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This Week's Sermon THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST 11 October 2009 "The Good Teacher" Mark 10:17-22 LSB Series B Vicar Jeffrey M. Dock Soli Deo Gloria!

"And as Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

In the name of Jesus + Amen.

As questions go, that's a pretty good one. The rich young man doesn't come away from this reading looking too good, but you have to give him credit for his question: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" At the very least, this man knew what mattered in this world. It's not a perfect question. It's almost self-contradictory. "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The point of an inheritance is that you haven't earned it, but instead that it is yours by right or by default. If my wife and I died tomorrow, everything we have would go to our daughter. She certainly hasn't earned any inheritance, but still it belongs to her. So admittedly the question could use some work- but as questions to ask Jesus go, it's really not a bad one (at least on the surface).

The man addresses Jesus as "Good Teacher," and he has no idea just how right he was to use that title. In the course of the reading, Jesus would show that he is not just a good teacher, but the Good Teacher. To use a term familiar to our catechumens, Jesus was the perfect Catechist. And His answer to this rich young man demonstrates that. Jesus' response sees the rich man's motivation behind this question, and points to the only true answer.

First, Jesus addresses the title "Good Teacher" saying "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." Jesus' immediate reply seems almost irrelevant to the man's question, but understanding it is crucial for the sinner's salvation. For our salvation. Christ attempts the show the man the foolishness of his question. If no one is good except God, then how can you possibly think you're good enough to inherit eternal life? It's almost as if Jesus is asking "Do you realize what you're saying? Only God is good. You want to inherit eternal life. You want me to give you some sort of assurance that the good things you've done have somehow earned you salvation. You want me to praise your good works as your ticket to eternal life. But I cannot tell you that because all your good works are as 'filthy rags¹' in the sight of God. You cannot earn your own salvation." And of course the greater irony is that Jesus is Himself God. He is the eternal Son of God being of one substance with the Father. Christ is the only one who is truly good, but the rich man does not recognize that fact either.

The rich man wrongly sees himself as good and righteous, worthy of inheriting eternal life. But Jesus is the Good teacher who desires to teach this man, and so He continues "You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother." Jesus simply lays the commandments out there, hoping the rich man would see the folly of his question. Jesus hopes the rich man would recognize that he has broken every one of these commandments time and again, but the rich man instead has the audacity to respond "Teacher, all these I have kept since my youth."

Really? I can't speak for the look that was one Jesus' face, but mine would be one of pure exasperation. You've kept all the commandments? Since your youth? You've never disobeyed your mother of father, ever? You've never thought ill of them? You've never stolen as much as a penny, and all your riches have been gained completely honorably and rightly? You've always told the truth, never once telling a lie? Never once gossiped, never once been scared to speak the truth in the face of opposition? Never once lusted or coveted something that isn't yours? God's law is simply bouncing off this rich man's hardened heart. We'd be tempted to simply write the rich man off at this point, happy to let him live in the delusion of his own greatness. But not Jesus. Jesus is the Good Teacher.

Listen to how Jesus responds to this man's self-righteousness. "And Jesus, looking at him, loved him." Here we truly see the love of God. Christ had come to this world to die a painful, shameful, and forsaken death upon a cross. He left heaven to come to this sin-cursed world so that He might redeem mankind. He was going to endure agony in order to shed His innocent blood for us. And here is a rich man who thinks he has no need of Jesus. Christ was going to do everything to earn this man's salvation, and the man didn't even realize that he needed saving. If we had been Christ, we would have shaken our heads in disgust and wonder why we'd ever decided to go through with this. But not Jesus. He looks at this man, and He loves him. He has compassion on the man living in a fantasy. And so Jesus says the thing the man needs to hear "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Jesus calls the man to repentance, telling him to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. He calls him to stop trusting in himself, in his material goods, and in his money. Jesus speaks to the rich man the law that He knows will break open this man's heart, and show him as a sinner. A sinner who cannot save himself. Jesus says "You lack one thing." This one thing the rich man lacks is not this command which Jesus gives. For even if the rich man was able to do what Jesus asked, and sell all that he had, there would be yet more laws and demands in the future. If you want to earn your own salvation, you'll find the path never stops and never gets easier. For you never stop being a sinner, and God never stops demanding perfection. And so "disheartened by the saying, the rich man went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."

