Give It Away ... And Follow Me

 

 

 Give It Away ... And Follow Me

21^st Sunday After Pentecost

Hebrews 4:14-16

Mark 10:21

It is truly wonderful to be able to preach at a baptism. Very soon, our priest will take our two newest saints, baptise them in the name of the living God, and heaven will thunder with the sound of the angels rejoicing over these precious little lambs. Baptism holds so much for what it means for us to be brought close to God.

Our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus as our “great high priest”. This is one of three titles given to him in this letter: the full, threefold position Jesus holds is prophet, priest and king. As prophet, Jesus speaks the words of God; he speaks for God; he speaks as God. As king, Jesus governs the church with spiritual prosperity and protection. And as priest, Jesus brings us to God, and God to us.

In the years before Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth, a priest had a full-time job making sure everything was just right, so that God and humanity could come together. But as the letter to the Hebrews teaches, that whole system was but a shadow of what Jesus would later come and complete perfectly. In his perfect life, obedient death, and triumphant resurrection over the grave, Jesus does away with everything that could possibly get in the way between us and our God.

In our gospel reading, Jesus said to the rich young man, “let go of it all and follow me”. He did not say, well done for adding all these good things to your character, here is one more thing to add. Rather, Jesus says to look at what needs to be given up; or, as baptism would say to us, what needs to be washed away.

What if we, like this rich young man, have it all wrong? Spiritual enlightenment – discipleship – the pursuit of holiness – whatever you want to call it – often seems to revolve around adding something more to ourselves. I’m sure I am not the only one who would like to be more humble, more patient, more generous, more peaceful, more loving. What if the effort of trying to add more is precisely the problem – “the one thing we still lack”? Yet baptism involves a “washing away”, and Jesus’ words to the rich young man rely on giving away. God will grant us humility, once our pride has been washed away. God will grant us patience, once our impatience has been washed away. God will grant us generosity with the washing away of greed, peace with the washing away of fear, love with the washing away of hate: surrendering and letting go to God gives way for all those blessings to then increase in our lives.

If you want to get close to God (and God wants us to come close), then look to Jesus, our great high priest, the one who brings us to God, and God to us. Listen to what he says: let go of trying to add more. God will give us more than we could ever get for ourselves. It takes bravery to do this, and Jesus knows this. Note how he looked at the rich young ruler: he looked at him “with love”. Christ knew what thoughts were racing through that man’s head, because he had felt them himself, when he was tempted to take the world by force. Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything he wouldn’t do himself; to do anything he hasn’t already done himself.

This is why baptism is such a joy. Today, two more saints will be added to the throng of heaven, and there will be rejoicing by the angels. Two more little lambs, precious in God’s sight, will begin their lives with full, complete and bold access to God. Jesus died and lived again for these little ones, and also for us, washing away everything that could ever come between us and the love of God. He knows us fully and perfectly, and will bring us into eternal life.