"Not Conformed but Transformed" - Mark 10:17 - 31
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Text: Mark 10:17-31
“Not Conformed but Transformed”
In all of Jesus’ teachings, he is trying to guide us in “The Way” - the way of loving God and loving God’s people. This is the journey of discipleship. We have to keep working on it, seeking to be changed, be transformed, in the ways of Jesus. Jesus seeks to help us not just to get through our days but to find life in abundance, and to live in a way that reflects the love and justice, the light and peace that God intends for all people.
The title of this sermon - some of you might recognize - comes from a few words in Romans 12, a favorite chapter of mine. We seek to have our lives so filled with God and God’s love that we live, not conformed, but transformed, worshipping and serving God, with love and zeal, with hospitality and generosity. We are - according to Romans 12 - to rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. We are to live in harmony and get along with everyone. We belong to God. Our lives are to be about loving and serving God.
Do not be conformed to the world. Be transformed. This is God’s continuing plan and purpose for our lives.
But . . . this calling to be transformed proves to be quite difficult. We are invited to trust God with our lives and our plans - and we all live with doubts and worries. We are expected to walk each day with God - and we find ourselves covered up with pressures and concerns - maybe from family life, or work life, or the political scene these days, and our love and zeal, our hospitality and generosity fall away from us. We also get so focused on certain things - raising our kids, making money, establishing ourselves - we easily conform to the world instead of being . . . transformed.
Listen now to this familiar story - Mark 10:17-31:
17As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You 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.’” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, 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.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It 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.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Several quick comments about this story. First, this is a familiar story. This same story, with only minor variations, is found also in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Here in Mark, he is first called “a man,” then a few verses later we learn that he is a wealthy man. In Luke, the person is called a “ruler,” and in Matthew, he is called “young:” hence, the story of the “rich young ruler.”
Second, this story has lots of quotable lines. We have this line: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Christians, through the ages, have spent far too much time and energy on this question. But if we just focus on eternal life, we miss out on Jesus’ main message. Jesus teaches over and over that we find life not in some distant pursuit - eternal life - but in how we live everyday, with generosity and hospitality, with justice and peace for all.
We have another line: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” That line certainly gets our attention - since we are among the world’s wealthy. Jesus is very clear to say that money and possessions get in our way of discipleship. Rather than having and using money in the transformed life, most of us allow money to take centerstage in our lives. It’s too often all about the money. And most of us, instead of using our possessions in the transformed life, become possessed by our possessions, more conformed to the world. Jesus speaks often and warns us about money and possessions.
And we have that line, “for God all things are possible.” What a gracious word, especially in the same passage about money and possessions possessing us. “For God, all things are possible.” That is what we depend on as wealthy people. We seek to be transformed in the ways of discipleship, God helping us. That is what we affirm - “for God, all things are possible”- when we toss and turn in the night with our worries and problems. That is what we lean into when we do not know which way to turn. “For God, all things are possible.” We depend fully on God’s grace all our days.
So, this passage is familiar - it is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke - and because it is filled with so many great and memorable lines.
And then there is another line that really gets my attention in these days; it is verse 21: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him. . . ”
This is a really wonderful pause in the midst of a story full of tensions. Jesus talks lots about love - loving God and loving others. Jesus embodies God’s love in the world, along the dusty roads of life. Jesus urges ethical behavior rooted in love: Love others as you want to be loved. And he criticizes religious people for loving God’s rules more than God, loving certain things more than people.
But rarely in the gospels do we get a glimpse into Jesus’ own eyes and heart. We hear his words and see his actions. Jesus speaks about and points to the reign of God. Jesus tells reign of God stories. Jesus helps and heals to reveal the reign of God. It is all so beautiful and important - reminding us what our lives are to be about - the reign of God.
But it is always harder than we imagine. And in this story, when a faithful man asks Jesus “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus does something unusual: Jesus pauses, looks at him with a deep, caring, and abiding love. The Greek words conveys: “he looks the man in the eye - with love!” We get a glimpse into Jesus’ heart, into Jesus’ person. This is the only incident in Mark where it says Jesus “loved” a particular person.
