Know Your Place – Mark 10:17-31

A text – Mark 10:17-31

¹⁷ As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” ²⁰ He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” ²¹ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” ²² When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

²³ Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ 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.” ²⁶ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news ³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

A reflection:

This week we face three texts that tell us “Know your place.” The better we know our relationships with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the easier it will be to understand our place (how to be, what to do, what to work for) in those relationships. Our Friday Psalm will say God is eternal, God made everything, and we are just specks. Our Wednesday reading will say God knows all, even things you keep secret; fortunately Jesus can empathize with us. Today’s Gospel reading is about how impossible it is to be saved – and the answer is: not with God. With God, nothing is impossible.

So knowing our place means constantly reminding our often proud selves that, no matter how good we are at some things, that talent does not win us eternal life with God. Only God does that – by giving it to us for free. In whatever way we can stay haughtiness-free, we must stick to that, because then we will always identify with the people in our lives who need what only we can offer. When we get haughty, we become blind to the needs and suffering of others. When we “know our place,” we open our eyes and see where God has put us and who we can lend a hand or an ear to. In this way, “Know your place” is no put-down. It is an invitation to look around and find someone we can love and serve. And guess what? When we know our place and look around, it is not going to look anything like what we thought. The first are last, the last are first, our weirdest gifts are useful to someone, and our aid will come from unexpected sources. Our God loves to surprise us, as well as save us.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving humans enough to place us mysteriously with those who need our gifts, and vice versa.  Help us to know our place and remember that you are the one who gives gifts and who saves us. Help is to live wisely as your children.  Amen.