“Go. Sell. Give. Come. Follow. This [call to discipleship in Mark 10:17-31] is not something [the rich man] must do, but something he must be able to receive from God. The gift to be received is the gift of being called to follow Jesus. The man can’t receive it because his hands are full. The gift is a life of discipleship that involves dispossession, a lightening of his load, a freeing of his hands…
Jesus points out the result of receiving what he offers: life in the community of the cross, many brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children…oh, and persecution and a task and labor that will bring you up against trouble. The gift comes with a community. What we receive is life together that bears the world in its alienation, suffering and death.
I don’t believe that we have a money problem in our church. What we have is a faith issue and the collision of two economies. These economies collide with every decision we make about this world’s goods. It’s about dispossession and reception. It’s about keeping our eyes on the brothers and sisters God has given us in the process of every decision we make.
The human economy is about acquisition and possession, about scarcity and insecurity. It is alienating…The economy of God is always about something received, a calling, a gift, a given community. When we are caught up in an economy of possession, goaded by fear, scarcity and individualism, this is the exact place where the steward leader’s critique is needed to speak to full hands and anxious hearts. Yet God’s critique does not break out against us to judge and condemn us, but to draw us out into the community of the cross.”
Stephen Paul Bouman in “A Well-formed Stewardship Leader Engages and Critiques Culture” in How Much is Enough? A Deeper Look at Stewardship in An Age of Abundance ed. Catherine Malotky (Columbia, SC, 2011) 32-33.
Jesus is not trying to bankrupt the rich man but to offer him something better. What did it mean to be “rich” in antiquity? At the risk of oversimplification, basically the “rich” had more than enough to meet their daily needs. What should they do with their surplus? Share it with others in need rather than hoarding it for themselves.
The call to discipleship is about dispossession and reception, about letting go of something good in order to take hold of something better. Jesus promises life that it is 100x better than anything money can buy. Join me in graciously proclaiming this message in a time when many people have “full hands and anxious hearts” and take hold of life in the community of the cross.