Ephesians 4:31-5:2
Mark 10:17-31
There is a lot of work involved in developing your own sense of
who you are, and this was part of the work for my sister when she was four
years old.
When we grow into adolescence we tend to look to our peers as a
means of figuring out who we are. We want to be accepted by them, we want to be
liked, and we want to like ourselves. We want to know who we are, and one
dimension of that is knowing who we are not.
We finished our five-week study on risks we must take for peace
last week. And in our final discussion we talked about how hard it can be to
talk to people on the other side of an issue. We get really dug in on our
attitudes and beliefs about things, so much so that we can lose our ability to
communicate with the people who are dug in on the other side. Where we stand on
something, what we are for and what we are against, becomes a fundamental piece
of our identity.
As we struggle to sort out who we are and what matters to us,
there are many possibilities competing for our attention and allegiance. To a
large degree this matter of identity is a choice we all make. And the choice we
make will determine a lot about who we are in the world and what our impact on
the world will be. The impact can be significant.
Last month there was a 58-year-old man caught hiding in some trees
near Donald Trump’s golf course. He was apparently intending to shoot the
former president. Law enforcement, trying to get a handle of his motives,
discovered a handful of things about him: that he is originally from North
Carolina, but he lived most recently in Hawaii. That as a younger man he was
once called a Super Citizen for coming to the aid of a crime victim, but in
later years he was charged with possessing weapons illegally. And that at one
point he tried to put together his own army to defend Ukraine.
He was described as a man in search of a mission, someone trying
to figure out who he is. And most recently, it seems, he began to think that
his mission, his identity, was assassin. But in some important ways it seems
clear that he really had no idea who he was.
What do you say about yourself? What do you want to be written on
your tombstone? I’ve kept a blog for about ten years or so. When I first set it
up I was asked to create a profile, which would tell readers something about
who I am. I struggled with what to put out there. How did I want to identify
myself? There are so many ways. Eventually, I landed on this: “Wife, Mother, Pastor, in the order in which they became
a layer of my identity.” I could say other things about myself, too, but in
saying this, I am saying that these are the words that define me best, these
particular relationships and this particular work. In choosing these
identifiers, I am saying something about what is most valuable to me. But, as
important as these identities are, there is something yet more important – for
me and for you.
Remarkably, no matter what identity we were born with, no matter
what identities we have made for ourselves, each of us has been given a new
identity in Christ. In the language of our faith, to become a Christian is to
be reborn into new life, to become a member of a new family, a new body – the
body of Christ. It is astounding. Yet I wonder how much we are aware of that
particular identity in our daily lives. In all the decisions we make, how much
are we influenced by our identity in Christ?
In the coming weeks we will take a closer look at this identity.
We will dig into the qualities of this new life we take on with our faith, the
values we adopt as our own when we decide to follow Jesus. We begin today with
this story about the rich man who approached Jesus.
Mark calls him rich. Matthew adds that the man is young, and Luke
calls him a ruler. And so we sometimes lump it all together and call him the
rich young ruler who approached Jesus with a question: What must I do to
inherit eternal life?
He seems sincere in asking this question; he really wants to know.
He is probably a devout man who seeks to live his best life, and he’s well on
his way there. He’s doing well financially, that is quite clear. He is devoted
to obeying God’s law, that is also clear. But there is something in him that is
still unsettled. He has the notion that there is still something more, some
sort of calling, perhaps. Whatever it is, he yearns to know.
So Jesus tells him: You should sell all your possessions and come
follow me. And the man was shocked. He went away grieving because he, in fact,
had many possessions.
Now I believe most, if not all, of us should be able to identify
with the rich man in this story, because we too have many possessions. We might
have a little less than our neighbors. We might lack a few things that we feel,
if we only had them, would make our lives complete. But, still, we have a lot.
And perhaps there is another thing you can identify with about this man: the
idea of living without our possessions is frightening.
To the rich young ruler, if I may call him that, what Jesus is
asking doesn’t even make sense. He may very well have been taught as a youth
that riches are a sign of God’s favor, a reward for righteous living. Why on
earth would he give them up?
The rich man walked away heartbroken, grieving because while he kept
all his many possessions, he sensed he was losing something of greater value. He
left in defeat, and Jesus remarked, “It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” His
disciples were greatly astounded, Mark says. In answer to their astonished
expressions Jesus said, “But all things are possible for God.”
All things are possible for God, particularly all the things that
are not possible for humans. There is nothing a human being can do to earn
their salvation. There is no way for a human to inherit eternal life, but with
God it is possible. Because every way you fail to live into God’s image, every
way you fall short of God’s design, every way you neglect this relationship
with the divine, God extends forgiveness.
We are forgiven, this is the first mark of our identity in Christ.
God extends forgiveness for our every shortcoming, for every ornery act, for
every bit of selfishness or narrowmindedness or spitefulness. For every way we
can fail to live into God’s image, God is willing and able to forgive. Wipe the
slate clean. Offer us a fresh start, new life. In Christ Jesus, God is turning
everything upside down and inside out and, as hard as it is to believe, it’s
true. Thanks be to God.
But there is one more thing. One thing that goes hand in hand with
being forgiven and that is this: to be one who forgives.
As Jesus showed in so many ways, one requires the other, they go
hand in hand. We who are the forgiven must live lives of forgiveness, extending
the same gift to others – all the others. If not, we find ourselves in the
dank, dark room that Desmond Tutu describes, trapped in there with stale air
and all our sins. Trapped, because it is forgiveness that makes us free.
This is a choice for each one of us. A choice to forgive others,
as we have been forgiven, to be imitators of God, as the letter to the
Ephesians says. To offer a new beginning to others, just as God has offered to
us.
To live into this identity, the forgiven, what will it mean for
your life? Is there someone you have held a grudge against? Is there someone
you have had a falling out with and now it is too uncomfortable to reach out in
friendship? Is there someone whose politics or opinions are too offensive to
you and so you have cut them off?
Is there someone you cannot talk to because it might feel like walking across a minefield? Make up your mind to forgive. Forgive, as God has forgiven you.
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