Living With an Open Hand

October 10, 2021 • 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31 (adapted from The Scholar’s Version)
Pastor Alexis Lillie

[You can view the worship video recording, including this message, at: Facebook.com/churchofthevillage/videos.]

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When I was a kid, I had an American Girl doll. It was my prized possession, and when I would hear passages like this, or related sermons or stories, I didn’t even want to think about this doll because I was so afraid that God would see my mind and then “make” me get rid of her or give her away, because she was the one thing I loved the most.

As we head into a passage that deals with money, our possessions, and the things we hold most dear, I invite you not to hide your mind from yourself or God. Because there are elements in the text that can liberate us away from this fear-based mentality, and – as so often is the case in sacred texts – there are things going on below the surface, things operating at multiple levels.

To get at this liberation, let's look at the text in its ancient context. Scholars think that the disciples -- although they themselves were not wealthy --  wouldn't have thought of wealth, at least in this context, as a bad thing. In antiquity, those with wealth and leisure time to pursue religious study! Their acceptance and veneration of wealth was so engrained that when Jesus says the wealthy can't enter God's "kin-dom" -- God's community-- the audience is shocked!

For Jesus, this community is entered by the powerless rather than the wealthy -- an overturning of conventional wisdom that the disciples struggle with. This story of the community of God belonging to the poor follows on the heels of other stories showing how this community is populated by what society would deem the "least."

But it's not just about Jesus flipping their expectations about who is prioritized in the community of God.

It's also not just about knowing or discerning this man's heart, and zeroing in on what might make the wealthy man -- and even his disciples -- uncomfortable! This passage goes beyond that and gets into restoration. Because the wealthy man is called to give away his money away -- to the poor.

Discipleship that forbids the oppression of the poor doesn't just stop there and say, "don't do this." It has action to it -- it protects those who are among the least. Jesus isn't just saying - leave behind what you have because I know that will be hard for you. It's a call that leads to restoring balance within the community.

So Jesus is indicating that in this new community, the poor and those deemed society's "least" are prioritized, and not in name only, but in ways that lead to physical, tangible restoration.

Unfortunately, to get there, something is missing from the wealthy man's commitment to the Way of Jesus. Jesus says, you lack one thing, or you are missing one thing. Is this about Jesus asking for a difficult thing that is unique to this person, because they hold their wealth so closely? Is it a blanket statement about the need to give up wealth? Both? Neither?

Given the upside-down nature of God's community we're talking about, and the ways Jesus sees discipleship as involving real, tangible restoration, it does seem that there is something to this idea of giving up and redistributing wealth.

And again, the text is operating at multiple levels, inviting us to consider what this might mean for us. What is our "one thing we lack," our "missing thing" in our discipleship journey. The answer may not be to walk away from wealth -- not all of us are in that position. It may not be giving up your beloved doll. But it may be difficult because it will not allow us to carry on with business as usual.

So yes ... it's about the money but it's not about just the money. It's about what this wealthy man is clearly not ready to let go of, and how if he did, he could usher in the kin-dom of God for himself and for others. That is the "one thing" Jesus homes in on. For him it is money, and there's much more that can be said about living open-handedly when it comes to our financial resources.  But ... it's about so much more. In the bigger picture what things do we need to release our grip on so that we can open up space and join God in tangibly ushering in a new community?

I love that we're talking about this passage as the seasons change. We’re heading into fall and as all of nature releases and prepares to rest and make space for what is to come, is a perfect time to evaluate what do we need to release, so that we can create space? What are we ready to let go of? What are we NOT ready to let go of?

What is the one thing I’m holding onto that’s hurtful that’s keeping me from following the way of Jesus more fully? Because it's likely that what we're holding tightly to, and resistant to letting go of, it's not just affecting us. It’s likely that releasing, even just slightly, our grip will have ripple effects for others. As we release we make space: for tangible shifts, for ushering in the kin-dom, for abundance rather than scarcity.

This is an invitation to release, to consider our "one thing" and what is keeping us from a deeper journey of discipleship. It is non-coercive. It is not God knowing our minds and making us do the one thing we dread just to prove a point, or for the sake of doing it. We might interrogate why we dread letting go of something and if we are being invited to consider releasing it -- but this isn't a power struggle exercise. The end goal is not to wrest away from us things that we love or really only related to us as individuals at all. The tangible result of our releasing whatever our "one thing" is, is for the benefit and repercussions it has for the community.

This can all seem pretty abstract, so I want to offer one illustration. On the one hand, it's relatively low-stakes, but on the other hand I'm about to get vulnerable since it's about my work here. You may have realized this about me: I am a planner, a scheduler, a to-do list-er. COTV – as a community ethos -- isn't that way! So, I have been trying to respond to the invitation to open my hand, release some of the areas that I want to control -- over-planning, scheduling, forcing things to happen, or pushing through things when the will just isn't there.

As I have worked toward releasing my grip on making things happen, I know it has made me a calmer, more attune, and less anxious person. And it allows things to flow more easily, more people feel comfortable taking ownership, and the things that need to happen, happen. Plus, the stuff that doesn't need to happen, that doesn't serve the community, isn't forced in ways that are unhealthy and unhelpful to the community. I hope this creates a more life-giving experience for the community, one that is more peaceful, equitable, and loving.

And hope this brief point helped put legs on this idea of releasing – what it might look like to identify something you’re holding tightly, how you might consider the invitation to loosen your grip, and how that can be life-giving and restorative not just for us individually but for the communities we’re a part of.

As we wrap up, I invite you to consider, in the journey of discipleship what is your next step? What is your “one thing” nagging at the back of your mind that maybe you're trying to "hide" from God?

Again, this passage is not saying, “then you MUST give that thing up just for the sake of it!!” But if there have been things bubbling up for you, if you can sense the Spirit inviting you to name what you might need to release – these are good places to start interrogating what that might look like, and how you might go about it.

And then to watch with hopeful expectation what spaces are created for yourself and the community as your work ripples out and becomes restoration and renewal for others.  

(c) 2021 Alexis Lillie
All rights reserved.