Jesus says "You lack one thing." And that one think which the man lacks is Christ Himself. The rich man lacked faith in Christ's work on his behalf, choosing instead to trust in himself and in the good works he had done. And the rich man realizes this, and goes away sad because he realizes he cannot earn his salvation. The Good teacher is teaching this man. We're not yet at this young man's conversion. The rich man does not yet fall to his knees at Jesus' feet, begging for forgiveness, but we're getting there. His inability to save himself is clear. The law has been preached and broken this man open. Church tradition tells that the rich man mentioned here is none other than Mark, who wrote this very Gospel. And that's certainly a comforting thought. The one who goes away sad because he cannot keep the law, later finds that the law has been kept perfectly in Christ. The one who cannot now bear to hear God's word becomes the one who writes down all that Jesus said and did and spreads it throughout the world.

But Church tradition could be wrong. This might not be Mark. We're never told in Scripture. It's possible the rich man goes away sad and stays sad, never having faith. He may never get baptized and never confess Christ as his savior. Eventually he may shrug off what Jesus said, forgetting about it and once again comforting himself with his supposed good works and his great possessions. Such things happen. We've seen them in our friends and family who forsake the faith, or simply don't see any need of it. That's what happens when you stop listening to the voice of the Good Teacher. God preserve us from this.

I say that God preserve us from this because we all are like this rich man. Whether we have great possessions upon this earth or not, all of us are prone to trusting in ourselves more than God. We are self-centered and selfish. We like our positive self-images and want others to think well of us. We like to think we're pretty good people. We're hypocrites at heart. Each of us knows our own private sins, and each of us knows the horror we have at the thought of others knowing them as well. Confessing we're "poor miserable sinners" out of our hymnal is fine, as long as we never have to get more specific from that. Let's focus on the good. For it's easy to ignore our sins, pushing them out of our mind and looking instead at how much we pray, how much money we give to the church, or how much time we devote to God. All too often we're like the rich man asking "What can we do to inherit the eternal life?"

But let us confess. We have broken the commandments, time and again. Christ calls the rich man to recognize this and to repent, but he does not. Christ calls you to recognize this and to repent. The ball is in your court as it were. In repentance there is forgiveness. And in the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. Christ is the Good Teacher, who teaches you the way of salvation. A way that can be found only in seeing ourselves as sinners, and passing through the cross where Christ's blood was shed for us.

So when you hear in our reading Jesus reciting the commandments, recognize your own sin, but recognize that Jesus is also the Good Teacher. Good not just because he teaches well, but good because He is the one who has kept each of these commandments perfectly, for our sake.

*Aside from just not murdering, Jesus is the one who let Himself be murdered. And rather than being angry at those killing Him, He prayed that the Father forgive them.
*Jesus never committed adultery, but instead remained perfectly faithful to His Bride, the Christian Church. Even though we often wander away, seeking after idols and sins, Jesus is always faithful- always loving, and always calling us back to the Life and Joy found in Him.
*Jesus not only did not steal, but He took all the possessions of His Father (life, salvation, forgiveness), came down to earth and freely gave them to mankind. Squandering them on those of us who deserve nothing, but who through Christ are given everything we need.
*Rather than lie to us, Christ told the truth in all things. He spoke the truth that the Father had given Him to speak, truths hidden since the foundation of the world² and now revealed to us by faith. Truths concerning eternal life: including the certainty of our sin and the remedy found at the Cross.
*And Jesus is the one who truly honored His Father, doing His will in all things, and never once seeking His own glory. Going to the cross to bear a punishment He did not deserve on our behalf, even though we had time and again dishonored the Heavenly Father.

Jesus was the Good Teacher, who taught the rich man that he lacked one thing. And this one thing he lacked was Christ Himself. The rich man tried to be righteous on his own and could not do it. But standing before him was Christ, and the righteousness that belong to Jesus and which He freely gives. Those of you who have been baptized have been given Christ's righteousness. You are clothed with it, and have Jesus Himself. And He is the Good Teacher. When you wander into sin, or think that you are better than you actually are, He speaks the law to you to remind you what you are: sinners. And He is the Good Teacher who instructs you in the forgiveness of sins found in Him, and who guides us in the paths of righteousness. He is the Good Teacher who renews us and leads us that we delight in His will and walk in His ways to the glory of His holy name. He is the Good Teacher who teaches you.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

¹Isaiah 64:6
²Matthew 13:35