All-Access Pass

This is a reflection on Mark 10:17-31

I approached the room with uncertainty in my steps. A crowd of nurses, doctors, and other hospital staff crowded in, taking their positions around the bed. Nervous conversation and awkward laughter were a steady hum as they donned their gowns, masks, and gloves. I stood behind the crowd of surgeons and X-ray technicians outside the interior door. Uncertain, quiet, and hidden, distant from the activity that erupted when the heavy wooden doors swung open. I stood still and silent, unsure what to do or where to be. My chaplain colleague arrived and confidently weaved his way through the crowd. He positioned himself in the doorway in front of everyone I was hiding behind. He waved me forward. “Excuse me. Excuse me,” I said, stepping sheepishly around important-looking people in white coats and light blue scrubs.

“See that badge you are wearing? That means you belong here at the door, watching and listening so you can know how best to care for the patient and their family. The team inside the room will have questions only you can answer, so stay close and be ready. That badge means you belong here; with it, you can access every part of the hospital, and no one will question why you are there. They will only question why you aren’t when they need you.”

He was right. Over the next four years, I learned my role and place. I grew confident and competent, and my badge took me to every corner of the hospital. 

 “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

He wanted to know if his diligence in keeping God’s commandments would earn him the badge that gave him access to heaven.

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.’ ” 

You can almost see the crease of a smile on his lips as he does a subtle fist pump under his tunic. “Yes! Nailed it!”

“Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” “Now, hand over my badge and give me access! I’ve earned it.”

Jesus, looking at him, loved him…

He got it all wrong. We know he got it wrong, and Jesus doesn’t pretend otherwise.  But don’t miss this little detail and what it reveals about Jesus and how God looks at God’s people.
“Jesus, looking at him, said… you ridiculous fool. Get out of my face.”

No, Jesus, looking at him, loved him…

As wrong as this guy was…

As much as he missed the point completely…

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.”

I’m not sure that is what this young man wanted or expected to hear.

“That is too much to ask Jesus. Don’t you know how much money we are talking about?” And—how I assume most of us would respond to such a challenge—When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

He wanted the badge… the all-access pass to eternal life—but it was too costly and impossible to attain. And that is precisely the point.

His question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is flawed. There is no doing your way into eternal life. It is not possible to earn what God gave freely. Eternal life is a gift, not a paycheck, which is hard to comprehend when little else works that way. And that’s why Jesus issues such an impossible challenge. I could stand up here and preach a sermon about prioritizing our relationship with God over the accumulation of money and possessions. I could probably make a pretty good sermon out of that. We will start collecting your pledge cards in our annual stewardship campaign today, so maybe that’s what I should do. Or maybe I should trust that you are faithfully praying about stewardship and prioritizing your resources to reflect your prayerful discernment and give thanks for your generosity.

So, I think I will do that because Jesus is pointing to something different from money… something more significant: God’s kingdom. 

As the young man walks away grieving, Jesus laments to his friends, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

The Kingdom of God is how God wants the world to be—full of love, peace, and justice. It is a way of living in this world where everyone cares for one another as the family of God without dysfunction. This has been God’s intention from the beginning and is God’s dream for our present, future, and all of eternity. It is fully present and accessible right now, yet humanity struggles to embrace it fully. So, it simultaneously remains in the “not yet,” just out of our reach. 

No amount of money…
No good deeds or acts of service…
No nice things we say about our neighbors…

No strict adherence to God’s commandments can activate the magnetic strip on our ID badge as Children of God that will open the door for us to enter God’s Kingdom.

It just doesn't work that way!

At the hospital, I had to earn my access and work to sustain it. My badge let me go anywhere I wanted, but I’m no longer a chaplain. I resigned from my position and no longer have the same access I once had. I’m no longer welcome in the back halls and corridors where I walked tens of thousands of steps. If I were to step in front of the important-looking people in white coats and light blue scrubs and stand at the interior door of the emergency room, security would march me back out into the street. That’s how the world works. But it is NOT how the Kingdom of God works. Instead, God calls us God’s children… God’s beloved family.

God gives me an all-access pass to God's kingdom that doesn't expire or get revoked.

So there is no confusion, my all-access pass has a name… Jesus.

I can’t resign from being children of God because that is who I am.

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is a flawed question. There is no doing your way into eternal life. 

It’s not something you can buy or earn… and that’s hard to comprehend. Buying and earning aren’t bad things; they are just not part of how the Kingdom of God works. God’s dream for the world differs from most of the systems and structures humanity has established, and it is especially difficult for those who benefit the most from those systems to embrace the operating system of God’s kingdom. It’s not impossible.

I like to notice what Jesus DOESN’T say.
He doesn’t say they can’t or they won’t.
Jesus says it will be hard.

“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 

And maybe you’ve heard all kinds of perspectives about the camel and the eye of the needle… I’ve heard them as well. 

I’ve heard the eye of the needle was a small, after-hours gate to the city that was impassable for camels carrying a full load. 

I’ve heard it is an adaptation of a similar Persian Proverb involving elephants instead of camels.

Either way, I think Jesus is saying, “Doing your way into the kingdom of God is about as possible as squeezing something really big through something really small. It ain’t gonna’ happen.”

“Then who can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

I might think the disciples would hear this as the good news it is, but Peter wasn’t having it.  “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”Why did we even bother? Doesn’t all the long walks from town to town, the time away from our family and work, all the good deeds, all the things we’ve done for you count for anything? 

I guess it’s not just hard for the wealthy.

The disciples had just as much difficulty understanding this as the rich young man. 

Jesus assures them they haven't wasted their time.
It is a good thing to do good things.
It is right to do the right things.
But no amount of good, right, or anything else is enough to do your way into the Kingdom of God. 

Then, Jesus says, “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”God’s dream for this world works differently from how humanity runs things. The way things are… is backward, and God is about to flip it back around and set it right. 

Then Peter and the rest of the disciples say a collective, “Ohhhhhhh, now I get it!”  Then, Jesus fills them in on all the details of how it will all work and their part to play in it as it all comes together. Right?! Nope.

Mark’s gospel leaves things hanging out there and moves on to the next story. There’s no resolution and no answer to their questions. I wonder if that is simply an invitation to trust, to embrace the mystery of it all, and to keep walking with Jesus in faith. I wonder if it is an invitation to trust that God actually knows how to turn this whole thing around and an invitation to join with Jesus in doing so. I’ve bet my whole life on it. So, I’m going to stick close to Jesus. I want to stick close to the one who makes the impossible possible. I want to fix my eyes, heart, mind, soul, body… and everything I have on Jesus, who is making all things new.