WEBVTT 00:00:01.160 --> 00:00:04.000 Wait a minute. You think Jesus can't tell the 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.179 difference between not now and not yet? Luke 00:00:08.179 --> 00:00:12.000 says the man walked away sad. It never says he 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:20.820 stayed gone. You're standing in the dust of an 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:23.739 ancient road watching a man kneel in front of 00:00:23.739 --> 00:00:26.579 Jesus. He's not a villain. He's the kind of man 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:30.120 people respect. Faithful. Disciplined. Someone 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.479 who's tried to do the right thing his whole life. 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:35.659 He asks the question out loud, what must I do 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:39.619 to inherit eternal life? And Jesus answers gently, 00:00:39.859 --> 00:00:43.560 honestly. And then he opens a door the man did 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:47.700 not expect to see. The invitation is clear. The 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:52.659 cost is heavy. And the man walks away sad. Not 00:00:52.659 --> 00:00:57.630 angry, not offended. Just sad. But... What if 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:01.810 that moment is at the end of the story? And wherever 00:01:01.810 --> 00:01:04.409 you are right now, driving a back road, standing 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:07.969 in the kitchen, walking the dog, or sitting quietly 00:01:07.969 --> 00:01:10.930 with a cup of coffee, you have just wandered 00:01:10.930 --> 00:01:14.090 into a small town church with us. So go ahead, 00:01:14.189 --> 00:01:16.969 grab a pew, settle in for a few minutes, and 00:01:16.969 --> 00:01:24.890 I'll see you on the other side. But, hey, you 00:01:24.890 --> 00:01:28.879 know this guy. You went to school with him. He 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:31.859 sat two rows ahead of you, turned in his homework 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:36.000 early, somehow made getting the honor roll feel 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.819 effortless. Coached Little League. He never missed 00:01:39.819 --> 00:01:43.239 a Sunday. He tithed. He visited the sick. He 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:45.340 held the door for everybody. And you know what? 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:48.620 He meant it every single time. And here is the 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:52.439 thing that makes a guy like this hard to preach 00:01:52.439 --> 00:02:00.030 about. He wasn't faking it. And that's the part 00:02:00.030 --> 00:02:07.890 we skip. We rush past the ruler's goodness in 00:02:07.890 --> 00:02:11.949 this story because we already know how this story 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:16.870 ends. And we want him to be the villain so that 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:20.629 the lesson will land clean. But Jesus doesn't 00:02:20.629 --> 00:02:24.949 treat him like a villain. And Luke doesn't either. 00:02:25.250 --> 00:02:29.620 We should pay attention to that. A man walks 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:33.240 up to Jesus with an honest question, an honest 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:37.419 record, and an honest heart. He doesn't come 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:42.080 at night like Nicodemus, hedging his bets. He 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:45.099 doesn't send his servants to get his answers 00:02:45.099 --> 00:02:50.360 for him. He walks up in broad daylight and kneels. 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:57.000 Luke says that he is a ruler, which means There 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.479 are people around. And he asks the question out 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:08.460 loud. What must I do to inherit eternal life? 00:03:10.419 --> 00:03:13.840 And by now we already know he's going to walk 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.360 away at the end of the story sad. We've heard 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:21.139 the story so many times that we treat the ending 00:03:21.139 --> 00:03:27.180 like a verdict. Case closed. Rich man. Fails, 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:36.039 moral delivered. But what if walking away sad 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:43.860 isn't the last scene? And you know, there is 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:49.080 a kind of grief that only visits people who almost 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:56.300 said yes. Not the grief of failure, not the grief 00:03:56.300 --> 00:04:02.780 of ignorance. The grief of seeing exactly what's 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:07.460 offered and feeling the weight of what it would 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:12.840 cost to take hold of it. That's a different kind 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:19.339 of sad. That's a sad that remembers. Friends, 00:04:19.339 --> 00:04:24.019 tune your ears to the reading. This morning our 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:27.319 word comes to us from the gospel account according 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:31.920 to the historian Luke. The 18th chapter of his 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:36.339 gospel account beginning with verse 18. A ruler 00:04:36.339 --> 00:04:41.240 asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:46.139 eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:54.439 asked him. No one is good except God alone. You 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.480 know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. 00:04:57.579 --> 00:05:01.220 Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not give false 00:05:01.220 --> 00:05:03.839 testimony. Honor your father and your mother. 00:05:04.019 --> 00:05:08.879 I have kept all of those from my youth, he said. 