His Face Fell
When you first meet someone you will often ask two questions: What is your name? and What do you do?
You can tell a lot about a person by what they do. Take me for example, I am the christian education director at farmington presbyterian church. But that’s not all I do, i am a completely out of my league husband and a father of two wonderful children; neither of which were planned. I guess we love surprises.
How those questions get answered directs the conversation in a certain way. Our language, reactions, and opinions of someone are shaped by those simple questions.
What is your name and what do you do?
I know of a guy who is a financial adviser for a marble and granite company. That tells you something about the guy doesn’t it? He is 40 years old, has a great house, a great family, a great car, and a great career. In the past he has advised national banks, organized balance sheets, done payroll, and forecasted budgets to schedule expenditures to maximize profitability.
exciting
His wife is an executive in a communications company and his 7 year old daughter is in school and is an excellent student.
This is the american dream. Owning your home in a safe and secure neighborhood and raising smart and independent children.
Of course the moment things seem to be going well is when we start focusing on ways to secure our investments. The day you buy your first big screen tv, vacuum cleaner, or smart phone is the day you buy the protection plan that covers everything from toddlers to tornados. The day you buy a house is the day you buy insurance and a security system. We know these things will not last forever but the hope is to secure them for as long as possible.
Jesus is confronted by a wealthy man who asks, “what must I do to have eternal life?” in other words how do i secure my life and livelihood forever. I want the lifetime warranty on THIS life. Jesus says, “follow the commandments”
sounds simple. don’t kill, steal, or dishonor your parents.. But Jesus is pointing towards scriptures that have a ton of commentary and follow up material. the 10 commandments were the ground work for 613 laws in the old testament and the proverbs. Many of the Proverbs instructed the Hebrews on how to apply the 10 commandments in common day events.
Proverbs 27:14 If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. (might be a honor your father and mother proverb)
Proverbs 27:15 – A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; (don’t covet your neighbor’s wife)
or this one which the wealthy man is certainly aware of: Proverbs 2:7 He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless. (have no other God’s before me so that you will live long in the land i will give you)
See, according to these scriptures, if you follow the wise saying of the scriptures, you will live a long and fulfilling life. But the wealthy man is discovering something else. With all his wealth, prosperity and security comes anxiety about when the floor will fall out from under him.
A phone call. a text message. an accident. a routine doctors visit. a turn in the weather. And wealth, success, popularity, and security can end.
For our financial advisor at the top of this sermon, the american dream was taken away by the fact that he is not an american. Perhaps you noticed that I told you what this man did for a living but I neglected to answer the first question we ask when meeting someone new. His name is Soufian Almobark and his home town of Allepo is in Syria. Earlier this year ISIS fighters and Assad’s regime laid waste to the city of Allepo. In his words, Soufian said,
“Running away was the best policy.”
He ran with his family into the Allepo countryside, left his wife and children and crossed the border into turkey alone and on foot. There he paid smugglers $100 US dollars to take him across the Aegean Sea in a rubber dinghy with a bad motor with 41 other men, women and children to the island of Lesbos, Greece. There, he traveled by foot for 9 hours, 40 miles to a migrant camp. It is filthy with no running water or sewer and very little food.
There is another man in scripture whose life sounds a lot like Soufian’s. Job’s book begins like this:
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
Job is about a wisdom beyond the proverbs, or maybe in spite of the proverbs.. The Proverbs are wise and helpful but you can’t put your faith in wisdom to get you through dark times. Even if you follow all the wise sayings of scripture, there is no guarantee of wealth, security, happiness. In one day, everything is stripped from Job and he ends up sitting in ashes searching for God around him. and he can’t find God anywhere.
if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.
Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.
The person who has everything asks, “why can’t this last forever?” because he only knows or remembers the circumstances of being the wealthy.
The person who has nothing asks, “why am I still here?” One focus’ on his circumstances, the other focus’ on his life. And it is in that emptiness that God sees endless possibilities.
When asked if he is hopeful, Soufian said, “Life must go on. We are all alive and kicking, but [from] time to time, I think of my family and that’s it. I just want to get them back to me as soon as possible.”
Jesus looks at the wealthy man and loves him before instructing him to do anything. I think this is amazing because we love the people we can identify with. Jesus sees a bit of himself in the wealthy man. The choice the wealthy man will be given is the one that God made in sending Jesus in the first place. It is the choice Jesus is about to face when he is arrested and put on the cross.
Jesus invites the wealthy man lower himself and to sit in the ashes with Job. Jesus asks the man to give everything up to join the ones in the darkness and emptyness. The man has everything, will he give everything to be with the one who has nothing?
The wealthy man in our scripture reading only asked to live forever And the scripture says, “his face fell and he walked away sad because he had many possessions.”
Job asks why darkness hasnt covered his face. He can’t wallow in it.
Jesus in this reading, is on his way to be crucified. There His face will fall so that God can enter into the emptiness of death (that we avoid or wallow in) and bring light. God is always moving into emptiness, darkness and nothingness to bring light.
Maybe you have places of emptiness you don’t talk about, they just exist and you wallow in them from time to time.. Maybe you have a person you no longer talk to because seeing them brings up so much baggage and it seems easier to avoid that pain and sadness.
Those are the places God seeks to enter in and bring healing and wholeness. we can’t avoid emptiness. we can’t wallow in emptiness. But in the emptiness God sees endless possibilities for redemption, grace, and light.