What Jesus wants for us - with deep love - is to be not conformed but transformed.
He tells the man - the one who knows the law of God and says he has been obeying the law of God, . . . and the man with many possessions - with deep compassion and concern: “you lack one thing: go, sell what you have, and give the money to the poor; and come and follow me.”
Here is what I think is going on - this way of Jesus - the way of discipleship - is a constant journey. This particular man thought he was on a good path - he knew God, he knew God’s commandments. He said, “teacher, I have kept these since my youth.”
But Jesus is always interested in our hearts, in our devotion and care, in our lives of loving and serving. We cannot just keep the commandments - that is good and helpful. But life on the Way - discipleship - is never about “checking a box.” It is never about just keeping rules. It is about the ever evolving, transformation of our lives as the people of God.
This past year, think of all the things we have learned in new and deeper ways. We have learned that despite all our science and technology, all our achievements, all our efforts at progress, we remain vulnerable; and an invisible virus can change how the whole world functions.
We have learned that despite our long history as a democracy, and our successes as a nation, our nation and our government are quite vulnerable.
We have learned that our long history as a church, with so much to celebrate, has also been complicit in sustaining systemic racism, and injustice, and much that runs counter to the gospel of God.
We have learned that despite the great things about our society, there is so much inequity, . . . so much need for attention to climate change, . . .and education, . . . and fair wages for all. Our nation has a debt crisis, and huge needs for infrastructure improvements, and better housing and schools, especially in this city.
Life is a long and complex journey. And we want and need to be continually transformed, changing, adapting, growing and serving as God’s people. For God, all things are possible. We can never assume we have arrived. We have to keep being transformed in the ways of loving and serving God - with our hearts engaged, our whole lives focused, our attention and compassion on the promised and certain coming of God’s reign, where justice and joy abound, on earth as in heaven.
Are we about that? That is what Jesus wants from all of us.
Jesus - looking the man in the eye - loved him.
Jesus - looking you and me in the eye - loves us - and invites us to follow and keep following. Jesus invites us to be sincere in seeking the ways of discipleship.
Pastor, writer, and theologian Brian McLaren, puts it well. He says that the church - the faithful community of God’s people in worship and at work - is “a learning lab” for love. We come here to worship and to be part of a community, but we keep coming to be changed, transformed, in the ways of Jesus. It is not just about being a member or showing up in the sanctuary; it is not just about praying before meals and thinking of ourselves as Christians. Discipleship - following in the way of Jesus - is about being continually changed in the ways of hospitality and generosity.
This is also a learning lab for equity and justice - we confess how we have fallen short in our lives and through the years - so that we can embody God’s wholeness and hope going forward. This is a learning lab for staying on track - growing in the way of discipleship - so we can follow Jesus, as a Matthew 25 church, as an EarthCare congregation. We can increasingly let go of all the trappings of this world - wealth and power, worries and work - and be co-creators with God in the coming of God’s reign in the world. We seek to learn more about what God cares about and then be about that work - feeding the hungry, helping the hurting, spreading light, doing justice, walking humbly with God.
Some of us have been reading Jemar Tisby’s latest book, How to Fight Racism. Page after page he echoes the message of Jesus - to love means to be committed to justice. To be a disciple is to be courageous in working for racial justice. It is continually about Awareness, Relationships, and Commitment - in an ARC - that keeps moving us deeper into God’s work. Discipleship involves discovering a new family and a rich life within the community of those who have been grasped by the grace of God and have learned the joy of spending themselves on others.
Not conformed, but transformed. For God, all things are possible. AMEN
Prayer of Commitment: O Lord, to turn from you is to fall; to turn to you is the rise: to be open to your Spirit, to be transformed in the ways of discipleship, is to abide forever. We seek that way following Jesus. AMEN
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship in the sanctuary on October 10, 2021. This is a rough manuscript.