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:16.040 When Jesus heard this, he told him, you still 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:22.060 lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute 00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:25.060 it to the poor, and you will have treasure in 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:32.860 heaven. Then come, follow me. And after he heard 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:39.360 this, he became extremely sad, because he was 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.240 very rich. Thus ends the reading of Holy Scripture 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:52.199 this morning. He became extremely sad. Not angry, 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:57.040 not offended, not dismissive, not righteous about 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:04.720 it. Sad. That's a man who knows exactly what 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:09.220 it is he is turning down. So let's hold that 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:14.199 word, sad. We're going to come back to it. But 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:18.230 first, let me ask you something. When's the last 00:06:18.230 --> 00:06:21.709 time you've heard a sermon on the rich young 00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:25.329 ruler that made you feel anything but guilty? 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:33.389 I mean, let's be honest. Every time this message 00:06:33.389 --> 00:06:36.850 shows up on that sign out front, people brace 00:06:36.850 --> 00:06:41.430 themselves. Uh -oh. Here comes the wealth sermon. 00:06:42.810 --> 00:06:46.009 Here comes the, are you holding on to your money 00:06:46.009 --> 00:06:50.720 too tight? sermon and you sit there doing the 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:53.779 mental math about your 401k while the preacher 00:06:53.779 --> 00:06:59.360 tells you that this man and maybe you too have 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:04.860 failed the test. But what if he didn't fail? 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:12.720 What if he just wasn't finished? What if Luke, 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:17.470 who is the most Careful historian in the New 00:07:17.470 --> 00:07:22.529 Testament who doesn't waste a single scene in 00:07:22.529 --> 00:07:27.910 his narrative left this story open -ended because 00:07:27.910 --> 00:07:34.029 the ending hadn't been written yet. Now, let 00:07:34.029 --> 00:07:37.470 me stop the VCR tape here for a second, break 00:07:37.470 --> 00:07:41.379 the fourth wall. What I'm about to talk about, 00:07:41.459 --> 00:07:44.879 I need to show you. Before I do, though, I need 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:49.620 to let you know this is something very important 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:56.259 to get in this story, to get this story. So we're 00:07:56.259 --> 00:08:02.459 going to listen. All right, play. Watch what 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:07.540 Jesus does with the commandments. Because he 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:11.180 does something here strange that I feel like 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:17.920 nobody talks about. The ruler asks how to inherit 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:25.079 eternal life. Big question. And Jesus answers 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:31.579 it with the law. Makes sense. He's talking to 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:36.320 a man who knows Torah. But look at which commandments 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:42.159 Jesus names. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:46.879 Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Honor 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.700 your father and your mother. That's the second 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:55.740 table of the law. Commandments 5 through 9. The 00:08:55.740 --> 00:09:01.240 horizontal ones. How we are to treat our neighbor. 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:07.039 What's missing in the scripture? The first table, 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:13.100 the vertical ones. Love the Lord your God. No 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:17.080 other gods before me. Don't take the name in 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:21.840 vain. Remember the Sabbath. Jesus leaves God 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:31.279 off the list. Why? Because the ruler doesn't 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:36.039 have a neighbor problem. He's kept those commandments 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:40.620 since he was a boy. And Jesus doesn't dispute 00:09:40.620 --> 00:09:45.200 it. Not one word of challenge. Not, well, actually. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:50.139 No trick question. The man passes. Legitimately. 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:55.940 Jesus looks at him and sees a righteous man. 00:09:57.139 --> 00:10:05.259 And legitimately. Almost quietly. He opens the 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:08.899 one door the ruler has been walking past his 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:14.539 whole lifetime. Jesus skips the first table of 00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:17.320 the law because that isn't where the diagnosis 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:22.600 is. The ruler's relationship with people is fine. 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:28.840 His relationship with his stuff. is where the 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:35.259 door is still shut. And stuff, if we're being 00:10:35.259 --> 00:10:40.320 honest about Torah, stuff can become the God 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.919 you serve without ever calling it a God. The 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:50.240 first table violation is actually hiding in the 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:56.169 second table obedience. Because he says, You 00:10:56.169 --> 00:11:02.169 still lack one thing. Not ten things. Not ruler, 00:11:02.309 --> 00:11:06.950 you need a complete overhaul. One thing, one 00:11:06.950 --> 00:11:11.309 door. You're standing right there at the threshold 00:11:11.309 --> 00:11:16.149 and you don't even know it yet. You have been 00:11:16.149 --> 00:11:20.490 so faithful to the neighbor commands that you 00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:24.129 never noticed that the first table has quietly 00:11:24.129 --> 00:11:30.409 been rearranging itself around your wallet or 00:11:30.409 --> 00:11:37.269 your stuff or your habits or your insert in the 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:41.370 blank, whatever it is that has become in your 00:11:41.370 --> 00:11:45.350 life replacing God. Because it's all different 00:11:45.350 --> 00:11:53.350 kinds of things and idols. And that's not condemnation. 