Mark 10:17-31
One thing sticks out in this and we get lost on it, sell everything. We miss the part where Jesus tells the rich man he lacks one thing. This one thing, and we naturally jump to the part about selling everything. Why? Why don't we hear the rest? Follow me. In other words selling everything is a whole life change. A change to join in the community of disciples.
Joining the community, following doesn't mean leading or giving the orders. It means surrendering to the unknown instead of the known. It means sacrificing comfort and it means getting involved in messy relationship, relying on others. We are meant for community though. Ever since the beginning of creation we were made to be in relationship. The only thing not good in the garden of Eden was that man was alone. Just as the trinity is a relationship of three, so were we meant to be involved in community.
Jesus calls us to follow him, just as he calls the rich man. He calls us to be in community with one another. In a time when people think they can worship God on their own, where ever they are this is different. When we lack community we lack the very thing we most desire. Brenè Brown in her new book Braving the Wilderness speaks of how belonging is essential to all of us and how loneliness is one of the new threats to health. We are meant to be in community.
One wonderful example of community is King Arthur and the knights of the round table. There are thousands of stories written about this ancient king and his knights. About how this fellowship attracted people far and near. The idea of a community of people concerned with the welfare of all, in doing justice for the whole instead of for the richest. The story of honor and respect gathered around a table. Sounds a little familiar doesn't it.
There are thousands of stories about how this fellowship ended too. How they all became obsessed by the quest for the holy grail. How they thought they lacked one thing, and a thing it was. They became so obsessed they ignored the fellowship of the table, they forgot about the people of the kingdom and their concern for all. They let it all slip away because of an object. All of the good they did, all the people they helped, all the wealth of the shared kingdom was lost. They became lost also, no one knows what happened to any of them, they just disappeared. The stories of this wonderful community lived on.
We can learn a lot from this. We gather round a table, confessing, forgiving, trying to say we will feed at this table and be fortified to go out into the world and display God or Christ to others. Maybe even find God or Christ in others. We too become distracted as the TV or ads or the news tells us what we really lack and we go off the rails forget the community and get lost. The one thing we lack always is this community. The place where we learn about God's love to a broken world. The place where we learn God is constantly trying to have a relationship with us and the best way to live it out is in community.
Community makes us listen to one another and regard each others concerns. Community means we get into messes and learn something new about ourselves and one another. The disciples gathered in the days after Jesus' death at first for fear and then fifty days after the resurrection for prayer, for building up one another so they could be pushed out into the world to create community. Communities of disciples who lived together and cared for one another and shared everything.
The one thing we lack, the one thing we need is the community of Jesus. It is the one which will weather all storms. The one which won't let us forget those who have been pushed to the sides of society. The one which invites us to the table to care about more than just ourselves. It is the call of discipleship. Will you follow?
One thing sticks out in this and we get lost on it, sell everything. We miss the part where Jesus tells the rich man he lacks one thing. This one thing, and we naturally jump to the part about selling everything. Why? Why don't we hear the rest? Follow me. In other words selling everything is a whole life change. A change to join in the community of disciples.
Joining the community, following doesn't mean leading or giving the orders. It means surrendering to the unknown instead of the known. It means sacrificing comfort and it means getting involved in messy relationship, relying on others. We are meant for community though. Ever since the beginning of creation we were made to be in relationship. The only thing not good in the garden of Eden was that man was alone. Just as the trinity is a relationship of three, so were we meant to be involved in community.
Jesus calls us to follow him, just as he calls the rich man. He calls us to be in community with one another. In a time when people think they can worship God on their own, where ever they are this is different. When we lack community we lack the very thing we most desire. Brenè Brown in her new book Braving the Wilderness speaks of how belonging is essential to all of us and how loneliness is one of the new threats to health. We are meant to be in community.
One wonderful example of community is King Arthur and the knights of the round table. There are thousands of stories written about this ancient king and his knights. About how this fellowship attracted people far and near. The idea of a community of people concerned with the welfare of all, in doing justice for the whole instead of for the richest. The story of honor and respect gathered around a table. Sounds a little familiar doesn't it.
There are thousands of stories about how this fellowship ended too. How they all became obsessed by the quest for the holy grail. How they thought they lacked one thing, and a thing it was. They became so obsessed they ignored the fellowship of the table, they forgot about the people of the kingdom and their concern for all. They let it all slip away because of an object. All of the good they did, all the people they helped, all the wealth of the shared kingdom was lost. They became lost also, no one knows what happened to any of them, they just disappeared. The stories of this wonderful community lived on.
We can learn a lot from this. We gather round a table, confessing, forgiving, trying to say we will feed at this table and be fortified to go out into the world and display God or Christ to others. Maybe even find God or Christ in others. We too become distracted as the TV or ads or the news tells us what we really lack and we go off the rails forget the community and get lost. The one thing we lack always is this community. The place where we learn about God's love to a broken world. The place where we learn God is constantly trying to have a relationship with us and the best way to live it out is in community.
Community makes us listen to one another and regard each others concerns. Community means we get into messes and learn something new about ourselves and one another. The disciples gathered in the days after Jesus' death at first for fear and then fifty days after the resurrection for prayer, for building up one another so they could be pushed out into the world to create community. Communities of disciples who lived together and cared for one another and shared everything.
The one thing we lack, the one thing we need is the community of Jesus. It is the one which will weather all storms. The one which won't let us forget those who have been pushed to the sides of society. The one which invites us to the table to care about more than just ourselves. It is the call of discipleship. Will you follow?
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