Mark 10:17-31 (RSV)
October 15, 2000
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
In the Fall of 1997, there was a rally in Philadelphia called the Million Woman March. The organizer was trying to get a million African American women and other women from around the country to come to hear speeches and attend workshops.
“The main thing is,” said the woman who was organizing the march “is that African American women got to regain their proper posture. We have got to look back in our history, reclaim good resources from the past, and learn to stand up again.”
This is a powerful image. The women wanted to reclaim their proper posture.
I don’t have good posture. Joy is always telling me to stand up straight. She would physically pull my shoulders back to straighten me up. She said, “You need to hold your head up high! I need to put a book on the top of my head and walk around like that all day!
You know that posture is a mirror of the soul. You can learn a lot about people by looking at their posture. Our posture, the way we carry ourselves, our exterior physical demeanor, is an indication of what is going on within our souls.
His Countenance Fell
Physical posture isn’t mentioned often in the Bible. But I think about the woman who suffered from a crooked back for 18 years found in Luke 13:10. She had spent years stooped over, staring at the ground, hobbling about, unable to work, getting by as best as she could. Then she met Jesus and stood up straight. In one encounter with Jesus, her stooped countenance was healed.
I think about the woman who was bleeding for 12 years. She must have been bent over too—ashamed to look up and see people talking about her. She had spent all of her money to get better, but rather grew worst. Her countenance had fallen a long time ago. She must have been closed to the ground when she reached out to touch Jesus’ cloak in desperation for some relief. And immediately, her bleeding stopped and she felt her body becoming healed.
I think about Zacchaeus who was a wee little man. Even though he might not have been physically bent over, he most definitely felt that way. Nobody wanted to be his friend because he cheated them of their money. His countenance had fallen. He was short in stature—physically, ethically, and spiritually until Jesus went to his house for dinner.
Today’s Scripture from Mark’s gospel mentions posture, at least indirectly. Did you catch it as we read the gospel?
A rich young man comes to Jesus asking, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? (Mk. 10:17).
Jesus at first responds with a rather conventional word: obey all of the commandments. Of course, obeying all of the commandments would be no small order. And yet surprisingly, this young man says that he had done just that from the days of his youth.
Then Jesus from the RSV version of the Bible,
“looking upon him loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell
what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;
and come, follow me.’ At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away
sorrowful; for he had great possessions” (Mk. 10:21-22).
I’ve always loved this expression—“his countenance fell.” His countenance became sorrowful. His countenance indicated his face, his whole posture. After this conversation with Jesus who loved him, the young man felt no joy or peace. His countenance fell. He slumped down and got very depressed.
Our Countenance
The Greek word, “countenance,” that Mark uses means our bearing, demeanor, our whole posture. When the young man heard what was required of him from Jesus, his countenance fell—his whole posture was drooping with depression and disappointment.
You have seen, on other occasions, the countenance fall on someone. The student comes up to the teacher eagerly awaiting the results of the exam. The teacher says, “I’m sorry, you didn’t do that well. You got a F.”
What happens to the student? His countenance falls.
Or you have been shopping for that car of your dreams. “How much is that one. The convertible, the red one?”
“Oh, we have a sale on that one,” says the salesperson. Your countenance brightens.
“You can get that little baby for only $30,000.” Your countenance falls.
A hopeful young man comes to Jesus, asking him a religious question. What does he have to do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responds that he should give away everything he has to the poor and follow him. And the young man’s countenance falls. Maybe Jesus really said this out of his love for this young man. But at the time, it didn’t feel like love at all.
You see this story is not about wealth, it’s about discipleship. Jesus is calling the young man to come and be his disciple. Mark’s gospel is all about calling people to be Jesus’
disciples. They come and follow him. And yet here, when it is the young man who takes the initiative to ask about discipleship, he walks away sorrowfully with a downcast countenance—he had a bad posture.
And the reason why he walks away sorrowfully is because of money. Now you are going to think that I am about to meddle! Since it is our annual canvass time of the year, talking about money is expected.
We are Rich
I am beginning to sense that your countenance is about to sag just a bit, for Jesus has called us to be disciples too. And we, like the rich young man, have many possessions. We don’t think of ourselves as rich, but compared with the vast majority of humanity now living, or who have ever lived, we are indeed rich. Everyone in this congregation has a warm place to sleep, enough clothes to wear, more than enough food to eat. We have lots of things. Who are we in this story?
