God Provides A Way Back

I find it fitting that one of the last reflections before we go into our Lenten season offers two very powerful messages that are preparing us for the 40 day journey we’re about to undertake.

In the first reading from Sirach 17 we’re told that no matter what has happened, ”God provides a way back” to the spiritual path and “encourages those who are losing hope.” 

Do you have a feeling that you have strayed off of the spiritual path that you hoped to be on? Are you struggling to hold on to hope these days?

Well, good news. God has got you!

So no matter what’s been going on in your life. No matter what you have done or failed to do. No matter what is happening in the world or in our lives. God will provide a way back. All that is required is a penitent and humble heart.

This is, actually, one of the things that I love about Lent. It’s a time to get back on track as best we can and to try to realign our lives and priorities with God’s life and priorities. It’s a time to remember all that God has done for us in our lives. It is a time to get back to essentials and to strip away what is not needed.

Speaking of what is not needed…

Mark 10 tells us the story of a man who comes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” While it may sound like a strange question, it’s actually one that many of us ask in different ways. In modern words we might say, “What do we need to do to live a good and faithful life?”

Jesus recites back to him the commandments – about not killing or stealing, not engaging in adultery or false witness against others and honoring our parents – and the man says, with a genuine heart, “I have followed all of these.” Pretty standard stuff and makes for a good, decent life.

But Jesus is never about just meeting the minimum…

We are then told that Jesus looks at the man with love and then invites him into something more profound.

I think it is important to remember that Jesus’ next words come out of love. His goal is not to make anyone miserable or to punish anyone. Jesus wants us to be free and is trying to help this man (and us) return to the path of God.

And so he says to him, “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” We’re told that, “at that statement, [the man’s] face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”

Jesus then said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!”

My guess is that there are many of us, including myself, who might find this passage a hard one to swallow.  We want to follow Jesus, and yet we also want to hold on to our lifestyle as we know it. We might say to Jesus, “I love what you preach, but can I keep my vacation home and my Amazon Prime membership?!” 

While we may not consider ourselves “wealthy,” so many of us have a lot of wealth that gets in the way of our following Jesus as fully as we can. And especially in our culture of extreme materialism, we’re choking in stuff that cuts off our spiritual airways.

For generations, followers of Jesus have wrestled with this passage. Many have claimed that “this passage is not meant for everyone.” I actually think it is, however, and is one of those texts that has remained in the tradition because of its raw, jarring power.

I also need to say that while Jesus tells the man to “sell everything,” I am not quite sure that’s the ideal or necessarily the goal for everyone. What I think Jesus is asking is that we seriously engage the questions related to discipleships and money/possessions and keep leaning hard into that invitation.

Of course the disciples hear Jesus’ words and realize that he’s seemingly asking the impossible. They say, “Well then who can be saved?” Jesus says that God can make a way – for those who want one.

A way can be made for those who want one.

(This actually reminds me a lot of the essential spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous and so many other self-help traditions that state, over and over, that a path to sobriety and recovery is available to anyone who seeks it. AA – like any genuine spiritual program – just never guarantees that it will be an easy path!)

My wife, Lynne, is a yoga instructor and really infuses a lot of spirituality into her yoga classes. At the start of most (if not all) classes, she invites attendees to “set an intention” for the class. What do people want to move towards, be more mindful of or hold in the forefront of their consciousness?

We know that “what we pay attention to grows,” and I think today’s readings are inviting us into two things more fully.

First they are inviting us to rethink our relationship to wealth, money and possessions. What is wealth for? How do we justify having so much when so many have so little? How might we prevent our resources from getting “stuck” in our lives and let them move more freely in the world?

And, secondly, do we seek a way back to God when we have drifted from the path? A way back to God is ALWAYS available if we want it. Setting that as an intention and then letting God take a next step towards us can be a foundational step that begins to move us in new directions.

Just take a few moments today and talk to God. Ask for guidance. Ask for a route of return. Know that Jesus will look lovingly at you and will offer an invitation.