What Is Missing?

Glennon Melton, author of the blog Momastery, wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about her kitchen.  She had posted a picture of herself standing in her kitchen, and immediately she began getting what she called, “generous messages from people wanting to help her “update” it.”  A lot of the messages came complete with pictures of how her kitchen could look if she would just put some effort and money into it.  This is what she said about how these offers affected her.

“I’ve always loved my kitchen, but after seeing those pictures I found myself looking at it through new, critical eyes.  Maybe it was all wrong.  Maybe the 80s counters, laminate cabinets, mismatched appliances and clutter really were mistakes I should try to fix.  I stood and stared and suddenly my kitchen looked shabby and lazy to me.  I wondered if that meant I was shabby and lazy, too.”

So, she decided to call and pursue some updates.  Until, as she lay down to go to sleep, she remembered a quote of Henry David Thoreau in Walden, “beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.”

The passage from Matthew this morning requires more than new clothes – it requires a change in the wearer of the clothes.  We know this encounter made an impact on the disciples and on the early Christian community because it is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels.  Matthew is the only one who tells us that the man is young.  Luke tells us that the man is a ruler.  So, the story has come to be known as the story of the rich, young ruler.  It is the story of someone who has it all.

Wealth was seen as a sign of blessing.  If you were good, you became wealthy.  Riches were a sign that you were living in God’s favor.

And rulers were chosen by God to be powerful and to lead.  This man is both rich and a ruler…and he is young, so we can infer that he is also healthy and strong.  So it must be by God’s choice that he has reached affluence and power quickly, right?

But, the rich young ruler knows something is missing.  He looks around at his life.  He follows the rules.  He is healthy and young.  He is rich and able to buy whatever he wants.  He is a ruler with power…but something is missing.  He doesn’t feel like he is good.  He hasn’t reached a sense of assurance and God’s presence with him.

So, he asks Jesus, “What must I do to have eternal life?”  The Greek here is aionios, which literally means lasting forever.  But, it refers to being like God, who was, is, and always will be.  What must I do to have a life that is in character like God?  How do I obtain God’s favor?  How do I live in communion with God, doing God’s will, how do I make God’s face shine on me?

And Jesus responds, give it all away, and follow me.

Yeah, no.

I was willing to buy some new clothes, but I am not willing to be a new wearer of clothes.  I call them cliff moments.  Those moments of excitement and possibility that also involve trust and letting go, that God brings you to in life and you can either trust and put on a harness and continue down the cliff, or turn around and everything stays the same, only with the added disappointment that you didn’t trust and go forward.  They are those life-changing moments, when we not only put on the costume of new clothes, but we become new through and through.

The problem with the rich young ruler is not his clothes.  His surface life is just fine.  He has good morals.  He keeps the law; he follows all of the commandments.  The problem is not that he is stingy, he loves his neighbor, he is not an oppressor.  The problem is that he is rich, and his wealth has intensified his sense of independence.  He trusts his wealth.  He trusts that he can manage to establish through wealth and power the kingdom of God.  What do I have to do to have life the way God intended?

He is not a bad person.  He wants to see heaven on earth.  What else do I need to do to create utopia, he asks Jesus?  Maybe he is willing to back Jesus’ movement.  Fund the revolt against Rome.  And Jesus says, sell everything you have, maybe he is ok with this part, and give it to the poor.

He goes away defeated, disillusioned, grieving.  The central problem for him is not that he has money.  It is that he can’t let it go.  It is the source of his security.  It is the commodity that has gotten him what he wants, and now he learns that he can’t buy the kingdom of heaven.

Eternal life, life with God, is only able to be received, not bought.

A number of years ago I was talking with a wealthy person about tithing.  They were being honest that they did not give 10% to the church because in their words “it would be embarrassing.”  I wasn’t sure how to respond.  “Try me,” was the first response that came to mind.

We know the rich young ruler gave a tithe, because he kept all the commandments.  And he still had that nagging feeling that he could do more.  I wonder what his response would have been if Jesus said, “give your tithe to the Temple and then give another 10% to the poor.”  I think he would have eagerly done it.

The tradition was that a tithe was the expected minimum, and offering was beyond a tithe.  Giving your tithe is fulfilling your duty to God.  Above a tithe shows devotion; offerings require sacrifice.  The man expected Jesus to ask him to sacrifice.  He wanted to be Godly.

But, everything?  No way.

I have a friend who felt called to be a missionary.  She was an executive in a high-stress, very important position by the time she was in her early 30’s.  She was single, owned her own home and cars.  She sold it all, quit the job, and committed to a year in mission.  People could not understand.  Her parents were baffled.  She felt the nudge, she got to the edge of the cliff and put on the harness and she stepped out in faith, and she doesn’t regret a moment of it.

Most of the time in life, when we come to those cliffs, if we go forward our only regret is that we didn’t commit as much or as quickly as we could have.

The film Schindler’s List chronicled the heroic efforts of a German industrialist names Oskar Schindler.  After Schindler found out what was happening at Auschwitz, he began a systematic effort to save as many Jews as he could.  For money, he could buy Jews to work in his factory, so he bought as many as he could.  His factory was supposed to make ammunition for the war effort, but he deliberately sabotaged what they produced.  Schindler entered the war a financially wealthy industrialist, and by the end he was basically bankrupt.  He met with his workers and declared them free to go.  And then, he says goodbye to his financial manager at the plant, a man who was a Jew and a good and trusted friend.

As they embrace, Schindler sobs, “I could have done more.”  He looks at his car and asks, “Why did I save this?  I could have bought 10 Jews with this.”  He picks up another possession, “This would have saved another one.  Why didn’t I do more?”

He regretted what he had held back.

The story of the rich young ruler does not teach us a lesson about money.  It teaches us about the missing piece.  Jesus says, “If you want to be perfect,” the literal translation is “If you want to be complete,” go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

‘God wants his people to be complete, totally dedicated to his service, not half-hearted, half-invested, half-committed ones.  God wants people to be new wearers of clothes, not wearers of new clothes.

We can dress ourselves up and look nice.  We can get a new kitchen, but it won’t change our lives.  We can hold onto our money, but it won’t buy us security.

What is missing in your life?  What cliff has God presented to you?  Wanna put on the harness and go?  What are you holding onto that you just haven’t brought yourself to let go of?  Each of us is invited to perfection, to completeness, but we have to be willing to examine our hearts and our lives and see what is holding us back.