Cuba Christian Church
Rev. Amy Wharton
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22:1-15
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
“Doing the Impossible”
I’m a 41 year old white woman, married just over 8 months. I was born in Fairview Memorial Hospital in Fairview, Oklahoma at about 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, 1968 to Oliver Perry and Norma Jean Wharton. I am the youngest of 2 daughters and of 5 children born to my mother and the only child born to my father. My maternal grandmother is the only grandparent I remember, though my mother’s father died when I was two years old. I am the daughter of two members of the generation of people born during the Great Depression in Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl. Yet I am a member of Generation X, not a part of the Baby Boom like my siblings. I was born into a family where my mother attended church and was active. She played the piano there for a long time before I was born and played it until just about 6 or 8 months before she died about 12 years ago. My father was baptized at my home church when I was about 10 years old. I remember it, he was a big man and the logistics of his immersion were widely discussed. I was baptized there when I was 16 years old by Daniel Krumrei, who is now a pastor at Parkview Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Springfield, Illinois and a chaplain and officer in the U.S. Army.
These are just a few particles of information that make up my identity as I am today. Some are very important right now as I think about the decisions I’ve made. Some of them have impacted me more at other times and some of them are probably more important than I realize. I don’t even know how it is that each one has formed me and how they have formed me as a whole person.
What kinds of things do you think of as you consider who you are? Where were you born? (pause) Where were you raised? (pause) What kind of home did your parents make for you? (pause) Were you influenced more by grandparents or other relatives than your parents? (pause) How did your parents teach you about life, by example, by talking? (pause) What are your most dominant memories? (pause) Who brought you into the church? (pause) Where else have you learned about God and practiced the connection to God that you have? (pause)
Each one of us carries a set of characteristics that make us who we are—that make us who God made us to be. And God works within those particularities that make me, me and make you, you. God works in you and leads you and guides you in ways that are particular to each one of you. God works in us as a community of faith in ways that fit this particular church—as we are molded by our geography, this nation, state and town, in our denomination.
We carry certain things with us because we reside here in Cuba—or because we have lived other places at other times. The spirit that characterizes this particular church has been created over more than 175 years of worship and work, it is a spirit formed through the interaction between the people who have participated here and the Holy Spirit’s guidance and leading. We are, like most houses of worship, a combination of the will of God and the will of humanity. We carry with us the mistakes made by the leaders of the past—we carry with us the wonderful decisions made as well. Sometimes we recognize what we need to keep and what we need to leave behind; sometimes we carry more than is required of us.
The gospel lesson for today describes the concerns of one wealthy young man who wanted to be as faithful as was possible for him—he wanted the perfection of faith that he thought was God’s will for a human being. He had heard and understood the words of the Torah, the law, requiring obedience. He had not heard and understood the words of the prophets describing creative and imaginative ways to expand the covenant of God into the lives of all people. He had not realized that more was required of him than following the rules in the most perfect way; he also was called upon to extend the justice and mercy of God into the lives of those who had not enjoyed his particular form of wealth.
The law was created and given by God to create a nation that revealed the values of God within that nation and extended into the lives of the nations who came into contact with Israel. The prophets were more explicit when they described God’s desire beyond bare obedience to the laws that governed human behavior. They had a vision of a world where the hearts of those who were guided by God were changed: softened and expanded to be merciful as God was merciful and see that justice was given to all, as God was just to all.
The word of the Torah and the word of the prophets were equally important—the moral and behavioral lessons and rules of the law reveal God’s intention for the best that human beings could be. The prophets revealed the way in which Israel could live within the imperfection that was everyday life, extending mercy to those who fail and to those who are injured by failure. The prophets also revealed how justice was intended to be our response when some were in a position to have more wealth than others.
Jesus’ word to the young rich man in Mark’s gospel continues the intentions of God’s word given for thousands of years. Jesus first asked, “Do you keep Torah?” The young man said, “Yes, of course, I have always been righteous.” Jesus then offered the other half of faithful living, “Sell what you have that is more than you need, what is a barrier to a life of mercy and justice and give it to those who need it.” This was the answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life? What will make me worthy of the kingdom of God?”
Jesus’ value system is incredibly attractive at the same time that is impossible in our eyes. His vision of a world of radical justice is a wonderful one, yet it is one that we are continuously working toward, never reaching. The idea of divestment as an integral part of the gospel lesson is a radical departure for the disciples as much as it is for us. When Jesus said, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” he astounded them—and I think us, too. I have heard multiple explanations for Jesus words that try and soften or mediate their impact, but to me the gospel word of divestment reveals that we are to rid our lives of what impedes our faithful pursuit of the gospel and keep what encourages our faithful and healthful lives.
For instance, I don’t think that living lives of unhealthy deprivation all day, every day, is what God wants of us, but I do believe that God calls us to give up our excesses and to fast occasionally from food or pleasure to hone or focus our lives spiritually. To continually starve ourselves is not God’s will for anyone. I also don’t think that every moment of our lives must be used to help others—we are called upon to eat, sleep, enjoy restful and recreational activities to keep us healthy, and to dedicate ourselves to God’s work, too. A healthy body and soul is a sign of God’s glory and balances the service that we give to others and to the church.
I opened today’s sermon with my particular characteristics because each one of us has divestments to make in our lives according to who we are—our strengths, our weaknesses, our talents, our needs, our values, our vices, our rightness and our sin. Some of us may need to learn to receive the gifts of God more graciously, while others may need to learn how to share those gifts with more generosity—or with more creativity. Some of us may need to be more generous with each of our own weaknesses, while others of us may think more highly of ourselves that we need to think. Either way, we are hindered from be the whole person that God is calling us to be.
Failing to accomplish the impossible, in my eyes means achieving perfection or even attempting to do so. Doing the impossible, however, means pursuing a life that God is calling us to live more perfectly each day, knowing that only in God through Jesus Christ can we even life toward that kind of life.
Let’s divest what keeps us from being faithful—let’s us embrace the life that we are called to live. Let us be the ones that Jesus has called to live in his way—that we can enter the kingdom of God each day as we are invited.
To the glory of God: who we cannot always see, but who we can follow with faith. Amen.
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