Wyneken chapel - the 7th Commandment

 

Wyneken Memorial Lenten Service
15 March 2023
The Rich young man
Mark 10:17-31
The 7^th Commandment

It happened during the 1965/1966 school year. At the time. I was in the second grade. It was a time in which I walked to school with all the kids who lived on Rose Avenue. There was Cheryle and Bobby, Tim and his sister Kim, Dave, Doug, and Denny. We would turn on to Green Street and walk about a mile or so until we arrived at Central Lutheran School.

At the end of the school day, we would reverse our tracks and head for home.

Now at the corner of Rose Avenue and Green Street stood “Cooney” Stemler’s gas station. Back in the day Mr. Stemler would actually pump your gas and clean your windshield and if you asked, he’d even check the oil level of your vehicle.

Inside his station he had lunch meat, bread, mike and all the items you might need to survive the next round of nasty storms that might come this time of year. But what drew our attention of course were the assorted candy bars put on display for every eye to see. Snickers bars. Heath bars, Milky ways and Hershey bars were all for sell for only a nickel. Yes, a nickel!

All the kids would stop by Cooney’s storm before they returned home to buy their favorite candy bar just before the arrived at home. All the kids seemed to have money in their pocket except for me. And why would I? I was only in the second grade. I was eight years old. I had no money No allowance. Nothing. So, I went without. While all the other kids enjoyed their candy bars with much delight!

Then it happened. In my parent’s bedroom, I discovered on my Dad’s dresser was a tiny mug that was just big enough to keep a stack of quarters. That stake must have been three inches tall. Possibly four. He wouldn’t miss just one quarter, would he? So, I took one.

It was payday. Because one quarter, which equals twenty-five cents, would allow me to purchase one candy bar each day for an entire week. (See how that second-grade math works!)

So, the next day when Cheryl and Bobby, Tim and Kimmy, Dave, Doug and Denny walked into Cooney Stemler’s store to buy candy bars I did too. Oh, it was so good.

And life was great until one night when my sisters and I were called to dinner there on my plate was a stack of quarters just sitting there in a neat little pile.

You see, that quarter I had “borrowed” from my dad’s mound of quarters was not any ordinary quarter. It was a silver quarter. Which the treasury of the United States had decided they would no longer mint.

So, when my dad pulled into Cooney Stemler’s station Cooney filled his tank, checked the oil, cleaned the glass and handed my Dad all the silver quarters which I had taken.

Cooney knew I was purchasing candy bars with silver quarters. Cooney knew the US treasury was no longer placing them into circulation. Cooney knew that every adult was hording them. Cooney also knew that an eight-year-old with no money of his own who just happened to find a windfall probably had come upon it dishonestly.    

There on my plate was a stack of quarters. That ill-gotten gain had now return home. Luther reminds that the law always accuses. That it produces guilt and shame. Which produces remorse. Which leads to repentance.

For the life of me I cannot tell you what my punishment was. But that incident which happened over fifty years ago still resonates in me. The seventh commandment simply teaches, “you shall not steal.”

Now the man in our story thought he had kept all the commandments the best he knew how. He knew the commandment. Do not murder.

Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother.  

He boasted before the LORD saying, “All these I have kept. Even from my youth.”

By all outward appearances this person did obey. He was a good person. And that was his problem. He was trusting in his goodness. And he thought there was some other good he could do to inherit eternal life.

Jesus plays by this man’s rules. He says, “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Go. Sell. Give. Come. Follow. That was the path. But it’s a hard path. Because it’s an explosion of his entire life. He said he obeyed the law. But he lacked one thing.

What’s the most important law? What’s the first Commandment? “You shall have no other gods.”

Jesus set the path before him. It’s the same for you. You come with nothing. In total dependence on God. Like a child. Coming to his father. Knowing he will provide.

But he couldn’t do it. It was too much for him. He was disheartened. Sorrowful. Grieved. Why? Because he had great possessions. He wanted life abundant. But couldn’t part with the abundance in his life.

Jesus explains, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! Notice Jesus never mentions wealth. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

The camel was the biggest animal in Israel. The eye of a needle was the smallest opening. Jesus was teaching, “You know what’s absolutely impossible? That big camel fitting through that tiny hole? You know what’s ever more impossible? Someone earning heaven.”   

Salvation is not something you can accomplish. No matter how much you do. You can never gain heaven. We’re a big, smelly camel. Trying to fit through the narrow holiness the LORD requires. And we just can’t do it. We’re too fat with sin. Too lumpy with unrighteousness. It’s impossible to squeeze ourselves into heaven.

Our best and brightest. Our most valuable gifts. Our most righteous works amount next to the LORD’s holiness as nothing. Even less than nothing. Our bigness doesn’t buy heaven. It’s not for sale.

Our hearts are hard. And our sin runs deeper than our actions. It lives in our blood. It’s hereditary. It’s in our genetics. It’s transmissible from one generation to the next. There is no earthly cure. Only a heavenly one. “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

So what things are possible with God?

Things like making fishermen fishers of men.

Things like casting out an unclean spirit to make a man clean again.

Thinks like healing all who are sick and demon-possessed.

Things like touching an untouchable and make him clean.

Things like telling a paralytic to rise and walk.

Things like collecting a tax collector into an apostle.

Things like restoring a withered hand.

Things like calming a storm at sea.

Things like healing a man with a demon.

Things like curing a woman who had gotten progressively worse for twelve terrible years.

Things like raising a little girl to silence those who doubt.

Things like taking a few loaves and fish and making a feast in the desert for thousands.

Things like walking on water.

Things like restoring hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind and right mind to a boy with an unclean spirit.

Thinks like upholding God’s law Teaching with authority. And calling sinners to repentance.

“Then who can be saved?”

With you it is impossible. But not for Jesus. Who lay down all we have built up – All of our monuments of righteousness.

All our grand obedience and good deeds. Our wealth and possessions. Jesus tears them down. To give you Himself. To give you heaven.

After the man said he’d kept the law – look at what Mark says – “Jesus looking at him, loved him.”

When did Jesus love him? Did he love him when he came in reverence, falling at his feet? Did he love him after he called him Good Teacher? Well, yes, Jesus loved him then. But that is not when Mark mentions it. He mentions it after the man said he obeyed the law. Jesus looking at him, loved him.

So, how do you get eternal life? You look to Jesus. You lay down as he saves you. Placing yourself in his care. Following him in repentance and faith.

And though it makes you last in this world; He makes you first in His.

Words-1,465
Passive Sentences – 1.2%
Readability – 84.6%
Reading Level – 3.5