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Jesus’ call to heavenly priorities

A Sermon preached at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Marietta, GA

The Rev. Tom Pumphrey, February 9, 2020

Evensong: Mark 10:13-22

Mark 10:13-22 (NRSV): People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. 

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

My homily this evening is a companion to my sermon from this morning. This morning I preached on Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount where he tells his disciples “you are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.” Part of being the salt of the earth and light of the world—part of bringing God’s blessing to the world—is following God’s commandments, and teaching others to follow them.

This afternoon, we hear from the Gospel according to Mark of Jesus’ encounter with a rich man eager to find out how to inherit eternal life. Here again, Jesus points to the commandments. However, there is more to eternal life than the commandments.

Jesus starts with what the man knows. He tells him “you know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” Jesus starts with the commandments that have to do with love of neighbor. These are mostly straight out of the ten commandments, but these all have to do with the love of neighbor, one’s obligation to other people.

These commandments are valuable, and Jesus seems to appreciate that the man has followed these commandments diligently. However, there is more to eternal life than the commandments to love our neighbor. Crucial to the love of neighbor, and crucial to eternal life, is the love of God. The greatest commandments are the two, which start “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The second is to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

When we love God first, we know how to love our neighbor. When we start with love of neighbor, we don’t necessarily follow with love of God. So, Jesus points in this direction, in many ways asking the rich man “will you put God first above everything else?”

What about us? Do we truly love God first? Do we love God above everything? Or is God a hobby? Is God a kind of self-improvement strategy, or a way to avoid feeling guilty, so long as God doesn’t ask anything of us or require us to change. Truth be told, all of us have a hard time putting God first—certainly I do.

Jesus raises the bar, asking the man to put God ahead of his riches. And the man goes away sad. He wasn’t ready to give it all up. He wasn’t ready to give it all away. And he wasn’t ready to follow Jesus, even if following Jesus was the path to eternal life.

Of course, the path of discipleship is not easy. Jesus is

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God is making a difference, and inviting us to participate

A Sermon preached at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Marietta, GA

The Rev. Tom Pumphrey, January 26, 2019

The Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year A: Isaiah 9:1-4, Matthew 4:12-23

Matthew 4:12-23 (NRSV): When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles–the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea– for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Sometimes the news is so important that it draws people into incredible movement. Back in the 1940s, the outbreak of war brought young men by the thousands to sign up to serve their country. When natural disasters strike, hundreds of people drop what they are doing to go help those displaced by flood, fire or storm. Today, people in other countries ravaged by lawlessness and poverty risk everything to come to this country to find peace and opportunity. They respond to the call, because they have good news to share, a mission to fulfill, and a difference to make in people’s lives.

Jesus brought that kind of good news to people, and the world was ripe for the message. Jews suffered under Rome and often under their own rulers. They looked forward to the time when the Messiah would come to make things right, where God would rule and justice would be kept and peace enjoyed. They yearned for that day to arrive, and they were eager to participate when the day came.

Into this world, Jesus came, preaching the good news: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!” Now, the call to repent sounds more ominous to us, but the call to repentance is a theme of prophets calling people back to God. John the Baptist gathered quite a following working the same theme very strongly: repent! Turn back to God, and make that repentance real in your life, for one is coming who is greater than I. And then Jesus picked up that theme with the Good News: Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.

Then, as he begins his ministry, he calls Simon and Andrew to follow him. They are casting their nets—they are in the middle of doing their job as fishermen, and they drop everything and follow him immediately. “Follow me,” Jesus says to them, “and I will make you fish for people.”

Now this is an interesting scene. The Bible doesn’t really elaborate on what happened or why. We just know that they left their fishing and followed Jesus. The same thing happened with James and John. Perhaps they had heard Jesus preach before. Perhaps they were eager to follow and Jesus’ personal invitation gave them the sense of value and confidence they needed to take part. And perhaps his message of the Kingdom of Heaven coming near was just the exciting good news that they had long hoped for, the movement in which they were eager to participate.

Jesus says to them “Follow me, and I wi