man who came up to Jesus asked Jesus what good thing he had to do to get eternal life. He was looking at eternal life as something he had to earn. And Jesus says, well, if you want to earn it, you have to be perfect. To be perfect, you have to sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and follow me.
Jesus knew the man would not be able to do what Jesus told him to do. None of us can do everything Jesus tells us to do all the time. That's the point.
Jesus tells us that the only way we can earn eternal life is to be perfect. But we cannot be perfect. Therefore, it's not possible for us to earn eternal life.
Yet, we can have eternal life. But we don't get it because we've earned it. We get it because we have such an awesome, incredible God who offers it to us. Despite our imperfections, despite our sins, if we just have faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God offers eternal life to us even though we have not earned it and never will be able to earn it.
So why does Jesus tell us to be perfect if we cannot do it? Because that's the goal. It's an impossible, unattainable goal, but it's still the goal. We want to be as close to being like God as we can be. God is perfect. That means we need to try to be perfect, too, even though we know we cannot be.
Look at it this way. A major league baseball team plays one hundred sixty-two games each season. The players know they're not going to win every one of those one hundred sixty-two games. No one ever has. No one has ever come remotely close. The most any team has ever won is one hundred sixteen, which is a lot, but it still means they lost forty-six times during the season. They won a lot of games, but they did not come anywhere near winning them all. No team can ever win them all.
Yet, every time a team goes out on the field, it tries to win. They try to win today's game. Tomorrow, they'll try to win tomorrow's game. The day after that, they'll try to win that day's game. Each team is trying to win every game. In other words, each team is trying to be perfect, even though they know it's not possible.
That's how it is with our faith. We try to be perfect, just like God is perfect. We won't do it. No one ever has. We won't come remotely close. No one can. Yet, each day, we try to do it. We'll try to be perfect, like God is perfect, today. Tomorrow, we'll try to be perfect, like God is perfect. We keep trying to be perfect, even though we know it's not possible.
It's not possible for us. But it is possible for God. Through our faith in God, and through God's incredible love and mercy for us, God can look at our imperfections and make them perfect. We cannot be perfect by our own merits. But we can be made perfect, and have eternal life, by God's love and grace and mercy, through our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
So, do we have to sell everything we have and give it to the poor? I don't think so. I do think, though, that we need to take a look at our lives. We need to get rid of all those things that are standing in the way of our relationship with God. If that's money and possessions, then we need to get rid of them. If it's our attitude, we need to change our attitude. If it's things we do for fun, then we need to find fun in different ways.
Whatever it is that's getting in the way of our relationship with God, what ever it is that feeds our imperfections and keeps us from showing love to others, we need to get rid of it and put God and God's people first.
Jesus said you and I are to be perfect. Even though we cannot be, Jesus told us to be. We need to be as much like God as we can. It's not possible for us. But it's possible for God. If we do our part, we know God will do the rest.
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