Sunday, October 11, 2026, Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
“How To Be Rich (or Poor)”
Scriptures: Psalm 49:16-20; Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Hebrews 3:12-19; Mark 10:17-22
Service Order: Divine Service III, p.184, Lutheran Service Book
Hymns: “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” #793; “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God” #712; “We Give Thee But Thine Own” #781; “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” #805; “Take My Life and Let It Be” #783
Dear Friends in Christ,
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
In our Gospel reading today, we meet a man traditionally known as “The Rich Young Man.” Scripture doesn’t tell us much about him, or a lot in the way of personal details.
The Scripture never actually says he was young, for one thing, only that he was rich and “had many possessions.” We don’t know His name, or where he was from, or his circumstances or family situation or anything like that. We can only guess at his motives and his state of mind and what moved him to come to see Jesus. Why would he have come to kneel down before “The Teacher?” Was something missing for him? Were wealth and possessions not enough to give him peace? He did come asking the “eternal life” question, wondering and worrying about what comes after, and that’s a good thing. We should all give some thought to that!
But like so many people, he was focused on “what must I do?” “As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’" The Jews, of which the Rich Young man was one, taught that salvation was by works and by keeping God’s Law. Most religions on earth still teach that way today, even many, many Christian Churches. But is there any peace in a religion like that? What shall I do, what MUST I do (or not do) for God to love me, forgive me, and accept me? The truth is, no matter how much we do, it will never be enough to get us to heaven on our own. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” as St. Paul says.
Life is short. All our possessions will slip through our hands. And the closer we get to dying, the more apparent it will become how worthless the things we accumulate in this world really are. So there must be something more, we think; more I can accomplish, more I can do, to make it all seem worthwhile. (Think King Solomon complaining, “Vanity! Vanity! Everything is vanity!”) There must be some holy peg I can hang my hopes on, something I can do to show God that I’m good enough for His Heaven. What can I do that will be for my credit when my time comes to stand before Him? “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answers him. "No one is good--except God alone.”
That’s a curious response, isn’t it? Does the Rich Young Man know who He’s talking to, or who it is he’s kneeling before? A good Teacher yes; but does He know He’s talking to Almighty God? Does he know what the One he’s talking to has a right to ask of Him?
If He’s only a man, a human teacher, even a great one, what right does He have to ask what He’s about to ask? Only the God who created us, owns us, and reigns over us,
has a right to look us in the eye and say, “Your life is Mine. Everything you own is Mine, a gift from My hand. Every prized possession of yours, every piece of real estate, every last penny in your bank account; every breath you take, even your life itself, is Mine.” Only if the Good Teacher is truly God does He have a right to hold out His hand and say, “Everything you are and have, give it to Me.”
Jesus directs the Rich Young Man to the Commandments as they’ve been taught to him all his life: “You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" So, if I do my best to keep them, as sort of a life’s checklist, I’ll be OK, right? After all, I’ve never robbed a bank, or cheated on my wife, or killed anyone…
Martin Luther does such a wonderful job with this, in the Ten Commandments section of our Small Catechism. There he points out that keeping the Commandments isn’t just about our deeds. We’re supposed to keep them in “words and thoughts” as well - which puts a different take on the whole picture, doesn’t it? That means a sideways glance is the same as adultery, and hating your brother is the same as murder; and what you think or mutter under your breath about your parents still dishonors them, whether they hear you say it or not. We like to convince ourselves we’re doing OK, that we’re “pretty good” at keeping those things. But the honest reality is that we’re not - that we haven’t been nearly good enough to somehow “get right with God” on our own, and we never will be. Showing us that is what the Commandments do; that’s what they’re for. They’re a mirror for us to look in, to bring us face to face with the shape we’re all in.
"Teacher," the Rich Young Man declares, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Oh, we’re good at self-delusion, aren’t we? It’s easy for me to convince myself I’m doing alright, especially if I compare myself to someone who doesn’t seem to be as “holy” as I am. But that’s the sin of arrogance and conceit, so there we are again.