00:11:54.690 --> 00:11:57.809 That's the most pastoral thing, in my opinion, 00:11:57.889 --> 00:12:03.309 Jesus does in the entire Gospels. And yet, he 00:12:03.309 --> 00:12:07.919 walks away sad. And every sermon you've ever 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.019 heard on this Bible story ends right there. The 00:12:11.019 --> 00:12:15.320 camera pulls back. The moral arrives. Don't be 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:22.019 that guy. Let's pray. But Luke doesn't end the 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:27.940 story. Luke just stops telling it. There's no 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:30.919 epilogue. No, and he went home and counted his 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:38.759 money. There's no... And he never returned. Luke 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:42.399 leaves the door standing wide open and walks 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:47.519 into the next scene. And I think we've been preaching 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:53.779 a period where Luke actually put a comma. And 00:12:53.779 --> 00:13:01.740 I think Luke did that on purpose. Because. Luke 00:13:01.740 --> 00:13:05.679 knows something about rich men who walk away 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:12.980 sad. Luke knows Zacchaeus. Two chapters later, 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:18.830 a rich man. a chief tax collector, a man the 00:13:18.830 --> 00:13:22.330 whole town has written off and something in him 00:13:22.330 --> 00:13:26.549 won't stay written off. He hears Jesus is passing 00:13:26.549 --> 00:13:29.649 through Jericho and he doesn't send a message. 00:13:29.690 --> 00:13:32.509 He doesn't try to arrange a private meeting. 00:13:32.590 --> 00:13:36.570 He runs ahead of the crowd and he climbs into 00:13:36.570 --> 00:13:41.659 a sycamore tree like a child. All dignity gone, 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:45.460 a wealthy man with bark under his fingernails 00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:49.299 and his robe hiked up around his waist, perched 00:13:49.299 --> 00:13:55.360 on a branch so that he may see. And when Jesus 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:00.299 calls him down, Zacchaeus gives half his possessions 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:04.580 to the poor and repays everyone he cheated fourfold. 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:10.179 Same gospel account. a rich man who came back. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:17.980 Luke also knows of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:23.220 man, a member of the very same council that condemned 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:28.840 Jesus, which means he was in the room when it 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:34.659 happened. And then after the crucifixion, when 00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:40.120 every disciple had scattered, When Peter is hiding, 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:47.980 when the movement looks graveyard dead, the rich 00:14:47.980 --> 00:14:54.059 man goes to Pilate alone, asks for his body, 00:14:54.139 --> 00:14:59.200 wraps the body in linen with his own hands, lays 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:03.279 it in his own tomb, the one he had purchased 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:08.840 for himself. He gave the most expensive thing 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:13.799 he owned to a dead rabbi everybody else had abandoned. 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:21.899 Luke 23, same gospel account. A rich man who 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:26.779 came back. And Luke's friend, the one he's writing 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:31.080 Acts for as well, probably an old rich fella 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:37.039 himself. He also knows Barnabas, a landowner, 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:41.320 sold his field and laid the money at the apostles' 00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:47.080 feet. Acts chapter 4, another rich man who came 00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:51.559 back. So when Luke tells you about a ruler who 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:56.120 walked away extremely sad and then doesn't tell 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:59.659 you what happened next, that's not an oversight. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:07.460 That's an invitation. The rich young ruler is 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:14.639 not a cautionary tale. Perhaps, perhaps it's 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:21.539 the intermission. And I think some of you know 00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:25.620 what it's like to walk away from something you 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:29.860 know to be true. And not because you didn't believe 00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:34.639 it. Not because you didn't feel it, but because 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:39.820 the cost sat heavy in your chest and you just 00:16:39.820 --> 00:16:47.820 weren't ready. Not yet. And maybe you've been 00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:51.080 carrying away the guilt of that walking away 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:54.580 rather like it was the final answer, but maybe 00:16:54.580 --> 00:16:59.879 it wasn't. Because walking away sad isn't the 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:05.700 same thing as walking away done. Sad means it's 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:10.740 still in you. Sad means the door is still open. 