What Have I Left Behind

It’s Lent V this weekend, the last Sunday before Palm Sunday. I’ve preached on Mark 10:17-31 before but focused more on the rich man than the second half of it. I looked at how he was a good rule follower but when it came down to it, he was unwilling to sell all his stuff to the poor and follow Jesus.

With my current series being about Peter, I’m turning more to his comment that he and the disciples have left everything to follow. Jesus has just said that it’s incredibly hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God, but with God all things are possible. Like with a text or e-mail we don’t get Peter’s tone here. Was he trying to remind Jesus of those who had been able to choose to follow so that He wasn’t alone? Was he trying to prove that he was worthy of the Kingdom based on his choices? Was he frustrated that, yet again, Joe Blow in the crowd got Jesus’ attention, seemingly to no avail, while the disciples were maybe taken for granted?

We don’t know. But Jesus responds that leaving behind family or property for Him and the gospel would result in getting back far more in the years to come. Then, after this life, eternal life. This comes with the caveat that “many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first”.

I wonder as I look at Peter through the gospels about how much I’m like him. He has both admirable traits and weaknesses. I know I can have the same tendency to need to justify myself, as though I’m not enough and need to explain everything I do. I can be self-absorbed even though I know I’m to put others first. Like the rich man, I can be a good rule follower without getting to the heart of what the rules are actually for and what they demand of me in day to day interaction with people. I can think that solving problems is my work to do, rather than leaning into Jesus and letting Him hold it all and give me a part to play in bringing it about. And that from someone in ministry.

This passage is about believing in God to be over and above all our feeble attempts to be important and earn things. It’s about recognizing that without a good and just and gracious God we couldn’t manage the enormous challenges we face, starting with the issues inside each of us. And it’s about believing that our God of the impossible is so much more than enough that we can’t help but turn our lives upside down to follow. We can’t help but walk closely with that reassurance and purpose in the midst of a world that is growing more toxic by the day.

It’s good for us to acknowledge what we have already given up and left behind for the sake of the gospel. It’s also good to reflect, particularly in Lent, on what we haven’t given up and what we’ve convinced ourselves is ours to comfort us and help us fit in, a back-up plan of sorts in case it doesn’t go as we hoped. As Christ said, we are called to take up our cross and follow. There are sacrifices asked of us and it’s not an easy ride but it’s one taken on solid ground.

Jesus lived this, leaving behind so much when He allowed Himself to be sacrificed on our behalf, to die, to be resurrected, and then to ultimately to return to heaven. I can’t imagine the grief of leaving His mother, siblings and disciples, friends and even enemies who He prayed for and tried to help. He left all of it so that we could benefit and so that all people could know Him for all time.

I wonder if I will be one of the ones who are first, or one of the ones who are last at the end times? Am I too rich for my own good, or have I left enough behind that I will receive riches of heaven beyond imagining? I pray that I am more like Peter than the wealthy man in the story. I pray that I’m holding on to possessions and people loosely enough that when I’m called to go in obedience to God I can. I believe that Jesus has seen the sacrifices I’ve made, that we all have made, and that it does matter to Him and that He smiles when He thinks of what we’ve done for the Kingdom.

As we close in on Holy Week and the events start to come at us quickly, may we be ready to emulate Christ - to empty ourselves, to serve others, to pray intensely and listen, to allow ourselves to channel forgiveness and grace. May you feel His presence as you prepare for the marathon that is coming. May you receive countless blessings and be reminded of God’s ability to do the impossible even through us.