The 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Oct. 12, 2003 (Proper 23B)
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Psalm 90 (or Psalm 90:1-8, 12); Heb. 3:1-6; Mark 10:17-27(28-31)
A man runs up to Jesus. He was not leisurely spending time with Jesus. He does not casually come up to Jesus. He is a man in a hurry with much on his mind, worried about yesterday’s investments and the futures’ market. He runs because he knows that timing in the market is crucial. He is characterized by a spirit of restless acquisition. He wants to add the best to his portfolio. Eternal life sounded like a good investment. If only he could inherit eternal life he would be rich indeed. However, Jesus contrasts eternal life with money — not that money is bad, not that people who have money cannot live in the kingdom of God. It is just that eternal life calls for a different focus. When Jesus suggests to him that he sell all that he has and give the money to the poor, the man is shocked and goes away sad. His focus was gain. Divesting himself of his goods was not his purpose, but rather increasing his goods by adding eternal life to his storehouse. His encounter with Jesus ended up like a bad market day.
Eternal life is not limited to the afterlife. Many references to eternal life in scripture indicate that it is a gift from God now. Eternal life also is not endless time, a succession of one moment after another, on and on endlessly. God is not bound by our division of time into past, present and future. God holds everything together in the ever-present now. This is one of the nuances of eternal life. Eternal life is the realm of God as God holds together all things in the all present. The pathetic rich man could not perceive eternal life because he could not stop to see the present moment. He was always running into the future envisioning his elusive greater wealth.
Amos tells us to seek the Lord and live, and God will be with us. For Amos this is not just some mystical good feeling. His mysticism results in justice, another nuance of eternal life. There is no injustice when God holds everything together. Just as God’s eternal life does not except the limits of time, it also does not except the limits of insiders and outsiders. We can learn from the past and must plan for the future, God willing, but God is found now, eternal justice is now.
The Buddhist concept of mindfulness may be helpful to us in seeking God. Mindfulness is the practice of completely being where we are in the present. We Christians may add to the Buddhist concept that if we can practice mindfulness we will find God, the God Amos urges us to seek, the God the rich man could not see because he was running. Brother Lawrence in the 17th century made this connection in what he called the practice of the presence of God. He even saw working in the kitchen on dirty pots and pans as an encounter with God. Brother Lawrence lived in the present moment. He lived in eternal life. So may we.
Look It Up
For more on mindfulness check out the book Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn. For more on Brother Lawrence, read his The Practice of the Presence Of God.
Think About It
How often are we off somewhere else from where we physically stand? Are not the most satisfying moments those when we are present, in attendance, to the moment God has given us here and now? Could those moments just be a glimpse of eternal life, a glimpse of the presence of God?
Next Sunday
The 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Oct. 19, 2003 (Proper 24B)
Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 91 (or Psalm 91:9-16); Heb. 4:12-16; Mark 10:35-45