Our possessions are dirt; the “moth and rust destroy,” Jesus says; and one day soon I’m going to be dirt myself. My accomplishments, such as they are, will amount to nothing. Whatever I’ve built, that I think I can point it out to God and say, “Look what I’ve done,” time will erase. A hundred years or so from now, there will be no one left on earth who remembers me. All my commandment keeping, all my “trying to be good,” will be buried along with my name.
So what can we do? If all the world’s riches are “rubbish,” as St. Paul says; if we can’t take anything with us when we have to stand naked before God, what good is trying to get rich in this world going to do me? And what should I be doing with my precious time instead? Jesus, Good Teacher that He is, has a completely different idea of what it means for us to be rich, or poor. How did St. Paul put it? “These three remain: Faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.” When Jesus was asked once, “What is the greatest commandment of all?” He answered, “The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength; and the second greatest is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.” “Love keeps the commandments,” He said.
Maybe to understand this, we need to define what love is, and what kind of love Jesus is talking about here. One of the best definitions of love I know is: “Love is giving yourself for the sake of someone else.” That’s the kind of love Jesus has for us, the love that brought Him to the cross. He emptied Himself, made Himself nothing for our sakes, St. Paul says. Love, if you’re willing to look at it this way, is the total opposite of selfishness. It’s being willing to give up what I want, or what I have, or what I possess, for your sake and for your good. It’s putting your good ahead of my own. Ask yourself: “Is there anything in this world, anything at all, that I wouldn’t be willing to give up, if God should ask me, for the sake of my love for Him and for the people around me?” If there is, we have to be willing to let it go.
Our Gospel says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” There’s more than one way to be rich, and there’s more than one way to be poor. One of our old hymns talks about being “rich in things but poor in soul.” If you have all the riches, wealth, and money in the world, but you don’t know Christ and His love for you, you’re as poor as a person can be. If you’re more at the bottom of this world’s ladder as far as your finances or your portfolio goes, or even just somewhere in between - yet you have the faith you need to be saved – then, as St. Paul puts it, that’s “having nothing and yet possessing everything.” And if, by chance, God has seen fit to bless you with the riches of this world, and the love of Christ is in you in spite of it all; and you know Him and acknowledge that all your blessings come from Him, and you’re willing to lay it all at His feet - then what a blessing you can be to the world, and how many people you can help as you pass your blessings on. Whatever you have, whether it’s a little or a lot, there’s a treasure in heaven waiting for everyone who follows Jesus, a treasure that nothing this world can offer you can ever compare to. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."
Another thing we don’t know, because the Scripture doesn’t say, is what happened to the Rich Young Man after he walked away. He was still young, after all; or at least, he still had time. We can hope that maybe he went home and thought about it, and that maybe, at some point, he opened his heart to share what he had with the people in need in the world around him. That’s all Jesus was really asking of him, I think. That’s all He asks of any of us, whether we’re rich or poor. Not to sell everything he had, necessarily, but to loosen his grip and learn to love and let go. He walked away sad that day but we can pray that he didn’t stay that way. While life goes on, there’s always hope for mercy – for him, and for you any me, and for everyone.
I pray today that all of us understand how rich we truly are, and how rich God had made us by giving us Christ. Thank God for all the Christian hearts that turn to Him in faith. Thank God for the gift of Christian brothers, sisters, and friends who help us and encourage us along the way. Thank God for this faith and confidence and hope we have that will carry us all the way to Heaven. And thank You, Lord, for the voice of Jesus that calls to us, and says, “All I have is yours! Come and be blessed! Come, share My Father’s happiness! Come, follow after Me!” In Jesus’ name; Amen.
Rev. Larry Sheppard, M.Div.
Trinity Lutheran Church, LCMS, Packwaukee, WI
St. John’s Lutheran Church, LCMS, Oxford, WI
pastorshepp@gmail.com