We have lots of things. It might be more accurate to say, not that we have many things, but that our things have us.
Most of us spend a good part of our day concerning ourselves with material things. We go to work. We manage our savings and our money. And when we accumulate things, something is always breaking down and needing our attention. So we work some more to make more money to fix the things that have broken down. It’s hard to say whether we have many things, or if our many things have us.
The main reason why we all want to be rich is because we want to be independent. You don’t have to be jerked around by the boss when you are the boss. You have enough money to go when you want to go, to go how you want to go, to go where you want to go. We accumulate things so that we can be independent—to be “on our own.”
That’s how it was with the rich young man. He had already arrived at the place of upward mobility. He was a young man on the way up to wherever he wanted to go. He was his own boss.
Yet, in our desire to become independent by amassing a great deal of possessions, we wonder if we have our possessions or our possessions have us.
This was the case with the young man. Jesus invited the young man to strip down, simplify, to let go of those things to which he so tightly claimed to be so important, and come and follow him as his disciple. But the young man refused. He walked away sorrowful because he had many things. His countenance fell. He simply could not let go of his things long enough to grab hold of what Jesus was offering him.
Jesus offered him the life of adventure as a disciple, and the young man turned away, turned his back to Jesus and turned back toward the security of his things. Afterward, Jesus told how difficult it was for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Backs Bent Over
The reason why it is so hard for rich persons to get into the kingdom of God is because we are carrying all of this stuff on our backs! We are holding on to so many of the things to which we cling so tightly that we can’t get through the door! We are stooped over with the heavy burden of house mortgage, car payments, the great desires and ambitions to be our own boss. And when Jesus is inviting us to come and follow him, we are too busy trying to be independent. And our countenance falls—our whole posture shows that we are sorrowful and disappointed.
To be Free
Okay, this sermon is causing all of our countenances to fall. How are we going to get through this morning with our countenance lifted up?
Well, what if the story of the young man ended differently? What if it had ended, not with the young man stoop-shouldered, depressed, his countenance falling, but rather with him, saying, “Yes?”
What if the young man had heard in Jesus’ invitation to discipleship, not a depressing impossibility, but rather an invigorating possibility? What if at that moment he had stood up straight, remembered why he asked the question about inheriting eternal life in the first place, and realized that if he said “yes” to Jesus that his life was going to take on a bold, fresh beginning?
We like to think about ourselves as free and unattached. In reality, many of us are sacrificing our health, our families, and even our souls to acquiring material possessions. We claim to be free and independent when in reality we are enslaved. When Jesus asked the young rich man to let go of everything he had, he was giving the young man an invitation to new life. He was showing the young man a different path to walk in life, one in which he could stand up straight and not be stooped over. Jesus wanted the young man’s countenance to be lifted up.
The woman who organized the Million Woman March on Philadelphia said that she longed for African American women to regain their proper posture. What is your proper posture? What would it take for you to stand up, to have your countenance lifted up, to be truly free?
To have your countenance lifted up, you might consider rethinking climbing the corporate ladder to accumulate more power and influence to be truly free.
To have your countenance lifted up, you might postpone or decide not to make that big car purchase to be truly free.
To have your countenance lifted up, you might simplify your lifestyle of accumulation and hoarding to create sacred space in your life to be truly free.
To have your countenance lifted up, you might sell what you own, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus. Only here will your find that you are truly free.
What would it take to be truly free? It will take for us to hear the story of Jesus and the young rich ruler not as some kind of fearful command, but rather a gracious invitation. We need to hear this story not as bad news but good news. When we hear Jesus calling us to come and follow him and we say, “yes,” we will break free of the bad posture of disappointments.
We won’t need to be bent over, drooping with our heads to the ground, but rather we will be standing up straight with our shoulders back and head held upright. Our countenance will be lifted up because we have minimized our possessions and Jesus calls us as his own.
Let us pray.
Dear Gracious and Loving God, call us forth to the freedom that comes from serving you, to the peace that comes from walking in your way rather than continuing to trudge in our own ways. Lift up our countenance as you always lift up your countenance and bless us all the days of our lives. Amen.