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:16.319 Sad means something in you recognized what was 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.000 being offered and the recognition didn't die 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.160 just because your legs began moving in a different 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.299 direction. Zacchaeus was probably sad too for 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:30.960 a little while before the tree. And here's the 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:34.980 plain truth about it, friends. I don't know for 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:37.220 sure what happened to the ruler. Neither does 00:17:37.220 --> 00:17:42.220 Luke. Neither does Jesus in the text. Because 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:46.059 he lets him go. No guilt trip, no calling after 00:17:46.059 --> 00:17:50.420 him. No, you'll regret this. He lets him go. 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:54.750 Because Jesus can tell the difference between 00:17:54.750 --> 00:18:00.390 someone who has said no and not yet. I wonder 00:18:00.390 --> 00:18:06.089 if you can tell the difference in yourself. Because 00:18:06.089 --> 00:18:08.210 I think some of you have been calling it no for 00:18:08.210 --> 00:18:12.269 years. Because you've walked away from something. 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:18.299 Calling, a conversation, maybe a surrender you 00:18:18.299 --> 00:18:20.960 haven't been able to quite make and you stamped 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:26.000 it as finished and you just filed it away. But 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:31.240 it keeps opening the drawer. Keeps setting up 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:39.079 with you late at night. Keeps being sad. And 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:43.970 that's not a closed door. That's an unanswered 00:18:43.970 --> 00:18:49.470 invitation. And we've been walking hard through 00:18:49.470 --> 00:18:53.549 Lent together, I think. Ashes, wilderness, the 00:18:53.549 --> 00:18:57.190 whole weight of the season pressing down on us. 00:18:57.250 --> 00:18:59.670 And you know what? Some of you have been white 00:18:59.670 --> 00:19:02.730 -knuckling it since Ash Wednesday, doing the 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:06.569 work of self -examination, sitting with hard 00:19:06.569 --> 00:19:10.690 truths about yourself. And friends, that is holy 00:19:10.690 --> 00:19:15.490 work. But I want to offer you something else 00:19:15.490 --> 00:19:21.490 this sunny Sunday morning. Not as cheap comfort, 00:19:21.650 --> 00:19:27.369 but as the thing Luke actually wrote. Because 00:19:27.369 --> 00:19:30.609 the story isn't over just because someone walked 00:19:30.609 --> 00:19:34.849 away sad. The door is still open. It was open 00:19:34.849 --> 00:19:38.329 for Zacchaeus. It was open for Joseph of Arimathea. 00:19:38.430 --> 00:19:40.970 It was open for Barnabas. And you know what? 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:48.640 It's open. For you. So go in the grace of the 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:52.799 God who names what you lack. Not to shame you. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:59.039 Because he can see you're close. Go knowing that 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:02.119 the invitation doesn't expire when you decide 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:07.420 to walk away. Go knowing that sadness is not 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:11.700 the same thing as refusal. Every sycamore tree 00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:16.599 in this town is climbable. The door is open, 00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:21.500 friends. It's always been open. The decision 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:32.480 is yours. Amen? Amen. Before we go, let's hold 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:34.759 on to the quiet truth sitting in the middle of 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:38.089 that story. Man walked away sad, and sadness 00:20:38.089 --> 00:20:40.390 means something still moved inside of him. It 00:20:40.390 --> 00:20:43.230 means the invitation was real enough to ache. 00:20:43.369 --> 00:20:46.029 And maybe you know that feeling. Maybe there's 00:20:46.029 --> 00:20:48.369 something Jesus once said in front of you, a 00:20:48.369 --> 00:20:50.750 door that you didn't quite walk through, a call 00:20:50.750 --> 00:20:52.769 you weren't ready to answer. And if that's you, 00:20:52.950 --> 00:20:56.349 hear this. The door of grace does not slam shut 00:20:56.349 --> 00:20:59.380 the moment we hesitate. The invitation still 00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:03.059 echoes. Walking away is not the same thing as 00:21:03.059 --> 00:21:05.720 being finished. And sometimes the spirit keeps 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:08.920 working in that sadness until the day we finally 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:13.000 turn around. And if something in today's conversation 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.839 stirred you, if you heard a thought you hadn't 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:18.519 considered before, or if the story opened in 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:20.920 a new way, would you do me a small favor? Go 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:23.059 ahead and drop a little like in the offering 00:21:23.059 --> 00:21:25.579 plate the way we used to do in church. And if 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:27.319 you'd like to keep walking with us all the way 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:29.299 to Easter Sunday morning, go ahead and tithe 00:21:29.299 --> 00:21:31.880 your subscribe so you'll know we start walking 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:34.960 towards Jerusalem again. Until then, friend, 00:21:35.140 --> 00:21:36.180 be blessed.